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Surprisingly there are numerous men in their 20s thru 50s who are trying to hookup with my mom and she hands out her address constantly.

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Would you let a toddler play in traffic? No? Then why are you letting your mother play in traffic? Use the Parental Controls.
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My minor son found a dating site, met some "girls", friended them on facebook, and then they friended all his family. That new friend tried to blackmail us, asking for money or they would report son doing something illegal and have him put in jail. If *I*, a savvy 40-something can be almost tricked by this scam, do you think an 81 year old would be tricked by a scamster?

We took down son's profile (which of course listed him as 18), changed the profile address on that site to a new email that is specifically for junk and never checked, and let me tell you - the site sold his info to other scammers around the web. There is not a day that goes by that he does not have ads from other dating sites come to the original email. He no longer has access to that email since Mama changed the password. He has a shiny new one, and I monitor the old one and send him things from people he actually knows in the flesh.

My suggestion - reel in mom with this story. Tell her these people are nice people, but "Not Our Kind Dear!" Get her a new email, promise to monitor her old one and send her the real important ones, and change the password so only you know it. I know that will be tough, but it must be done. Better now than after someone has shown up at the house to get a suitcase full of unmarked bills to rescue a non existent great grandchild in trouble in Central America!
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patti, I think the best thing for an elder to do if looking for someone to date is check out her old high school graduating class on the website Classmates. Then that way she would have some idea who the person is, and they can start communicating via email slowly. Then via telephone. Finding a common theme [such as their old high school] is a great start.

It's funny, the guys who wouldn't give you a second glance when in high school are now mature, been married, now widowed or divorced, and ready for that second glance :)
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I think it is a very dangerous situation. Often the elderly are attacked, robbed or worse by a causal acquaintance. They can be easily manipulated, coned and robbed of their life's savings. If she is not able to recognize the risks that are inherit in her behavior, someone may need to step in to protect her. Does she have a POA? It would be a shame if she got hurt or loses money over something so innocent in her mind. I wouldn't ignore it.
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Computer savvy 81 year old -- I love it. Is she ill? Do you live with her or does she live with you? If she is self-sufficient, semi-independent and no one else lives with her, I don't know. She's 81. I say if she wants a little spice in her life, let her. But I would definitely ask her or really reiterate how important it is for ANYONE at ANY age to not give out their home address. I think it's healthy to meet other people, but maybe not so young.

Can't help but think it's kinda cute (although dangerous). Just do it with caution. And like Eyerishlass said, maybe some monitoring may be required and parental controls if this is getting out of hand.

My mother is 76 years old, uses a Macbook and floats around Facebook (lurks more like it) --- and she does scroll around looking for men her age, but never quite acts upon it.

Good luck!
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A rational thinking 81 year old probably wouldn't haunt dating websites to begin with much less give out her address to strange men. You have to be the parent here. Put parental controls on her computer. You can do this from the control panel on the computer.
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