For families
Helping without taking over
Helping someone you love with this asks for a particular kind of care. How do you build their confidence instead of quietly replacing it? How do you stay useful without becoming the person who does it for them?
The order we would go in
Start with what they want to do. Not what worries you. A person who wants to see their grandchildren's photos will learn faster than one being taught password hygiene.
Sort out account access before anything else. Most frustration traces back to an email address or a password nobody can reach. Fix that and half the problems disappear.
Put the important numbers somewhere physical. A card by the phone with their bank's real number on it breaks most scams on its own.
Raise scams as something happening to everyone. Not as a warning aimed at them. The shame is what stops people telling you when something has gone wrong.
Leave them doing it. If you drive, they never learn the route.
A printable version of this guidance is being written. Until it is ready, everything we would put in it is on this page.