Five things I'd tell my own mum about scams

My mum brought up four children on her own, working five jobs, and nobody got anything past her. She would have been a hard target. These are the five things I would still have made her write down.

1. Nobody real will ever rush you. The bank, the police, HMRC, the council, the doctor's surgery: not one of them will ring and demand you act in the next ten minutes. Urgency is the trick. The moment someone says "you must do this now", you have found the scam. Hang up.

2. Hang up and ring back on a number you already have. Not the number they give you, and not the number the call came from, because both can be faked. The number on your bank card, the number on the council's website, 101 for the police. If it was real, they will be glad you checked. If you want to be sure the line is clear, use a different phone or wait a minute.

3. No one real moves your money to a "safe account". There is no such thing. The police do not do it, the bank does not do it, the fraud team does not do it. Anyone who asks you to move money, buy vouchers, hand cash to a courier or read out a code from a text is a criminal, however good they sound.

4. Don't tap the link. Go there yourself. A text about a parcel, a fine, a refund or a missed delivery: open the app or type the website you already know, and look there. If there is nothing, there was nothing. The link is the hook.

5. The grandchild with the new number is not your grandchild. Ring the old number. If they really have lost their phone, they will be delighted to hear from you on the landline. Agree a family word now, before it is needed, that only the family knows.

And one for the phone itself. Let it update when it asks, and put a second check on your email and your bank (they call it two-step or two-factor; it means a code to your phone as well as a password). Those two things, on their own, stop most of what gets through.

If it has already happened: call your bank on 159, which connects you to your own bank's fraud line, and report it at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040. Then tell someone. You will not be the first and you have done nothing wrong.