International calls

PS Just to add to the fun she also replies to junk mail letters telling her that she's in the final list to win thousands of pounds! Her opinion - "someone's got to win it"
Pass the valium please! (For me, not her!)

Bluebell count yourself lucky that your friend is 83 and still savvy. The lady I am concerned about is nearly 90 but although savvy in many ways just cannot grasp the concept of scammers bless her.
The suggestions made by all those who have responded are all much appreciated.
Sadly the obvious ones, such as letting the call go to ansafone and then only answer if it is one of the family, are in her mind when we discuss it - but as soon as the phone rings panic/excitement/whatever sets in!
Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions - I am currently making laminated little signs to stick to her handsets!
We'll keep trying!

My spellcheck changed generation into gestation ???

My daughter in Aus is programmed into our phone but it comes up international as other posters have already said.
Never phoned Or recieved calls from Thailand and the last time I was phoned from HK my parents had to book the slot!

www.countrycode.org/ should have the codes

Perhaps you could suggest to the lady, that she and her granddaughters agree set times for phone calls, or that the send her a text message first saying "I'll ring in five minutes" so she knows it is them.

Can she not see the caller's identity or phone number on her phone?

I love the way you say that generation trust everyone what gestation are you talking about? ? my best friend is 83 and is extremely savvy ?
I think the call guardian sounds the best idea
I haven’t paid for overseas calls for years always use FB what a shame she can’t

Mind you these blasted scammers are so creative. We have caller ID and the phone rang today showing a very innocent looking number that started with a recognisable area code for nearby city......I answered it to find that yet again it was the recorded message telling me my Internet was compromised etc...….honestly its so invasive and no one seems to be able to stop them.

The phone doesnt ring with Call Guardian u less it is an accepted number.

Cordless landline with known numbers programmed into the handset so it says who is ringing.

Thanks aslo Calendargirl your reply came while I was typing!

Thank you all for the many suggestions - we are really up against it with this little soul.
She does have a laptop (why?) but wouldn't know how to switch it on! Bless her she is totally unable to grasp working even a mobile phone and she is simply not interested in technology.
To be honest that is a Godsend - last week the usual scam 'the man from the bank' rang her, explaining that £600 had been taken from her account. She gave some information (arghhh!) but when the caller asked her to get her laptop she couldn't find the lead so she arranged for him to call back!
Fortunately she rang us to see if we knew where the lead was? Luckily it seems she believes the laptop had to be plugged in - long may that last! We dread to think what may have happened had she got the lead - we probably would never have known and she could have been scammed big time.
We have alerted various agencies (Safeguarding etc) as the family are disfunctional to say the least, so we have to have things under control to safeguard ourselves as well.
Sadly that generation trust everyone - we need to re-programme her to trust no one.
Call Guardian may be an option which we will look into.
She has an ansafone and we have pleaded with her to let every call go through to the message - then the caller will say who it is and she can then pick up.
We may as well talk to the wall bless her - as soon as the phone rings she panics to pick it up!
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions - much appreciated!

Australia numbers start 0061. Think they come up if DD rings, but I usually phone her.

If all else fails do what we do with my Dad, ring the number and let it ring a couple times then put the phone down. Then call his number again, he knows that it is one of the family and will answer. If he is expecting a call from somewhere else (eg hospital or a tradesman) he answers calls but if not he only answers double ring ones. The answer machine picks up others who really want to talk to him.

My family often ring me from Australia and although I have their numbers programmed into my phone the caller ID will often just say International or Withheld.

When my D rang from Australia the other day, the phone illuminated " Withheld " I don't think international numbers are highlighted ?

Would she agree to getting a laptop so she could Skype? I was nervous about phone call costs when my daughter was in Canada, and relieved to find Skype was free.

I have a similar problem with withheld and International calls it doesn't show a number even though a couple of people's numbers are stored and I have caller ID it just says witheld number. As others say Google those countries but I think like withheld it just says International on the display with no number shown.

Or she could get an answer phone and if its a proper call they can leave a message and arrange to call later.
Or If she gets caller ID and programmes the family member's phone numbers in...then she will know they are calling.

You might be better to suggest Call Guardian or something similar. The caller has to say who they are before the call canvbe accepted but then that number is stored for the next time.

I don't know off hand but 'google' will give you all the information you need. Good luck!