Questions families ask

Adult children and families who want to help a parent or grandparent avoid scams — without taking over their phone or their independence. The parent stays in charge; AskFirst gives them a second opinion in seconds and lets you know if something looks dangerous.

No. You text them a setup link. They tap it and AskFirst opens on their phone, already signed in. They can add it to their home screen so it works like an app.

No. It only sees what your parent chooses to check — a pasted message, a screenshot, or their description of a call.

AskFirst combines a scam detector built on the patterns used by real scams with AI that reads the whole message. It’s deliberately cautious: when money, codes, secrecy or strange links are involved, it says so. No tool can promise a message is 100% safe, so “Looks OK” always comes with a reminder to stay careful.

Your parent sees a clear warning and simple steps (like “hang up and call your grandson on the number you know”), plus a big button to call you. At the same moment, the helpers in your family get an email — and a text message on the Family plan.

No. Screenshots are read once to check them and then discarded. We keep the text of the check so helpers can see what happened; you can delete any check anytime.

Call their bank or card company right away — the sooner the better. If gift cards were used, call the card company on the back of the card. Then report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov and, if it was online, at ic3.gov.

Yes. Invite siblings, a spouse or a trusted friend as helpers. Each chooses whether they get alerts for scams only, anything suspicious, or every check.