Online Safety for People with Dementia: A Guide for Families and Carers

The Internet and Dementia: A Complex Relationship

For many people living with dementia, the internet provides genuine comfort and connection. Video calls with grandchildren, favourite music on demand, familiar television programmes, and access to news from a home screen can all support wellbeing and a sense of connection to the world. The value of this should not be dismissed.

At the same time, the changes in cognition that accompany dementia, including reduced short-term memory, impaired judgement, greater impulsivity, and diminished ability to recognise deception, create real and serious vulnerabilities in the online environment. Scammers specifically target people with cognitive decline. This guide is for family members and carers who want to support safe online activity without simply removing access and the genuine benefits that come with it.

Understanding Why People with Dementia Are Targeted

Online fraud is not random. Criminals research and deliberately target groups who are more likely to comply with requests, less likely to recognise deception, and less likely to report what has happened. Older adults and particularly those with cognitive impairment are heavily targeted because they tend to have accumulated savings, may be socially isolated, and may lack the scepticism that protects younger people.

Common scams targeting this group include phone and email impersonation of banks or HMRC, fake lotteries and prize notifications, romance fraud conducted over weeks or months, doorstep fraud that begins with online contact, and fake online shopping sites that charge for non-existent goods. A person with dementia may make multiple purchases from the same fraudulent site without recalling having done so before.

The financial consequences can be devastating. UK Finance figures show that older adults lose hundreds of millions of pounds to fraud each year, and many cases go unreported because the victim either does not remember what happened or feels too ashamed to disclose it.

Practical Digital Protections

A number of practical measures can significantly reduce the risk of online harm for someone living with dementia, without requiring them to surrender all digital independence.

Enable two-factor authentication on all financial accounts and email accounts, but ensure that the second factor, usually a text message or authentication app, goes to a carer or family member's device rather than only to the person with dementia. This creates an alert system that can catch suspicious login attempts before they result in fraud.

Consider setting up a separate, simplified email account for the person to use day-to-day, one that is not linked to financial accounts or services. This reduces the likelihood of a phishing email reaching a genuinely sensitive inbox. Keep the main email address known only to trusted family and contacts.

Use website blocking or parental control software to prevent access to known gambling sites, which can be a significant vulnerability for people with dementia who may develop impulsive spending behaviours. Many broadband providers offer family filters that can be applied at the router level, restricting access across all devices on the network.

Set up bank account alerts for all transactions over a set amount, sent to a carer's email or phone. Many banks also offer a third-party access arrangement that allows a trusted person to monitor an account without holding power of attorney. This is worth setting up proactively, before a problem occurs.

Conversations About Online Activity

Conversations about online safety with someone living with dementia require patience, repetition, and a non-judgmental approach. Memory impairment means that information given in one conversation may not be retained, and the same guidance may need to be offered many times without any expectation that the person should remember it.

Simple, consistent messages are more helpful than complex explanations. Messages such as never give your bank details on the phone or computer, always ask me before clicking a link, and if something asks for money, let me look at it first, can be reinforced regularly and displayed as simple prompts near the device.

Avoid framing online safety as a restriction or a reason to remove internet access. Focus on the shared goal: keeping things safe so that they can keep enjoying being online. People retain emotional intelligence and a desire for autonomy even as cognition declines, and conversations that feel respectful and collaborative are far more effective than those that feel controlling.

Signs That Something May Have Gone Wrong

Family members and carers should know the signs that suggest online fraud may have occurred or be in progress. These include unexplained bank transactions, new or unfamiliar items arriving by post or delivery, an increased number of phone calls from unknown numbers, secretive or anxious behaviour around the computer or phone, and mentions of new friends or contacts online who the person has never met in person.

If you discover that fraud has occurred, do not respond with anger or blame. The person with dementia is a victim and may have no memory of what happened. Report the fraud to Action Fraud (0300 123 2040), contact the bank immediately to freeze affected accounts, and seek advice from the Dementia Connect helpline run by the Alzheimer's Society.

Legal Protections and Planning Ahead

The most comprehensive protection available to families is setting up a Lasting Power of Attorney while the person with dementia still has the mental capacity to grant it. LPA for property and financial affairs allows a trusted person to manage financial decisions when the individual is no longer able to do so safely.

This is a conversation worth having early, ideally before a diagnosis has progressed significantly. Many families avoid it because it feels uncomfortable, as though planning for incapacity is giving up on hope. In reality, it is one of the most protective and loving things a family can do together.