Fighting Scams Targeting the Elderly With Old-School Tech

itwbennett writes Sharp is launching a pair of landline phones designed to counter a growing form of fraud in Japan that preys upon the elderly. The 'ore ore' ('it's me, it's me') fraudsters pretend to be grandchildren in an emergency and convince their victims to send money, generally via ATM. Sharp's new phones are designed to alert seniors to the dangers of unknown callers. When potential victims receive that are not registered in the internal memory of Sharp's new phones, their LED bars glow red and the phones go into anti-scam mode. An automated message then tells the caller that the call is being recorded and asks for the caller to state his or her name before the call is answered.

Comments

Re:I just must be drunk.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why call anyone? Why not demand a basic income from the government, and then no one will ever have need of money ever again! It's the perfect solution to every problem: basic income.

Interesting retort

[Thanshin]

This layout is shit.

Let's see how long I can keep enough karma to be read while wasting it with "this layout is shit" messages.

I'll have to be alternatingly insightful and annoying.

Welcome to spam-beta.

Re:A rightwing wankfest?

[Archangel Michael]

Well, the left loves to belittle religious "extremism" while siding with religious extremists. A nice progressive democracy in the middle east is derided by many in the left, while at the same time, these same people side with people who support groups like ISIL and Al-Qaeda. It is absolutely amazing the straining at gnats that goes on.