[sumthinprofound]

My father (85) similar scenario falling for scam emails and phone calls. Walked in on him installing rdp software as the "Microsoft support tech" instructed him to do when he called the number in the email that told him he had a virus.

Changed his desktop pc so his account is no longer admim (can't install software). Additionally, the websites he can visit are now allow-list only with everything else blocked.

[chiph]

My father lost $300 to those assholes. And I'm glad that was all it was.

What I determined was that he was getting frustrated by the browser popups, and would click on anything that looked like it would make them go away so he could get back to what he was doing. That led to his machine being constantly reinfected after I would clean it.

Watching the "scam the scammer" education videos on Youtube would be of limited use because he would get in trouble "in the moment" and wouldn't think about his actions until much later (if at all).

If he were still around I'd install an adblocker as well as removing his admin rights.