The short answer
For the next few months, treat anything urgent that involves money as a scam until you have checked it. Checking is usually one step: hang up, and call back on a number you look up yourself.
A few other habits protect you. Never pay anyone with a gift card or a wire transfer. If the funeral is still to come, ask someone to stay at the house while it happens.
This chapter explains how things usually work in the United States. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and the rules where you live may differ. Before you act on anything here, check it with one of the people named at the end of the chapter.
What to do
- Ask someone to stay at the house during the funeral, if it is still to come.
- Hang up on anyone who calls asking for money, and call back on a number you find yourself.
- Refuse any request to pay by gift card, wire transfer, cryptocurrency or a payment app.
- Change the alarm and garage codes if many people had them.
- Take his medicines to a take-back site, or ask your pharmacist where to take them.
- Ask someone you trust to hold any firearms for now, once you have checked your state's rules.
- Report anything strange at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).
What can wait
- Selling his car, firearms or valuables.
- A new security system.
- Changing the locks, if you know where every spare key is.
- The Do Not Call Registry and a credit freeze, if this week is already full. Either can be done any time.
Who can help
- The FTC: ReportFraud.ftc.gov, or 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).
- The AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline, 1-877-908-3360, or, if you are 60 or over, the National Elder Fraud Hotline, 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311).
- Your local police, on their non-emergency number, for anything at the door or the house.
The rules, phone numbers and web addresses in this book were checked against the agencies’ own pages in October 2026. They change, so check anything you rely on with the office itself.
From Book 1: The First 30 Days
This page has the short answer and the closing lists from chapter 10. The full chapter explains, in plain words, what exists, what to ask, and who can answer. The book covers the first month.
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