My grandma has dementia and is being scammed. Can we take her phone away?

In some states it is illegal to take someone’s phone away. I see you are in California, so DO NOT take her phone away, because it is illegal and you could be charged with a felony. Before you take the phone away, I would look in to blocking the scammers phone numbers and other ways of limiting who can contact her by phone. There are settings on smart phones, like “do not disturb” that allow you to block all incoming calls and text messages except certain phone numbers. If your mom uses a cell phone, try out that feature & allow only friends and family to call.

Charley, I read your other post but in this one you give more details. Who is threatening to call the police? Your grandma or you? And you know the police won’t come out just because someone isn’t using a phone the right way,right?

If grandma has dementia, she will not understand about being scammed. You need to remove the source of her communication—the phone. Tell her it got lost, the battery is dead, it’s broken, anything. And yes, this you should report to the police. Chances of them tracing the number aren’t good, but they may even try to run their own scam on the scammer.

Duplicate question.

Do you have POA or someone in your family? Is she ever alone where she would need a phone? If not, then "lose" it. Or block the caller and block her from being able to call. I would go to the police and ask if there is anything you can do about the scammer.