No one likes to hear of the elderly being the victims of scams, often losing far more than money alone.
With a view to protecting the elderly from scams the issue the home care provider franchise Home Instead have developed an awareness programme and a Senior Fraud Protection tool-kit.
Shockingly 7 out of 10 elderly people are targeted by scammers each month which is why they need our protection because generally they are at more risk. This is through no fault of their own , being elderly scammers see these people as having a life-time of savings and want a share of it.
Many elderly people also live alone and have limited contact with family and the outside world and are as such less likely to know about the scams that are happening.
Protecting the elderly from scams is made harder by the fact that by nature they are more trusting and find it easy to find the conman on the end of the phone friendly and believe they are really trying to help them. Millions of fraud victims have been brain washed by criminals who are accessing not only the minds of their victims, but also their bank accounts.
The top scams currently are;
Post, telephone and internet scams are used to dupe millions of people into parting with personal information, bank details, and hard cash.
PPI You receive a call from someone claiming to be from a claims handling company saying you have been awarded compensation for “Mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance”. They ask for your bank details to release funds.
Clairvoyant You receive a letter saying that you are due to have a difficult time ahead in life and then blackmail people into sending money to the ” clairvoyant” to avoid this happening.
Internet This one got me and I am not elderly. The victim is called by Microsoft and asked to follow instructions which enable the scammer to remotely access your PC to rectify a fictitious problem. They are then able to access security passwords and logins.
For more information on this matter visit the Home Instead website.
