Stop preying on our senior citizens
One can never under estimate the lengths dodgy traders will go to grab extra cash.
A report in The Advertiser has revealed an elderly woman with dementia was made to pay up to 30 times, for a bill she had forgotten she’d already paid.
The “vulture” escorted her to her bank to take out $1,000 or $2,000 at a time, till a suspicious bank teller alerted police.
As an increasing proportion of the population ages, the number of vulnerable victims is likely to only get worse.
Major Fraud Detective Sergeant Gary Ankor, said his unit investigated people who befriended the elderly simply to gain power of attorney. Predators prey on the vulnerable, taking control of their financial matters, or insisting to be named executor of their wills.
Det Sgt Ankor spoke at a World Elder Abuse Awareness Day Conference in Adelaide.
“They tend to have friends who appear and become power of attorneys – these vultures will start moving money out of the account… it’s obvious they’re waiting for people to pass away,” he said, adding that in another case a man used word of mouth to find single, vulnerable women then become the executor of their wills.
Speaking at an Aged Rights Advocacy Service (ARAS) conference in Adelaide, ARAS chief, Marilyn Crabtree, said they dealt with over 50 complaints a month of elder abuse.
“We need to have a national picture, and a national agenda, that’s the only way it’s going to progress,” she said.
