Crimes against the elderly are a disturbing trend that is unfortunately on the increase and happening on a daily basis. Just when our parents and grandparents are entering the time of their life when they should be enjoying the fruits of the years of hard work, many are finding their savings are being stolen and swindled says Mike Georgantis the Director of Icarus Investigations Ltd.
June 15 marks World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, which annually helps shine a light on the global social issue. The abuse can take many forms including psychological, physical and financial.
Latest Ministry of Social Development (MSD) data shows 79 per cent of reported cases of elder abuse involve psychological abuse, and more than half involve financial abuse.
“Unfortunately, I came across many examples of this when I was working for the Serious Fraud Office. Our older generation are more trusting and as a result more susceptible to the likes of Ponzi schemes and other scams.
A Ponzi scheme relies heavily on peoples trust and greed. It involves a person gathering investment in a supposed scheme paying high rates of return. However there is no scheme and the person uses further investment make interest payments. The fraud will come tumbling down when investments dries up and there is no new money to pay back investors. Bernie Madoff is probably the most famous Ponzi fraudster. (Further information on Ponzi schemes can be found here: http://www.acfe.com/ponzi-schemes.aspx)
One scheme I investigated involved a husband and wife supposedly running an investment company but in reality they were running a Ponzi scheme involving 10’s of millions of dollars of mainly elderly people’s money.”
“This couple ingratiated themselves into the lives of their victims becoming close personal friends with many of them. They then used this friendship to convince their victims to invest their life saving in their company. On one occasion they talked a close friend into taking a 100% mortgage on her freehold Ponsonby home on the understanding that the interest on the investment would provide her with an income and cover the mortgage payments. They then stole the money and used this to fund their lifestyle and overseas travel leaving the formerly wealthy woman reliant on her children” say Mike.
Ponzi schemes are just one way of defrauding money out of the older generation.
Other commons frauds are variations of the infamous Nigerian Scam which basically involves the defrauded party sending the scammer money to release “untold riches”. You would think that no one would fall for this given the extensive publicity this scheme was garnered, but it is still happening on a regular basis.
Another is the misuse of Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA) by supposed friends and probably more disturbingly family members. Upmost care and independent legal advice must be sought prior to considering signing any EPA especially if there is any hint of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Our aged friends and relatives deserve our thanks and respect and Icarus Investigations can investigate any possible frauds you think may be being committed against your relatives or friends. This can be as simple as a background check or an in depth analysis or investigation.
Remember the old adages, if it is too good to be true, it IS too good to be true and it is better to be safe than sorry.
National Elder Abuse Awareness Week runs from June 15 to 22. For free, confidential support, call 0800 EA NOT OK (0800 32 668 65) or Mike at Icarus Investigations Ltd on 0275421671
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/104456768/Elder-abuse-problem-underestimated-in-society-social-worker?rm=m
