Elder Intro Lifestage Considerations 06 Frauds Scams and Abuse

Protection against fraud, scams, and abuse is particularly relevant when we reach this stage of life. Really because it's possible we are a generation that are quite trusting. We have a close circle of contacts and we assume that what we are told by what appears to be those contacts is genuine. We have a tendency to trust figures of authority and information that's presented to us, which appears authoritative can be believed to be authoritative even if that's not the case.

In society there may also be a risk of people who appear to be more vulnerable being taken advantage of. We may lose the protection of other adult members of our households, whether through adult children moving on and perhaps living at a distance and also perhaps due to loss of our spouses. This makes us dependent. This only increases if there is illness or something similar which reduces our capacities and requires us to rely on other people, potentially coming into our home to provide services. It's a phase of life when we can be more vulnerable.

The issue of elder abuse is also something which has come to light in recent years and it has been realised that it does actually happen in families. For example a pension collected by a family member may not always be remitted in full to the older person so there's a vulnerability there. It's also worth mentioning as a separate topic that nursing home care means that we are transferring a lot of our financial rights across to a third party who then obtains our income at source and we then lose an element of control over our income. This can sometimes lead to added bills with reduced care. We would hope that's not the case; however it has been known to happen.

It's at a point in our time when we're really most vulnerable. There are things we can do and organisations which will support us at a time like this. However a huge thing is being aware of potential vulnerabilities before they happen and planning ahead.