More than nine out of ten people believe that being older and living alone makes people more vulnerable to fraud, according to a survey of 3,200 Sussex residents.
Most, 86pc of respondents felt that older people are targeted by fraudsters more frequently than other age groups while more than eight out of ten agree that older people who live alone are targeted by fraudsters more frequently than those who live with a companion.
The Sussex Elders’ Commission and Neighbourhood Watch survey also found that more than half of residents knew someone who has been a victim of fraud and two-thirds of those said money had been lost. Some 127 people said that more than £10,000 was taken, meaning at least £1.27m stolen from respondents’ friends or family.
Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne says: “Just because somebody is smooth-talking your grandmother out of her life savings over the phone instead of mugging her in the street doesn’t make it a less serious offence. These results prove that criminal gangs are grooming our vulnerable, lonely and often elderly residents, robbing them of their life savings and potentially the ability to look after themselves.”
The results were unveiled ahead of the Sussex PCC’s first Listen Live summit in Brighton to tackle elder exploitation. Asked if they would report being a victim of fraud, most (94pc) said they would but fewer said they would report it if they had been ‘scammed’: 86pc confirmed they would report it.
When questioned on what might discourage them from reporting a scam, almost one in five weren’t sure who to report it to while 16pc felt it was their responsibility to learn from their mistakes and not repeat it. Some 15pc of respondents felt police and other agencies are too busy to be troubled, 14pc weren’t sure how to report it and 11pc didn’t think it would achieve anything.
Katy Bourne adds: “There are more than 40 organisations working to tackle fraud across the UK so we wanted to get some of those doing amazing work in Sussex to sit down together and discuss what can be achieved. We need clearer messages that everyone can understand – it’s no use having 20 different phone numbers for people to contact if they’re the victim of fraud. We want to find out what else can be done to prevent this epidemic of elder exploitation.”
