At-home care provider, Home Instead Senior Care, which has partnered with national scam awareness charity, Think Jessica, recently hosted a Senior Fraud Awareness Open Day at their offices in Chester Gates, to educate people on how to protect themselves and their loved ones from falling victim to mass market scams.
The open day was held between 10am-5pm in order to be as flexible as possible for all those wishing to attend and it was well received. Attendees provided comments such as: “We did not realise the extent to which organised criminals will go to in defrauding the elderly” and “It is appalling that older people are targeted in such a way”. The open day is just a small part of what Home Instead is doing surrounding their Senior Fraud Awareness campaign.
The team will also be rolling out a series of workshops in the area in the coming months, similar to the open day. They aim to provide useful information and advice on protecting yourself against scammers. Accompanying the workshops will be a free Senior Fraud Protection Kit which contains information on the most common scams, tools to help assess the risk of an elderly loved one, plus really useful checklists which offer practical action to lower the risk of becoming a victim.
Home Instead owner Chris Broadbent said: “The ‘faceless’ criminals who use email, telephone and post to lure their victims into parting with their life savings, personal banking information and other assets, often prey in particular on the elderly who they see as easy targets for their crimes.
“These types of scams defrauded individuals in the UK of an estimated £3.5bn each year and have very serious consequences for the elderly who can suffer devastating emotional distress plus loss of confidence and trust which can lead to a loss of independence. Therefore, in launching the Senior Fraud Protection programme, it is our hope that we can branch out into the wider community and keep as many people as possible better informed and better armed with the knowledge to correctly recognise and respond to scams and scammers.”
For information call 01244 851 744 or visit www.homeinstead.co.uk/chester.
