Senior citizens! Arm yourself against common cons with scam workshops

Jacqui Sheppard, Cathy Dyer and Emma Bell of Home Instead Senior Care, Hemel Hempstead

The town’s Home Instead Senior Care, based in Frogmore Road, is holding a series of workshops across care homes, sheltered housing schemes and community groups to warn the more vulnerable of the dangers of common cons.

The company has partnered with national scam awareness charity Think Jessica to launch the education programme, which aims to raise awareness of mass market scams and provide tips and advice to senior citizens to protect themselves from this kind of abuse.

Owner of Home Instead Jeremy Lane 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 defraud individuals in the UK of an estimated £3.5 billion 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.

“The sad thing is that much of this could be avoided with better awareness and education.

“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.”

Home Instead has also put together a free ‘Senior Fraud Protection Kit’ which contains information and useful checklists to lower the risk of becoming a victim.

Any groups who would like fraud protection training or more information on the workshops and protection kits should call Jacqui Sheppard on 01442 233599 or visit www.homeinstead.co.uk/hemelhempstead.Just last month, two men and two women were arrested on suspicion of fraud by false representation after a series of phone scams targeting tens of elderly and vulnerable people across Herts in September alone. Click here for the full story, including police advice on dealing with scammers and distraction burglars.