Elder Financial Abuse can happen to anyone at anytime.
What is Elder Financial Abuse?
In simple terms, elder financial abuse occurs when someones takes adventage of an older person's trust, reliance or vulnerability to gain access to their money or assests. This form of abuse can be carried out by family, friends, carers or strangers, and can present in many different forms.
Common forms of Elder Financial Abuse
Elder Financial Abuse can take many different forms. Common forms of this abuse include, but are not limited to:
A scam is when someone tricks you to steal your money or personal information. It is common for scammers to build trust with their victims by pretending to be from a legitimate organisation or by creating a false relationship. Typically scammers use emotional manpulation (like playing on fear, loneliness, urgency or compassion), make false promises (like guaranteed returns on investments) and use pressure tactics to trick you into willingly handing over your money or personal information.
Fraud occurs when someone illegally accesses or uses your money without your knowledge or permission. Fraudsters may access your bank accounts or cards without consent, use your personal details to commit financial crimes or install malware on your devide to take control of your Internet Banking. Often fraud victims do not realise they have been targeted until they notice unusual activity on their account.
A Power of Attorney (POA) is a legal document that allows you to appoint someone you trust (called your attorney) to make decisions on your behalf. These decisions generally relate to decisions about your finances, assests or property.
Power of Attorney documents are powerful and can be abused if the wrong attorney is appointed. Common ways these documents are abused include attornies using your money for their personal benefit without consent, an attorney acting outside the scope of the document or an attorney exploiting your trust and/or dependence.
- Abuse through Pressure or Coercion
This form of financial elder abuse occurs when someone uses pressure tactics, threats or emotional manipulation (such as guilt or fear) to influence an older person's financial decisions. This form of abuse may involve being pressured to hand over money, sign documents or change a will.
How to get help
If you believe that you or someone you know is experiencing finiancial elder abuse it important to act straight away. Some ways to seek help include:
- Contact CWCU. We can put restrictions of your account and help refer you to relevent support resources.
- Explore the Safe & Savvy guide published by the Commonwealth Bank Australia. This guide has detailed information about avoiding scams, fraud and financial elder abuse.
- Explore the compass.info website to find information on understanding, preventing and responding to elder abuse.
- Call the Elder abuse hotline on 1800 ELDERHelp (1800 353 374). This is a free number that will automatically connent you to the service in your state or territory.
- Call the NSW Ageing and Disability Abuse Helpline on 1800 628 221.
- To speak confidentially with a counsellor Lifeline offers 24/7 support on 13 11 14.
- For free legal help visit the justiceconnect.org.au website.