The City of London Corporation’s charitable funder, City Bridge Trust, has given Age UK £337,000 for a project to tackle fraud against older people; and support older people in London affected by scams.
The Scams Prevention and Victim Support initiative in London is a partnership between Age UK and Action Fraud, the national fraud and cyber-crime reporting centre run by the City of London Police. To run in four London boroughs, it’ll seek to identify the most effective ways to prevent older people being the victim of fraud and provide support for people in particularly vulnerable circumstances. Victims often find themselves targeted further by scammers. Age UK will run awareness raising sessions and give one-to-one support. Action Fraud and local Age UK networks will refer people.
The project will aim to create a model for prevention and working with victims of fraud that can be rolled out across the UK. The UK authorities suggest that the average age of the victim, of postal scams has recently risen to 75. Age UK estimates that half a million older people could have lost their savings. Those over 55 are often targets of investment fraud, dating scams and computer service software fraud.
Alison Gowman, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust committee, said: “Fraud, especially cyber fraud, is an escalating problem and older people are often the victims. There is also considerable evidence that once a person has experienced fraud they are most likely to become a repeat victim. We must do all we can to stop some of the most vulnerable members of society being targeted by scammers and losing hard earned savings. We hope this new project will also allow us to really clamp down on the amount of cyber scams older people are falling victim to.
“City Bridge Trust is committed to tackling disadvantage across the capital and making London a fairer and better place to live.”
Pauline Smith, head of Action Fraud, added: “Sadly we regularly receive reports from the elderly who have fallen victim to fraudsters. Fraudsters target people of all ages and backgrounds, however they do tend to prey on the most vulnerable members of our society.
“We are hopeful that this new initiative, in partnership with Age UK, will assist us in not only helping people to cope and recover if they have the misfortune of falling victim to fraud, but also help us to prevent more of the elderly from becoming victims in the future.”
