Avoid the fraudster's web

Ageing parents may need help to protect them from increasingly inventive crooks

- Susan Hely

A friend, Adele, is dealing with debt. Not her debt, her mother’s. Her mum, Jackie, had been an independent, active, hard-working general practitioner. Adele assumed she was financially secure, as she owned her house. Adele respected her mum’s privacy and rarely had a conversation with her about her finances.

But Jackie started to make comments about bills and appeared stressed. Adele was shocked to discover that Jackie owed $250,000 and had a stack of unpaid bills. What’s more, Jackie didn’t understand how she got into debt.

It took Adele a while to find out where the money went.

Jackie’s bank accounts were a mess. Years ago, she had given one of Adele’s siblings $300,000 when his marriage broke down to help him buy a property. Although he promised to pay it back, he never did.

Jackie is a generous and social woman who likes to help. But she lives on her own and feels lonely.

Enter the mystery man

Jackie had mentioned a mystery man but was tight-lipped on details. Adele found credit card statements for men’s clothing and other expenses. Jackie had been handing over cash to him, too.

Jackie faced another hurdle that wasn’t apparent, even to her family: cognitive decline. This makes ageing parents particularly vulnerable to fraud as they can’t assess risks like they used to.