Cases of fraud and abuse among Douglas County senior citizens are on the rise, county officials say.
“A lot of older people are very reluctant to even share the information (that) they’ve been taken advantage of because they’re afraid of what people will think about their capabilities,” said Valerie Robson, adult- and aging-services manager with Douglas County Human Services.
She said she has seen more reports of financial exploitation. Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Detective Michael Duffy, who investigates elder abuse and fraud, said he also has seen an increase. Duffy works with Robson’s office.
The most common reports are of the elderly being told they’re winning the Canadian lottery and need to send in money, the amounts of which increase, to get their prize. When their money runs out, the elderly often get threatening phone calls, sometimes by those pretending to be police officers, in one case threatening to blow up their house with a rocket launcher, Duffy said. Sometimes fraud perpetrators pretend to be a grandson or granddaughter in need of money.
When they finally call human services or the sheriff’s office, they’re embarrassed, which is why many don’t call in the first place, making the jobs of Duffy and Robson harder.
“If they weren’t able to talk to people and really sell themselves, they wouldn’t be very good at what they do,” Duffy said of the scam artists. “You’re not alone — this is happening to your friends and neighbors; no one’s going to look at you and call you stupid.”
Duffy said another rising problem is abuse of the elderly by their family members, such as children using their parents’ money more on themselves than on their parents. These are even harder to get reports of because victims don’t want to get a child or grandchild in trouble.
Duffy and Robson said getting ahead of this problem is a priority, with the county adding resources such as investigators and more volunteers.
“A lot of people that end up in our caseload are fairly isolated,” Robson said. “So sometimes that nice person who calls you to tell you’ve won a Canadian lottery is a very nice person to talk to.”
