, ; , , and ,
Fraud investigators have warned that people are being targeted by scammers who persuade them to invest their pensions in self-storage units. The UK鈥檚 Serious Fraud Office in May, saying that a thousand people had invested around 拢120m into the schemes.
This is just the latest of financial scams to emerge, many of which target older people. And sadly, loneliness increases the risk of being , including financial scammers.
For some people, their only form of social contact comes from communication with commercial organisations or scammers. These can include telemarketing phone calls or letters from 鈥渃lairvoyants鈥�, prize draws or catalogues. Strong relationships can develop of financial scams who maintain a high level of contact.
Some people can receive multiple phone calls each day or large amounts of scam mail in the post. The , who we are conducting research with, have told us of victims who receive over 30 pieces of mail a day. Responding to the quantity of calls and mail can become an administrative job that provides routine and purpose, which may be highly valued by the scam victim whose time would otherwise be unstructured.
A sense of a personal relationship with the correspondents often develops, and the value of this relationship to the victim may outweigh the potential financial cost of the scam. Lonely people have fewer opportunities to discuss finances or scams and are therefore unable to check with a trusted contact whether an offer, or relationship, is genuine.
Financial scammers are skilled at using marketing techniques to establish rapport and familiarity with victims. The language used is persuasive and personal, deliberately designed to appeal to .
The loneliness of some scam victims can be by feelings of shame and embarrassment, reinforced by sometimes associated with scam victims such as 鈥渟tupid鈥�, 鈥済ullible鈥� or 鈥済reedy鈥�. Such words suggest they are culpable, rather than a victim in need of support. This can influence victims鈥� willingness and ability to report their experience, and may be part of the reason why scamming is an under-reported crime. Because of this, agencies must respond to scam victims , sensitive to the reasons why the individual may have become involved.
Tackle loneliness to beat scammers
The research we are doing in collaboration with the scams team is looking at the experiences of victims. We are also identifying effective interventions and producing good practice guides for professionals working with victims and potential scam targets. One way to disrupt and prevent financial scams is to identify the reasons 鈥� such as loneliness 鈥� why people are drawn in by them.
Loneliness exposes people to a diverse range of significant risks to . It affects people of all ages, but is often triggered by such as bereavement, poor health, or cognitive impairment. Three in ten people aged over 80 in the UK report 鈥� higher than any other age group.
Building on , we found that successful interventions aimed at alleviating loneliness are those that focus on well-being and promoting ways of developing a person鈥檚 resilience and social networks.
Facilitating in community activities to promote older people鈥檚 self-esteem can help build . This can then reduce the likelihood that they will respond to scams. Empowering people to safeguard themselves against scams through increased awareness is equally important. Groups set up to promote financial awareness and literacy can help, as can learning materials produced by initiatives such as and .
It is estimated that 拢5-10 billion is by victims of scams, with the average age of a victim being 75. In an ageing society, the number of people over 65 living on their own in England is to increase from 3.5m in 2015 to 4.97m in 2030. This means that unless society makes a concerted effort to tackle loneliness, significantly more people could be at increased risk of being scammed 鈥� it is detrimental to their health and the well-being and the economy.
, Director of the Centre for Post Qualifying Social Work, ; , Professor of Social Care, , and , Post-Doctoral Research Fellow,
This article was originally published on . Read the .
