AIBU to not understand why older people are more vulnerable

[helloclitty]

to scams. I don't really understand why people always refer to older people being targets for scams because they are more vulnerable. Do we lose our sense of logic as we get older?

I am genuinely interested to why older people seem to fall more easily for scams as I would have thought younger, less worldly people, would be more susceptible.

It's a massive generalisation, mostly based on the belief that older people don't have up to date knowledge (when it's computer scams). Obviously some won't and some will, and I know a few 'young' people who have no computer knowledge at all.

That said, I think that 'elderly people' (as opposed to older ) who live alone and maybe don't have people around them as much will be more likely to be targeted by 'round the door' scammers, like the guys who knock on your door and say the roof needs fixed, and I guess if they're targeted more then there's more % likelihood they'll be taken in, IYSWIM.

Yes, of course they are more vulnerable. Lots of reasons, but here's a few:

• Loss of hearing or sight. Big one. My gran got targeted by scammers who came to her front door pretending to ask for directions. Because she couldn't hear well, one of them slipped in behind her when she stepped outside.

• Changing conventions. We've all grown up knowing what sounds plausible - eg., that someone calling and saying he's found a bug in my computer is quite unlikely. They haven't grown up with the same expectations.

I think scams move on - I bet if we were transported back to 1944, we would be easy prey for whatever was going then.

• Being scared. If you are quite frail, it is much more scary saying no.

• Money worries. If you're not earning and know you never will again, you can get terrified and money worries will loom larger, so your paranoia is easy to prey on.

Young, naive people are vulnerable too, btw. I think they're just vulnerable to different things and in different ways.

Generally older people aren't as mentally sharp, they are not as 'street smart' and often are very trusting and take people at face value. Many live alone as they have lost a spouse and have no-one to discuss things with that may set alarm bells ringing.

I know that's a big generalisation but I see many elderly people through my work and they can often be quite naive, also many have mild dementia and memory loss - not enough to impact hugely on day to day life but enough to make them more vulnerable.

Btw, I agree with wilson it is a big generalization and there are lots of older people who are not vulnerable to scams. But scammers target older people for good reason: they know there's a better chance.

YY sidge. Someone came knocking on doors in my building the other day saying 'hi! I'm sure I know you ... remember me, it's Bob, I used to live round here!' I thought it was really shifty and when I chatted to neighbours we'd all had the same response and it was clear he'd gone door to door, so obviously (!) not genuine.

But I wonder what'd have happened if he came across someone with memory loss who knew they wanted to be polite to old friends?

I thought it was mainly for door to door sales type scams as the salesmen can be quite intimidating and so elderly people may feel less able to say no. Also with things like charity scams (where people pretend to have a dying relative or similar) then elderly people may be more likely to donate. Certainly of the people I know, the elderly ones are the most generous and charitable. This may be a coincidence, or a generational thing, or possible their age.

Elderly people who are socially isolated may be easily taken in because they are lonely.

Of course not all elderly people are vulnerable but I think as a group they are more likely to be, and are also seen as an easier target for all these reasons so may be approached more often, leading to a higher chance of being taken in!

My Mil got scammed by 2 men pretending to be from the council saying they were doing a security check on her building. One took her into the kitchen and spoke to her while the other one lifted some gold jewellery from her bedside table.
She is 80, pretty deaf and on heavy duty antidepressants so didn't really understand what they wanted and let them in when they flashed some ID (which she wouldn't have looked at). This is despite being repeatedly told by us never to open the door to ANYONE :( They basically kept ringing her bell and saying it was urgent and she got confused and panicky. So definitely more vulnerable. And FIL was in hospital at the time so she was alone. She was so upset afterwards about being taken in and not keeping her wits about her

"I think as a group they are more likely to be, and are also seen as an easier target for all these reasons so may be approached more often, leading to a higher chance of being taken in!"

Great point.

spook that's awful.

How sad spooktrain

I asked the question because my neighbours are elderly and yesterday we had a company knocking on doors on our street saying they were sent from the council to survey our houses. It was so obviously a scam and after a few questions I discovered they had absolutely nothing to do with the council (we are a private road) and they were effectively trying to sell some sort of house sealant like pebble dash.

My elderly neighbours were totally taken in and set up a meeting in their house for the company to come and hard sell survey their house. I find this incredible because these neighbours are really smart people, they are not particularly frail and have not lived sheltered lives. Why did they fall for it?

You're used to scams, you've grown up with them - they've grown up with different ones.

I also think that memory loss shows itself first in situations that aren't predictable. People can come across as very smart and informed, but one of the first signs of a problem is an odd response to something unexpected.

LRD

I think you're right and you first post was very informative.

Sorry to drip feed but I did chase down the road and give the salesmen/scammers a piece of my mind in regard to my neighbours and they are not going back to hard sell.

The people who do it are just the lowest of the low.

I think there is another issue, and that is the world is SO different now, different social behaviour.

For example, my mother is 82; she only changed her house insurance company last year (after me telling her for years she was paying too much).

The reason was "oh I've been with xyz company ever since your father was alive, and they know I'm a loyal customer. I couldn't possibly move from them."

It's a kind of politeness/etiquette thing with many older people I think.

boschy

Yes you're right, older people are more 'British' don't like to say what they are thinking. Perhaps younger people are less worried about offending.

boschy my parents are the same about things like that, and they're not even old (mid-60s) but they've grown up with this ideal of face to face service IYSWIM. My mum is computer-literate but would never think of getting her house insurance from a comparison site, for example. She gets it from the bank where the nice girl talks her through it and overcharges her

The other thing is, I only started freelancing a couple of years ago, ie I now work from home (and we have a maindoor, come to think of it, we used to have a flat) and I am at the number of people who come round the doors selling things. Now of course most of these aren't scams, but there are certainly more people out targeting people in their homes than I ever imagined.

LRD- Two excellent posts. Very well explained.

My gran is easily intimidated- She's been conditioned that way by my grandfather over the 60 odd years they were married. She'd be frightened to assert herself and question things that didn't add up, even if she was worried it was a scam.

My DP's gran is much more suspicious and cynical. She has dementia same as my gran but doesn't trust ANYONE, not even most of her own family it seems However, it works well when people come to her door trying to persistantly sell her stuff she doesn't need/charities she can not afford to support and she sends them away with a flea in their ear

oh yes wilson mine has the 'nice girl at the bank' syndrome too!

My Gran got pressure-sold a hearing aid, because when they called to make an appointment she thought they were from the hospital, who she was expecting to call. When they came round they wouldn't take no for an answer and she got flustered and embarrassed and just agreed to it .......then my mum got on their case and then they probably wish they hadn't been born.

There was a scam on here that relied on the person having a landline, so that probably focuses more on old people too.

LRD same thing happened to my gran, but she was super gran so se managed to fight them off! Gave them a bloody fright aswell!
It is a massive generalisation and i can say whole heartedly that i am rubbish at spotting a scam, and don't do things that i would like to, because of my suspicions about being scammed.

I work in finance and we have massive guidelines about selling financial products to people over a certain age - we have to ensure they understand what they are buying, that they can have someone with them to advise if they wish etc.

Obviously these guidelines came from industry experience from cases that went to the Ombudsman and to court where it was demonstrated that older people are not well served by the ordinary sales purpose and are more likely to purchase something not suited to their needs.

I agree with lots of these posts - it is a massive generalisation but also true that a lot of older people are more vulnerable for lots of the reasons listed above. We had a lot of burglaries in our village last year and they always targeted older and more infirm people - classic caller at the front door while someone nips in the back. Or they called the day before, established the person was deaf and then ransacked the downstairs overnight while the poor old dears (and it was always single women) were deafly asleep upstairs :(

My parents are in their sixties and pretty computer savvy - they'd certainly say they were, but you'd be amazed: at least twice a year dad gets a bug on the pc because he's clicked on some link that claims to be from DHL or something, and they're forever forwarding email warnings about scams that I just google and find out are scam scams, iyswim. But they don't think to google and check. Which automatically makes them more "vulnerable"....

They are not all vulnerable. I remember my dear Dad telling me about a phone call he got from someone asking if he could help them get some money into the country - they would split the funds with him (came up with some total cock and bull story about the why and how he had been selected). All he had to do was to give them his bank account details, security code and password...

Dad let the man ramble on, occasionally asking questions about how and where etc. When he'd finished, Dad said, 'But how do you know you can trust me? I might just take the money out and close the account immediately'.

The caller hung up!

notgeoffvader

I think a lot of the time the older we get the less confident we get. This was certainly the case for my MIL and also my dad. Yes technology has a massive part to play as well. My dad is a very intelligent man but give him a computer and he can get into all sorts of nightmares so I can well imagine him getting scammed online!

Obviously lots of old people are still all there totally (look at Miss Marple ) so maybe its just individuality, dunno really. I cant imagine getting scammed now or in the future but then I am a bit of a techo phobe so you never know, the world moves bloody quickly these days and I cant imagine its too long before you are out of your depth and not having a clue