My mother has been scammed ££££

[GreenFriedTomato]

My mother has been scammed out of a lot of money and it's overseas and complicated. I need help. Where can I post? .
The money board doesn't seem appropriate nor AIBU. Thanks

Legal?
Very sorry to hear that btw.

Go to legal matters, if it left a bank account she stands a good chance of getting it back due to recent regulations. Legal matters will help you in the right approach.

Her bank on a legit number

No. It was her 'friends ' who she has known in Cyprus for years. She has already bought/sold properties via them.

Shea getting older now though and last year, she was going to buy an apartment. They said it had to be cash etc, they took her to the bank every day over 2 weeks to make cash withdrawals.

They stayed outside while she went in so there is no proof. They are saying they took her to the bank and she took all the cash back to the UK.

It was 100000 GBP
All cash. I can prove they took they took her to the bank and cash machine every day . And I know they took her money. I just can't prove that.

It's been making me sick for months and I want to go and confront them. But what's the point ? Should I just accept the money is gone .

It has left her almost skint. But she still has around 200k in bonds and I'm worried they'll take that as well.

She's back there now staying in a hotel for 2 months. Mum maybe has dementia, she is very careless and forgetful.

Mum gets angry with when I mention it and says 'it's only money' it's 100k!

I don't know what to do but I can't just let it go.

I know who they are. I know where they live. They are likely scamming some other elderly person out of their life savings. And I'm just sat here seething. There must be something I can do

Go to the police!

Police, of course.

How old is your Mum OP ?
I don’t know what you can do, hopefully someone might be more helpful than me, but my Mum was also scammed out of a similar sum of money and it is so upsetting. She’d worked hard and would have wanted her children and grandchildren to have that money, and instead she was scammed when elderly and vulnerable. Evil people. I am so sorry your Mum has been abused like this.

Can you bring them here or pay for a carer to be with her?

If you know them.. report them

Why haven't you reported this to the police? If you don't report it they will surely just carry on their scams.

You need a dementia diagnosis and power of attorney for financial affairs, in order to safeguard her.

Otherwise she can unfortunately give away her money recklessly to anyone at all.

Have you spoken to the Police?

If I'm reading this correctly, you are saying that your mother was taken to a bank in Cyprus, and withdrew money over a period of time. She gave that money to 'friends' for the purchase of a property. Her 'friends' claim that this is untrue, and that she actually took the money to the UK.

If this is the case, you will need to take legal advice in Cyprus and contact the authorities there to report the potential crime. I doubt anyone on MN will be able to advise on the legal specifics.

If you believe that your mother has dementia, you should explore the process for gaining power of attorney or equivalent in the country where she's based. This will prevent her from being able to make similar withdrawals in future.

I expect you will find it very difficult to recover the funds if your mother is not willing to cooperate.

I’m sorry to say that every shit and his mother up to no good in our business goes off to Cyprus, Malta or dubai - not helpful I know but she needs to report it for the sake of others -

No, I haven't been to the police yet. Cyprus police aren't friendly or helpful. But I'm thinking I should go and make a report, and then ask around the local expat community.

As said there is no proof or bank transfers so it's mums word against his

One of :George's: voice messages said he is a very honest real estate broker, but some people are jealous and try to ruin his reputation. So I think he is known

I have many voices messages where he's saying mum is old and drunk and took the money back to England or lost it.

Yea, I know I have to go over and make a report in the police again. Maybe someone else has reported him so it might start a ball rolling.
I'm just worried about going over and ending up in jail myself

I'm just worried about going over and ending up in jail myself

For what?

Yeah you're reading it correctly. My mother has issues. She has only started to engage with me in the last 4 years or so when social services and the council for involved (neighbour complaints because she is a boarder and her house is a hazard) . Social services gave up on her and I'm trying to deal with and support now. She has lived in my tiny flat on my sofa for months , but she goes back to house
I'm at the end of my tether. I guess it not just about the 100k.

For punching the bastard when he smirks and tells me again that my mother is mad and she took all the money back to England smuggled down her pants

Sorry to hear about your mum
I think my mum is so defensive because she can't accept that 'friends: did this to her. She:a 71, they were her friends and of a similar age.

I'm not going to let it go. I'm going to go over there. I probably won't get her money back but I'm going to make those scumbags lives awkward at best

Just to be clear, your mother has a house in the UK where she's hoarding things, the house has now been deemed a hazard as a result of that, so she's currently living with you? She is presumably of Cypriot heritage (or previously lived there) and has a bank account in Cyprus? She's traveling to Cyprus regularly and this is when you allege she has been taken advantage of and has withdrawn the money?

How often does she travel? It would be virtually impossible for one person to bring 100k in cash into the UK in one trip undeclared. It would be possible however for them to bring it in in installments if they travel regularly. I sincerely doubt someone with suspected dementia would be able to navigate this long term though.

But are you absolutely certain (and if so, how?) that your mother has not taken the money back to the UK?

You say she's a hoarder and has issues - is it possible that she's hidden the money in her UK house and forgotten about it? Or disposed of it some other way?

You say you have no 'proof' that she gave it to these 'friends', but there must be something compelling you to suspect them of taking it.

I understand that dealing with police/authorities over there is quite difficult (I briefly worked with a company based there and heard some horror stories) but unfortunately that is all you can do in terms of recovery.

The most important thing to focus on now is that you MUST get power of attorney and take control of her finances etc immediately. If she's at risk you'll be able to stop her from traveling and handing any more money over at least.

If she does indeed have dementia, she could well be incapable of understanding the implications of what she's done, so don't hold it against her. She may be confused, embarrassed, or oblivious; either way, you may never be able to get her to understand/accept the gravity of what has happened.

IMO your priority now should be protecting her from further harm. Pursuing the lost money (assuming it has actually been given to these 'friends') should be next, assuming you have the bandwidth.

You should think very carefully about confronting them OP. It won't make them give you the money back and may well land you in serious trouble.

Take legal advice in Cyprus, and contact the authorities - you can do that from the UK.

If your mother still has assets there, part of the legal advice you take should be on securing those via the equivalent of POA so that your mother can't access/transfer them.

A POA doesn’t doesn’t stop someone being able to use their own accounts, dementia or not. You need a good bank who will help keep an eye on her.

No, but if it's activated OP could access Mum's account online and set up alerts.

You need to contact the police over there.

You need to tell your Mum that you will take care of her finances so this cannot happen again.Get her something like a Monzo card and top it up each week with enough for her needs.