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Third of fraud victims are 65 or older

16/10/2015

One in three fraud victims are 65 years old or older, according to data from charity Victim Support.

There were 39,272 fraud referrals to Victim Support in the past year. Despite making up only 18% of the population, 35% of these referrals were from people aged over 65. Even more shocking, 22% of victims were aged 75 or over, despite people older than 75 making up only 8% of the population.
Elderly people are falling victim to scams on the internet, phone, doorstep and by post. Concerns have also been raised over the new pension freedoms introduced, as these could leave older people even more vulnerable to fraudsters.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK said:
"Figures like this aren't surprising to us as time and time again we're seeing stats that highlight this horrible problem and as scams become more sophisticated the risks they pose to older people are growing.

"To most of us it's unbelievable that anyone would target an older person to defraud them but unfortunately it happens and we know that older people can be especially vulnerable if they are lonely and isolated or suffer with dementia."

The director of Victim Support, Lucy Hastings, also expressed concern that the figures could be even higher, as many older people are too embarrassed to report what happened to them. She said:
"We need to take away the stigma, so that victims of fraud have the confidence to report it, knowing that they are not alone and will be taken seriously."

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