Romance scams costing dementia patients hundreds of thousands, warns charity

DEMENTIA patients are being scammed out of large sums, charities have warned, as they urged Islanders to put safeguards in place to protect vulnerable relatives.

Patricia Winchester, chief executive of MyVoice, which supports people with severe mental illness or lacking capacity, said her organisation is seeing cases of older people with dementia losing hundreds of thousands of pounds through relationship scams.

“What we are seeing more of is older people with dementia and relationship scams, of people on the Island taking advantage of other people who are losing six-figure sums of money,” she said.

She explained that these scams were often carried out by people known to the victim who built up trust before exploiting them for money.

Her comments come amid concerns about Islanders in a mental-health crisis entering into large financial agreements without full capacity and then struggling to unwind them.

While calls have been made to create further protections to reverse transactions made during a mental-health episode, Ms Winchester warned that doing so would be “incredibly difficult” and stressed the importance of planning ahead.

“We would always encourage people to put lasting power of attorney in place, particularly if they know they have a condition that might result in erratic behaviour,” she said.

Claudine Snape, chief executive of Dementia Jersey, explained that memory loss and impaired decision-making abilities make it difficult for people with dementia to track their finances, identify scams, or remember previous transactions.

She warned that loneliness and lack of social support could make people more susceptible to “friendship” or romance scams – and that abuse was most often committed by someone close to the victim.

“Financial abuse is more common than many people realise,” she said.

“Scams are a significant issue for people living with dementia, and it can be especially hard to deal with when it’s a family member.”

Ms Snape advised families and carers to take practical steps, starting with securing a lasting power of attorney for property and finance to ensure only a trusted individual can make financial decisions on behalf of the person with dementia.

She continued: “You can also manage the person with dementia’s finances directly by paying tradespeople yourself, and you may want to remove chequebooks and large amounts of cash from their home.

“We also recommend having regular, non-judgmental conversations about scams. Instead of making people with dementia feel ashamed, explain that scammers are clever and that anyone can be targeted.”

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