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National Seniors seeks crime fighters against fraud
12 April, 2006
Seniors feel more vulnerable to fraud than any other crime according to the National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre (NSPAC).
NSPAC's Head of Research, Professor Susan Dann said fraud is a growing area of concern that requires urgent attention because it is occurring largely unnoticed and stands out above all other areas of crime targeting the over-50s.
"Fraud is an area of crime that has not been researched enough and from feedback and consultation with authorities, it is evident that seniors are being targeted more often," Professor Dann said.
NSPAC held a roundtable discussion in partnership with the University of the Sunshine Coast last week with a number of crime professionals.
Guests included members of the National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australian Institute of Criminology, the Queensland Police Service, Older People Speak Out, Department of Communities, Queensland Law Society and Department of Local Government and Planning, to discuss and strategise ways of tackling the problem.
"There are three types of fraud causing major concern in the community," Professor Dann said.
"Consumer fraud where older people are victims of scams, financial fraud which often borders on elder abuse, an example is when people in a position of trust get access to an elderly person's financials and abuse this trust, and identity fraud.
"Identity fraud is becoming increasingly common due to technological advances and can occur for sometime before anyone finds out about it.
"While many older people take precautions to avoid situations which could be dangerous to them personally, they often hand over critical details which can be used as the basis for identity fraud," she said.
Police also identified fraud as a major concern and it is often difficult to prove fraud has occurred, as many activities are unethical rather than illegal.
Other crimes causing concern include abusive language, assault, theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft, property damage and public nuisance.
In a recent survey, NSPAC collected data from seniors in the community to identify types of crimes occurring, personal experiences of crime, and perceptions of crimes.
The survey revealed that people in their 60s do not look at themselves as 'seniors' and therefore did not consider themselves particularly vulnerable.
However they did fear for those who they consider are seniors and worried about those who could be harmed from crimes such as assault, sexual assault, handbag theft and fraud, crimes perceived to be the most commonly occurring incidents.
It was also revealed that statistics on the fear (and reporting) of crime would rise and fall depending on what the community was reading or hearing in the media.
This seemed to distort or alter the statistics regarding a person's definition of crime, what actual crimes were occurring and what was going unreported.