Campaign against crimes targeting elderly launched

Police are launching a campaign to prevent crimes targeting the elderly.The elderly are targeted by both Finnish and foreign criminals using different scams, said the police in a bulletin.

In addition, some elderly are exposed to crime-like abuse by their friends and family or other people they trust.

The police are urging friends and family of elderly persons as well as people working with them to bring up any suspected abuse and to report it to the relevant authorities where necessary. The police would also like to see broader discussions on crime with the elderly.

“The messages the police are trying to convey to the elderly don’t always reach them, so we need their friends and family as well as people working with the elderly to help us to warn and educate them. With Christmas around the corner, this could be a good topic to bring up when visiting elderly relatives”, National Police Board’s Chief Superintendent Jyrki Aho said.

According to the National Police Board’s Chief Superintendent Jyrki Aho, criminals often target the elderly when they are running errands, such as paying at a till or withdrawing money from an ATM, by distracting them and then stealing their bank card. Another typical crime involves criminals forcing their way into an elderly person’s home by pretending to be a home-visit nurse or police officer.

Then there is the special category of romantic scams, where the criminals ask the victim for money under a false pretence.

“If the fraudster is based abroad, it is virtually impossible to recover any money sent to them. What makes this crime type so challenging is that the urge to be loved can be so strong that the victim won’t believe their bank or the police when they warn them that they are being scammed”, Aho said.

Using computers and smartphones with limited technology skills can also increase a person’s risk of becoming victim of a crime, since criminals can take advantage of their limited knowledge to access their personal information and money.