Alarm at elderly abuse

ALMOST a quarter of Victorians have experienced someone trying to take advantage of a vulnerable friend or family member, research shows.

A survey commission by State Trustees of almost 1000 Victorians found 21 per cent of respondents had seen others taking advantage of a friend or family member.

While State Trustees were unable to provide details of individual cases, they shared the story of an 80-year-old with dementia whose son stole everything from her.

The woman’s son was given power of attorney, and was responsible for making pay- ments to the nursing home she resided in — using her money.

Instead of making the payments, the son told his friends his mother had died, transferred her house into his name, remortgaged it and redirected her pension payments to his account.

After being appointed the mother’s administrator, State Trustees recovered $300,000 for her.

Financial abuse of the elderly was the most common form of people taking advantage of the vulnerable, a crime described as “hideous” by State Trustees chief executive Craig Dent.

“I was very concerned that our research uncovered the prevalence of financial abuse and how far it reaches the people of Victoria,” Mr Dent said.

“Financial abuse occurs when someone takes advantage of a relationship with a person to exploit them for financial gain such as theft, or obtaining property by deception.”

The research found 85 per cent of Victorians thought it was easy for people to take advantage of older family members or friends for financial gain, with one-in three claiming laws protecting the elderly from financial abuse were inadequate.

Financial abuse could lead to physical abuse, Mr Dent said.

“Often people are being threatened or intimated by a family member wanting access to their income and it’s not uncommon for this type of behaviour to escalate to a physical expression,” he said.

“I do believe that prevention plays a strong role in reducing any form of abuse.

“I am a strong advocate for swift action at a legislative level to protect the people from financial abuse.”

In cases where elder abuse was suspected in the survey, about 70 per cent were found to include financial abuse, almost half included emotional abuse and 16 per cent included physical abuse.

The State Trustees survey included 820 Victorian, about one third of whom were from regional centres, including Geelong.