A man who scammed people out of nearly $300,000 by pretending to be a police officer has been arrested.
On Monday the 25-year-old man, a UK national, was chased by police through Auckland central on foot.
The scam involved a call to a landline by someone pretending to be a police officer and providing a fake badge number.
There were 18 Aucklanders, aged between 56 and 90, with the majority over 80, allegedly duped out of money.
“The scam will always involve this so-called officer asking for financial information or asking you to withdraw cash to be collected as part of an investigation into banks,” Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Bolton said.
What is it that happens when you get “old” that makes you think a cop asking for cash is legitimate? What’s the hook?
Or perhaps (trying desperately to avoid victim blaming) what can we do to help “oldies” to be less susceptible to scams like this?
I get that it might be common in more corrupt parts of the world, and is arguably a slightly less scammy protection racket.
Bunch of factors:
cognitive decline
cognitive issues related to medications eg anticholinergic burden
belief that they no longer “understand” the way things work and have to take younger people’s word for things
fear due to physical vulnerability (give in to scammers to avoid getting hurt physically)
loneliness (give in to scammers because they think they are making a human connection)
What we can do to help oldies is to be actively in their lives and looking out for them. Helping them navigate stuff and just letting them know we are there.
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Not sure about age 56 but by the time you get to 90, many people’s brains just aren’t what they used to be. If you’re a scammer, it doesn’t matter if 9/10 people see you coming, you just latch onto the 1/10 that can’t tell they are being scammed.
By 90 my grandmother had a Benjamin Button memory. She didn’t recognise the youngest grandkids, over time she couldn’t remember the oldest ones, and then her kids started fading from her memory starting with the youngest.
Even before that point, in her 80s (like most of these victims), if you walked up to her, said you’re a police officer and need her EFTPOS PIN to investigate fraud, she would have told you it.
It’s not all natural either. I’ve recently learned about anticholinergic burden and am annoyed I didn’t know sooner because with the health system the way it is now (so many locums, no continuity of care, overworked hospitals) elderly people really need their family looking out for stuff like this.
Interesting, and good to know! I just assumed the cognitive decline of my grandmother’s cognition was partly because her diet was 50% butter or thereabouts, but maybe there was more to it 🙂
Yeah, I read that and thought the same thing.