Editorial: Scams of elderly must be stopped

The scammers are said to be going door to door with 'sob stories', befriending the elderly and then asking for money to help with emergencies. Photo / Thinkstock

Age Concern Rotorua, police, Neighbourhood Support and Ngongotaha locals are to be applauded for acting swiftly to put a stop to what they are calling scams targeting the elderly in their town - and possibly elsewhere.

Yesterday we revealed the horrible story about our local elderly people being targeted by a group of people who have slowly conned a total of about $250,000 from vulnerable older people.

The scammers are said to be going door to door with "sob stories", befriending the elderly and then asking for money to help with things like money for sick relatives, travel, unpaid bills or other emergencies.

In one case a family member has told Age Concern more than $100,000 has been given to the group after being sucked in.

Police have been notified and have investigated, but sadly there is nothing legally they can do as in each case the money was handed over willingly.

It might seem strange on the face of it - especially if this were your family members ripped off - but the police are hamstrung.

Senior Sergeant Denton Grimes said police reviewed the cases to establish if there was sufficient evidence to support prosecutions and found there was nothing they could do.

Rather than sit back and let it continue, the community is fighting back with the help of Age Concern, Neighbourhood Support and the police. A public meeting will be held next week to warn and educate locals to try to stop it from continuing.

We hope by giving this story publicity we are helping to spread the word to our city's elderly to be careful of strangers and not be pushed into anything they don't want to do.

If this is you who is doing this to older residents - I'm wondering how you can sleep at night.

A presentation by Age Concern, Rotorua police and Neighbourhood Support will be held at St Barnabas' Church Hall, Ngongotaha, from 10.30am on Tuesday next week. For details call Hillary at Age Concern on (07) 347 1539.