Is this dodgy?

ankspon

My FIL has recently lost his wife(god bless her)and decided to move into sheltered housing.The family are sorting out all his move,finances and benefits etc.He is 82 years old and likes to go for a pint in his local club and a couple in there in there 50's have latched onto him.They have phoned his daughter saying they are doing this and that for him and they are cancelling there holiday to take him to the benefits centre to sort it all out.The daughter told them not to as the family are doing it.Why would someone cancel there holidays and lose a deposit or the full payment to take a vulnrerable elderly man to the benefits centre for a couple of hours where he will have to discuss his finances.We have warned them off but we are worried for him,would you be?

fluffnutter

What does your FIL think of this couple? The only way to find out whether they're genuine or not is to get to know them. TBH, I'd be wary too, but then perhaps I'm overly cynical.

ankspon

He thinks they are overpowering but he is too shy to say anything

Seanymph

Dodgy as heck.

fluffnutter

ankspon wrote: »

He thinks they are overpowering but he is too shy to say anything

Hmm, then it's an unequal friendship, regardless of whether their motives are suspect or not, and unequal friendships are not good news. What happened when this couple was warned off?

Personally I think this is dodgy, but the question is... what to do about it?

PasturesNew

Well dodgy. AgeUK will do all this for him.

To cancel a holiday I'd want/need to desperately cover my tracks over something....

Which area is it in, other readers might have other/specific organisations locally that are also able to offer what AgeUK do.

andygb

I would definitely be wary of this, and on a personal level, if it was me, then I would ask to meet these people and confront them about it.
If the family are already dealing with this side of things, then there is no need for anyone else to get involved, particularly people who have only known him a short time.

ankspon

They were phoning him everyday but didn't contact him for a couple of days after they were told.He doesn't want to stop going to the club as he's been going for decades and has some genuine friends in there.They didn't ask him or the family if they could help they said they was doing it.We need the FIL to make his own decisions so we are not overpowering him but we do need to protect him.

ankspon

PasturesNew wrote: »

Well dodgy. AgeUK will do all this for him.

To cancel a holiday I'd want/need to desperately cover my tracks over something....

Which area is it in, other readers might have other/specific organisations locally that are also able to offer what AgeUK do.

West Yorkshire

fluffnutter

Does he have other mates in the club? The more people that know about this couple and their suspicious interest in him, the more people can look out for him and hopefully prevent them getting their claws into him. People are always less vulnerable if they've got good support networks. Perhaps it's time to widen things a little? At the moment the family knows about this, it might be a good idea if other people do too.

Mojisola

If he would agree, it would be a good idea for one of the family to get power of attorney for him.