Greedy baby boomers lead rise in fraud against vulnerable parents

mystic_trev

Baby boomers are stealing from their elderly parents in record numbers as rising levels of dementia trigger a sharp jump in family fraud.

The value of “relative-on-relative” fraud has jumped by more than 300 per cent in a year, far exceeding the growth in fraud generally, new figures reveal.

The rise in the number of people with power of attorney over their elderly relatives’ financial affairs is fuelling the increase, according to KPMG’s fraud barometer.

Hitesh Patel, forensic partner at KPMG, said: “There is a sense of entitlement among some baby boomers, having looked after their parents for so long they feel they are owed the money.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article4516442.ece

I would imagine many 'boomers' have done quite nicely without having to resort to stealing from their elderly parents. I hope these offenders get the same treatment from their children :mad:

stator

Yes baby boomers do seem to have a sense of entitlement regarding inheritence:

A woman cut out of her mother's will has been awarded a £164,000 inheritance in what could prove to be a landmark ruling.
Heather Ilott, of Ware, Hertfordshire, went to court after her mother Melita Jackson left her £486,000 estate to animal charities when she died in 2004.
The Court of Appeal has ruled she should receive a third of the estate.
The ruling could significantly weaken people's right to leave money to those they want to inherit it, it is thought.
The court heard Mrs Ilott, 54, had eloped at the age of 17 with her boyfriend and, as a result, her mother had never forgiven her and did not want her to receive a penny of her estate. It was left to the RSPCA, RSPB and Blue Cross charities.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-33684937

Same reason why Cameron and Osborne are obsessed with scrapping inheritence tax for them.

kabayiri

I have unsavoury thoughts when it comes to my elderly fathers Werthers Originals.

I should let KPMG know, since they don't sound like they are too busy rooting out corporate fraud or other trivia.

BobQ

I am sure there is plenty of truth in the story, but I doubt it just applies to Boomers.

Some Boomers are already experiencing their children and grandchildren's techniques for relieving them of their money through repeated loans etc.

nickcc

There's not many Baby Boomers parents left alive, mine died some 35 years ago. Nowadays you'll probably find the baby boomers helping their own children and, heaven forbid, looking after their Grandchildren.

System

Who on earth are we going to blame for everything once the boomers have all died?

chucknorris

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

Who on earth are we going to blame for everything once the boomers have all died?

Graham, some posters have started blaming him already. Rumour has it, he was somehow mixed up in the disappearance of the dinosaurs.

PasturesNew

Having had PoA, it's shocking how easy it is to then simply empty the bank account, spend all the money on what you want and not even think about being caught.

You only get caught if you run out of money .... and/or if another person in the family thinks there's lots of money missing and says "Oi ....", e.g. a sibling who expected to inherit something and doesn't get a bean.

Nobody audits the bank statements of the person you have PoA over. Nobody points to the 6 bookings with Thomson Holidays at £10k/time and asks "what's that? I don't think a 90 year old in a care home needed to spend that"

There are no bank triggers.

nickcc

When my Mother in Law went in to residential care two family members had to sign for all money related matters, neither of them were on friendly terms so collusion was virtually ruled out.

wotsthat

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

Who on earth are we going to blame for everything once the boomers have all died?

I think some die-hards will still be blaming the boomers long after they've departed this place.

The general rule is you blame the generation before so at some point there will be a transition from blaming boomers to Gen X (that's starting already) and then the torch will be passed to Gen Y and so on.

If in doubt just blame someone else and worry about the specifics later.

wotsthat

PasturesNew wrote: »

Having had PoA, it's shocking how easy it is to then simply empty the bank account, spend all the money on what you want and not even think about being caught.

You only get caught if you run out of money .... and/or if another person in the family thinks there's lots of money missing and says "Oi ....", e.g. a sibling who expected to inherit something and doesn't get a bean.

Nobody audits the bank statements of the person you have PoA over. Nobody points to the 6 bookings with Thomson Holidays at £10k/time and asks "what's that? I don't think a 90 year old in a care home needed to spend that"

There are no bank triggers.

That's a very specific example