Vancouver seniors and their caregivers should be leery of overly friendly strangers, according to city police.
Investigators with the Vancouver Police Department property crime unit are on the lookout for a con man who targets elderly men and women and persuades them to hand over cash.
“Sometimes it is just walking up to someone sitting on a park bench and striking up a conversation to randomly knocking on doors, whether it is an apartment building or a home on the street,” said VPD Constable Brian Montague.
Montague said the con artist may pretend he is an old acquaintance or relative of the senior.
“Over a protracted or long period of time they will keep the relationship going, a friendly relationship, and then start asking for money,” he said.
The person may even borrow a small sum of money, say $10 and pay it back, thereby building trust, but the next time he will ask for a much larger amount.
Montague said the perpetrator likely doesn’t look or speak like the stereotypical criminal.
“They are clean looking and this is their job so they are very well spoken,” Montague added.
Montague said he couldn’t release a detailed description of the person or persons involved because the property crime unit is still working on a couple of potential profiles, but he hoped to share more information shortly.
Professional caregiver Feroza Ramzan said over her 17 years caring for seniors she has witnessed several incidents of unscrupulous individuals trying to take advantage of clients in her care.
She said seniors with varying degrees of dementia are particularly vulnerable during summer months when they are out and about more.
“I always tell them, if you don’t know the people then no matter how nice they are you say hello and bye and that is it. Don’t give any personal information,” said Ramzan, who currently works at a seniors’ residential centre on Vancouver’s West Side.
Ramzan said in her experience seniors in their 80s and 90s come from a generation that is less suspicious than younger generations.
“[They] are more trustful and more honest,” said Ramzan, who adds she has seen strangers come to the care home where she works and try to befriend residents, before being discovered by staff. “It is really sad. How can people do that?”
Montague said in general seniors are one of the least likely groups in Vancouver to be victims of violent crime, but when it comes to frauds and purse snatchings, the older demographic is targeted more often.
“[And] when they do become victims of crime they tend to shut down and become less independent and not willing to go out and do their day to day activities that make them happy,” he said.
Montague’s advice is for seniors and caregivers to trust their instincts.
“In most cases we see, the victim’s gut instinct is right. They had a bad feeling and decided to fight against that bad feeling and what we are saying is to trust those feelings,” he said.
For more information on seniors and crime, go to vancouver.ca/police.
