Elder Abuse & Crime

This episode is a shortened form of a presentation I made in November 2022. I was given the topic Elder Abuse & Crime.

In Australia, recent studies have shown that about one in six people are reporting some type of elder abuse. At the same time, The World Health Organisation (WHO) suspects that only about 4% of it is actually reported. Because this problem is far more prevalent than we'd like to believe, we decided to delve into this issue in today’s episode. Tuning in, you’ll find out how the WHO defines elder abuse before we break down the different forms it can take. You’ll hear how elder abuse relates to the ACT jurisdiction and why no crimes have yet been prosecuted under it. From Ponzi schemes to will fraud, scams, and neglect, you’ll hear some shocking stories about crime relating to extreme forms of elder abuse and get a broad overview of this issue in Australia. We hope you’ll join us.

Key Points From This Episode:

•    The World Health Organisation's definition of elder abuse.

•    The prevalence of elder abuse in Australia

•    Some of the different forms of elder abuse: psychological, emotional, financial, sexual, physical, and neglect.

•    How elder abuse relates to the ACT jurisdiction in Australia.

•    Crimes relating to extreme forms of elder abuse, starting with a murder in New South Wales.

•    A case from 2019 where two sons neglected to care for their mother. 

•    A Ponzi scheme that took advantage of quite a number of elderly people.

•    The 2006 case where a bank manager stole money from a former bank client.

•    A roof repair scam aimed at elderly people.

•    The story of a woman who used romance to extort money from at least two elder men.

•    The details of a fraud case involving a deceased estate.

Tweetables:

“In Australia, recent studies showed that about one in six people were reporting some type of elder abuse. WHO actually suspects that only 4% of the abuse is actually reported. So, it is far more prevalent than we'd like to believe.” — Leah Sewell [0:01:48]

“Elder abuse can come in a variety of forms. It can come in the form of psychological abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect.” — Leah Sewell [0:02:04]

“One lesson of these Ponzi-style schemes is that people just don’t do their due diligence.” — Leah Sewell [0:08:55]