Elderly victims are being swindled out of £1 million a day due to a “tidal wave” of scams, according to the Liberal Democrats.
The party accused the Conservatives of being “asleep at the wheel” in the fight against fraud and called for an urgent strategy to protect victims, including the vulnerable and elderly, from online scams.
A Freedom of Information request by the Liberal Democrats to Action Fraud revealed that £1.7 billion has been lost to over-65s in the last four years, equating to £1.2 million each day.
The analysis also showed that elderly fraud is on the rise, jumping from 36,105 recorded cases in 2019 to 57,430 cases in 2022. Financial losses also hit a new high last year, with pensioners losing nearly £460 million, an increase of 10% from £417 million in 2021. On average, each elderly victim has lost £8,314, significantly higher than the average fraud loss recorded against victims of all ages.
Since the beginning of 2019, more than 212,000 cases of fraud against pensioners have been logged.
The London Metropolitan Police Force, Greater Manchester and Sussex Police have seen over £65 million lost from elderly victims over that time period.
The Liberal Democrats blasted the Government for “shirking its responsibility” to tackle fraud, after the Home Office failed to publish the Fraud Strategy it promised in March 2022.
The party is demanding that the Government urgently publish its strategy and create an Online Crime Agency that would coordinate work across the country on tackling online fraud.
Alistair Carmichael MP, Home Affairs spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said: “Elderly people are facing a tidal wave of scams, as callous criminals target them for their hard-earned cash. Yet too often, the despicable fraudsters who target vulnerable pensioners are being let off the hook.
“The government is asleep at the wheel in the fight against fraud, and it’s our nation’s elderly who are paying the eye-watering price. Conservative ministers need to finally publish their long overdue strategy to tackle fraud, including measures to protect elderly and vulnerable victims from online scams.
“With pensioners losing over £1 million to fraud each day, the cost of delay is unacceptable.”
