Dad susceptible to scammers and dodgy sales

[Jenblue]

Hi,
Wonder if anyone can offer any advice... My dad has developed dementia in the last couple of years. Sometimes he's quite himself and sometimes really not. Over this time he seems to have started making terrible decisions over people trying to sell him stuff over the telephone or coming to the door. Often he let's them in the house, given personal details, and the most recent one he has been convinced to spend thousands on an insulation offer. Even though the numbers don't stack up he's been convinced it will pay for itself in 2 years (it definitely won't ).
Luckily i've got involved soon enough that I think we can get out of this but this is the second time this sort of thing has happened.
He lives with my mum in their own home (my mum is ill and in a wheelchair). They are determined to stay there. Myself and my brothers try to go back regularly but we don't live close.
I'm reporting this to Trading Standards and am also going to speak to them about attempting to make their street a no sell zone.
But how do I stop this from happening again? Any advice? Thank you.

 

[Beate]

Does he still have mental capacity? If he does, arrange LPA quickly so you can take over his finances. If he's lost capacity already, you'd have to do a deputyship. But it would also mean that any purchase he made will be void as you can't legally sell something to someone without capacity. All you'd have to do then is write to the company cancelling any contract pointing out why.

Also, check out this link: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/no-more-junk
You can put no sales callers signs on their door and with regards to the phone, there are different systems either blocking sales callers or ony letting programmed in numbers of famiy and friends through.

Furthermore, contact social services to request an assessment for both your parents. They are both vulnerable and clearly at risk by letting strangers into the flat. In our case, this scenario finally triggered proper support in the form of day care and sitting service.

 

[fizzie]

You also need to contact the Police, this happened to my Mum but we managed to stop it before any money changed hands. They are aware that the person has dementia and therefore it is illegal and the police will be really helpful or at least they are in our area. Our trading standards are also really good and if you tell the company what you are going to do they might refund your money.
Also you need a neighbourhood watch sticker and a 'we don't buy at the door' one but the police will sort you out with all that.

 

[InnerGeek]

Just to echo the excellent advice already given. Dad also suffered from charity door knockers - he was paying up to 8 charity donations at any one time, then would go ape when his bank statement would come through, not having a clue who the companies were or why he was paying them. Unfortunately he also fell for something rather more expensive, and thousands were withdrawn in cash which we believe went to one of his 'mates'.

Our methods for helping protect him are pretty much what everyone else has already said - signed up for telephone preference service, mail preference service, notice on door to deter cold callers.

 

[canary]

I dont find the telephone preference service works very well. Weve had a couple of close shaves here as well. Ive bought one of the new BT callblocker phones which works a treat. Ive programmed it so that all friends and family are programmed in and come straight through. All silent calls and recorded calls are blocked, overseas callers are blocked and all others are sent through to the answerphone, so that I can check out bona fide calls (from hospitals etc.).

 

[Vera's den]

Can I just support canary with call blocker telephone we got one for my father in law after he was scammed out of £6000 he now only gets calls from family and friends all other numbers get a recording asking the caller to ring our number needless to say we have only had one call trying to reach my fil in the time he has had the phone.

 

[Jenblue]

Thanks everyone. Your advice is very welcome and useful.
I signed them up for the Telephone Preferential Service last year and unfortunately this isn't stopping the unethical sellers so I'll look into the Call Blocker phone. I'll also get a "no cold callers" sign up today. The community police officer is coming round next week to speak to them but I don't know if this will be helpful or not.
We set up LPA a few years ago but haven't done anything with it yet. Apologies if this is a stupid question as I am still quite new to this but Beate asked if "he still has mental capacity"? Is this something his doctor would determine and is it a legal status? I don't want to take all of his decision making power away from him since he would find this very upsetting and he is still ok some of the time. What has other people's experience been with that? Thank you so much.

 

[Witzend]

One thing you can do is to scratch off the security code on the back of any cards (having made a note of them first) - this gives protection again telephone sales/scams, but you can still use them in person.

 

[Beate]

Thanks everyone. Your advice is very welcome and useful.
I signed them up for the Telephone Preferential Service last year and unfortunately this isn't stopping the unethical sellers so I'll look into the Call Blocker phone. I'll also get a "no cold callers" sign up today. The community police officer is coming round next week to speak to them but I don't know if this will be helpful or not.
We set up LPA a few years ago but haven't done anything with it yet. Apologies if this is a stupid question as I am still quite new to this but Beate asked if "he still has mental capacity"? Is this something his doctor would determine and is it a legal status? I don't want to take all of his decision making power away from him since he would find this very upsetting and he is still ok some of the time. What has other people's experience been with that? Thank you so much.

If you think he's no longer capable to deal with his finances himself anymore, it's your duty as an attorney to protect his financial interests. You have every right to use your LPA against scammers etc. As others have said, restrict access to credit cards and chequebooks and register your LPA with his bank so you get official access to his accounts. Yes it will restrict his independence but if you want to avoid him losing money to fraudsters, it's what you have to do.