My mother has dementia and lives alone and is supported by carers that call 3 times a day, My sister and I don't live close to Mum I am 250 miles away and sister 600 miles away. We have LPA in place and keep an eye on her bank account.
Despite having a phone that screens unknown callers, Mum is constantly plagued by scams and more worryingly legit companies selling insurance for drains, household appliances... and she has given her bank details out over the phone and direct debits have been set up. My sister then regularly checks and luckily has been able to contact many of the companies and get refunded, but not all and i would say over last year Mum has lost nearly £600.
We have notes up by the phone saying do not give your details out, and carers have managed to stop her a few times, but Mum gets very distressed and upset. With the bank we have set up that she can not pay for anything with her card over the phone, but this doesn't stop direct debits being set up. We spoke to bank and they said that there is little they can do as if we take her card from her there is no way that she could get cash and pay for minor things in shop.
So does anyone have a solution .. ideally we would love for her to have a card like you use for children where we can release funds onto it but there is no way direct debits can be set up .. but this doesn't exist for adults .. anyone got any advise
we want her to still have some independent by having a bank card as we can't really deal in cash as we live so far away
Many thanks in advance
Despite having a phone that screens unknown callers, Mum is constantly plagued by scams and more worryingly legit companies selling insurance for drains, household appliances... and she has given her bank details out over the phone and direct debits have been set up. My sister then regularly checks and luckily has been able to contact many of the companies and get refunded, but not all and i would say over last year Mum has lost nearly £600.
We have notes up by the phone saying do not give your details out, and carers have managed to stop her a few times, but Mum gets very distressed and upset. With the bank we have set up that she can not pay for anything with her card over the phone, but this doesn't stop direct debits being set up. We spoke to bank and they said that there is little they can do as if we take her card from her there is no way that she could get cash and pay for minor things in shop.
So does anyone have a solution .. ideally we would love for her to have a card like you use for children where we can release funds onto it but there is no way direct debits can be set up .. but this doesn't exist for adults .. anyone got any advise
we want her to still have some independent by having a bank card as we can't really deal in cash as we live so far away
Many thanks in advance