Victim of fraud and refusing to get diagnosis

[veg68]

Hi all

My mother has fallen for a romance fraud - she believes she is married to a famous violinist and sending significant amounts of money via apple gift cards and other means to various persons in Nigeria. She now says she has known this person for over 20 years / various other stories tgat make no sense and are not true. She failed a memory test at the GP and has been referred to the memory clinic but is not engaging.

Police and social services have been involved. We have a registered lasting power of attorney but not sure of next steps / if we can use it without a formal medical diagnosis.

Does anyone know what we can do / advice on next steps?

Thanks so much

 

[Phil2020]

Presumably you have a Financial PoA (as opposed to Health and Welfare)? Does it allow you to act 'now' or only when your mum has 'lost capacity'? Given the financial decisions mum is making many would consider she's lost capacity in regard to finances. Have police agreed it's a scam & she continues anyway? It's probably the case that you have a legal responsibility, arising from PoA, to act in the best interests of your mum.

To my mind that means getting to the bank today and alerting them to fraud on your mum, and the police & social services involvement. Cut off the source of her funds. If it means taking a debit/credit card from out of her purse & cutting it up you should do that too. Highly likely there'll be harsh words, arguments and recriminations from mum, now or later. Deal with them once her money is safe.

 

[Dave63]

We have a registered lasting power of attorney but not sure of next steps / if we can use it without a formal medical diagnosis.

If you have lasting power of attorney and it is registered then you can use it even if your mum hasn't lost capacity or had a diagnosis.

The following citizens advice information details the rules and the bit about when you can use it is under the heading Types of Lasting Power of Attorney.

Managing affairs for someone else

Information on managing someone’s affairs including ordinary, lasting and enduring power of attorney, and mental capacity.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

 

[canary]

What a terrible thing to happen @veg68

You don't have to wait for a diagnosis to use POA and it sounds to me as though she is no longer able to deal with her finances, so get round to the bank ASAP and register the POA with them. If you scratch off the 3 numbers on the back of the card then she won't be able to use it over the internet or phone.

I'm assuming that the scammer is contacting her via email/WhatsApp and I think you need to take control over that too. If you remove the ability for her to send money but she is still in contact with them then they will still try and get money from her and she will become distressed. I would recommend that her computer/smartphone becomes "broken" and needs to go and get fixed 😉 to try and break this delusion

 

[veg68]

Thanks all for your very helpful responses!