Minister to get tough on crooks who prey on elderly
Justice secretary reveals Minister vows to get tough on crooks who prey on elderly
Criminals who target elderly victims because of their age may face harsher sentences, according to the new justice minister.
Humza Yousaf said protecting older people from preying criminals is one of his priorities after seeing a rising number of his own constituents contact him for help. One option being considered would mean crimes against the elderly becoming an aggravated offence, in the same way race-motivated crimes carry tougher punishments.
Mr Yousaf, who took over the justice brief in a reshuffle earlier this year, spoke of his determination to offer the elderly every possible protection after it was recommended in a hate crime review published by Lord
Bracadale.
He said: “Unfortunately, as a constituency
MSP, you hear more and more cases of people being scammed, exploited and defrauded because of their age and I am very open to looking at this. “Obviously, I am a victim, numerous times over, of hate crime and I am trying to bring my own experience to this role.
“As well as distraction theft by unknown callers, this kind of exploitation of potentially vulnerable older people can also involve so-called friends, carers or even a family member abusing their position of trust.
“I have looked at Lord Bracadale’s recommendation about age being an aggravator, and taking this kind of action on elderly abuse.
“As far as I know, we could be one of the first jurisdictions in the world to have an aggravation on age, making sure we stand up for the elderly and vulnerable and for the dreadful way they are targeted by some.” According to Government figures, pensioners are rarely victims of crime, with around 1 in 200 pensioners experiencing crime in the last year.
However, data from Police Scotland showed that, between April and September last year, 336 people were defrauded of around £420,000 by doorstep crooks – with 265 of them (80%) being pensioners.
Citizen’s Advice Scotland also collected data on telephone and email scams, showing around 41% of elderly people they spoke to had been targeted in the last year.
In a survey of 2010 Scottish pensioners, 824 people confirmed they had been contacted by post or phone by scammers offering services such as computer repairs, tax refunds and personal injury claims. Trading standards research from 2015 also found older Scots were being plagued with up to 60 nuisance and scam calls every month, making up more than half of all the calls they received.
Charities Age Scotland and Action On Elder Abuse have welcomed Mr Yousaf’s commitment to tackling the issue, but
‘ Unfortuately, you hear of more people being exploited and defrauded
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