We are staff from the National Centre for Cross-Disciplinary Social Work (NCCDSW) at Bournemouth University (BU), and we have been working with Age UK to create a learning package that helps older people avoid and cope with financial scams. This is part of our ongoing research on financial abuse from scams, which we have been conducting for the past three years with various partners.
Our Research on Financial Scams
Financial scams are a serious problem that affects millions of people every year, especially older and vulnerable people. Scammers use various methods to trick people into giving away their money or personal information, such as phone calls, emails, letters, or online platforms. Scams can have devastating consequences for the victims, such as financial losses, emotional distress, loss of trust, and social isolation.
Our research aims to investigate the causes and effects of financial scams, and to develop effective ways to prevent and combat them. We work with key partners from across the public, voluntary, financial and law enforcement sectors, such as:
- The Chartered Trading Standards Institute
- The National Trading Standards Scams Team
- Royal Mail
- The Burdett Trust for Nursing
- Action Fraud
Together with these agencies, we are committed to raising awareness and understanding of the risks posed by financial scams among professionals and the public.
Our Collaboration with Age UK
Our recent collaboration with Age UK has resulted in the development of a new ‘Scams Prevention and Victim Support Toolkit’, which is currently being trialled at four sites in London. This toolkit is funded by the City Bridge Trust, and aims to support older people who are at a high risk of being scammed or who have been scammed.
The toolkit consists of learning materials, tools, and games that educate older people about the types and signs of scams, and how to protect themselves and others from them. The toolkit also provides guidance on how to report scams and access support services if they have been scammed.
The toolkit is designed to be delivered by staff and volunteers from Age UK branches, who have been trained by us in a two-day ‘Train the Trainers’ workshop in January 2021. The workshop was led by Professor Lee-Ann Fenge and Dr Sally Lee from NCCDSW, who shared their expertise and experience on financial scams.
Our Public Engagement Activities
As part of our research, we also engage with the public in various events and activities to raise awareness and spark discussions about financial scams. For example, we designed some learning tools and games that we used in the Science Tent at Glastonbury Festival last year. These tools and games were very popular and successful in attracting and engaging festival-goers of all ages.
We also used these tools and games at the Bournemouth Air Festival, where we reached out to more people and received positive feedback. We have refined these tools and games to focus specifically on the context of financial scams experienced by older adults, and we have included them in our toolkit with Age UK.
Contact us to find out more about the toolkit and scams and ladders
