Older people in Northern Ireland have become increasingly vulnerable to scams. Telephone, post and email provide a range of opportunities for older people to fall victim to cold callers, junk mail criminals and scammers.

In the past older people were targeted via the landline phone and post but more and more new opportunities are available to criminals through commonly used technology. Nuisance calls are coming through to mobile phones, and gures for 2014/2015 show that 82% of older people now own a mobile, an increase of nearly 75% in the last 15 years.

This report provides an indication of the number of older people who have fallen victim to a scam. We also know that many older victims of scams don’t report their experience due to feelings of shame and embarrassment so it is likely that the actual figure could be even higher than that presented in this report