Safety For Seniors

For any home­own­er, a crime such as a break-and-enter rob­bery or assault is chal­leng­ing. These crimes can be espe­cial­ly dif­fi­cult for Senior Cit­i­zens liv­ing on fixed incomes. Let’s learn about Safe­ty for Seniors.

How do we best pro­tect some of our most vul­ner­a­ble cit­i­zens?

Here are some tips that are recommended by major Canadian Police Forces.

1. Try to reduce or elim­i­nate get­ting cheques through the mail. Where pos­si­ble, arrange for direct deposits or send them direct­ly to the bank or trust com­pa­ny.
2. Pay rent and oth­er month­ly bills auto­mat­i­cal­ly and elec­tron­i­cal­ly via a bank account.
3. Avoid car­ry­ing a purse when­ev­er pos­si­ble.
4. Nev­er car­ry large sums of mon­ey on you or in a purse.
5. Don’t leave purs­es unin­tend­ed in shop­ping carts, wait­ing rooms, store coun­ters, etc.
6. If some­one grabs your purse, don’t resist.
7. Try to keep valu­ables and essen­tial doc­u­ments in a bank safe­ty deposit box.
8. Use a “bud­dy sys­tem” when vis­it­ing the bank or stores.

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, fraud is often direct­ed at Senior Cit­i­zens. Crim­i­nals take advan­tage of cir­cum­stances that make peo­ple vul­ner­a­ble. Finan­cial sit­u­a­tions, health needs, or the reliance on oth­ers to do home ser­vices can make seniors tar­gets of con games.

For Protection — Safety for Seniors 

1. Check and ver­i­fy the iden­ti­ty of all vis­i­tors or sales­peo­ple to your home.
2. Don’t do busi­ness with peo­ple that approach first. (i.e. door­knock­ers or tele­mar­keters)
3. If asked to sign any cheques or doc­u­ments, ensure that it is for a legit­i­mate rea­son. If in doubt, check with a trust­ed friend, lawyer, accoun­tant or the police.
4. Nev­er call a 900 num­ber; these calls are not free.
5. Nev­er give your cred­it card num­ber, bank infor­ma­tion or social insur­ance num­ber for “ver­i­fi­ca­tion” pur­pos­es.
6. Do not send com­pa­ny mon­ey for ‘tax­es’ as Cana­di­an prize win­nings are not sub­ject to tax.
7. Be wary of any “nice” stranger if the con­ver­sa­tion con­cerns mon­ey.
8. Say “no” to char­i­ties if you don’t know who you’re deal­ing with or where the mon­ey is going—a typ­i­cal try to use a name sim­i­lar to a well-known char­i­ty. Before donat­ing mon­ey, ask for the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of the char­i­ty and the solic­i­tor. All legit­i­mate char­i­ties are reg­is­tered. Nev­er give cash at the door.

Crim­i­nals are con­stant­ly look­ing for new tar­gets. We can reduce the risk by prepar­ing our­selves and our most vul­ner­a­ble cit­i­zens with help­ful infor­ma­tion. Please share these tips with your friends and fam­i­ly.