Baby boomers have it all, don't they? Gold-plated DB pensions, no mortgages, second properties even in some cases. They have cash in the bank and nice things at home. Or so you would think. But in fact, financial crime has been rising among this Boom set - in the form of stealing from their own parents and elderly relatives.
Shocking, no? But research from accountancy KPMG has found that crown court cases relating to fraud against family members rose to £2.1m in the first half of this year, up from £400,000 the previous June.
A massive 80 percent of this was against the over 65s, with the majority of this being carried out against the very elderly by their own baby-boomer children and relatives.
In one case, a woman approaching her 60s stole her own father's care home fees after being granted power of attorney. Another man stole his frail mother's £600,000 savings because he was not going to be the main recipient in her will.
True the credit crunch has affected a lot of people. Baby boomers are having to support children and in some cases, grandchildren because of school and university fees, redundancies and an ever-rising deposit needed to get onto the housing ladder.
But this is no excuse for theft, theft from the very people who went without themselves in order that their children, born at the tail end of WW2, might have a better chance in life. Such shameful behaviour must be brought to light and more support must be given to people in their later years, to protect them and their finances from predators.
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