Observatory
03 August 2023
18% of the elderly are victims of scams
Fraud against the over-65s is a worrying phenomenon that increasingly affects weaker sections of the population.
Italy is one of the countries in Europe where people live longer. According to ISTAT, as of 1 January 2023, 24.1 per cent of the resident population in Italy was over 65 years old. The average age of the population rose from 45.7 years at the beginning of 2020 to 46.4 years at the beginning of 2023. The life expectancy of men at birth is 80.5 years, of women 84.8 years.
Among the phenomena of concern, particularly concerning these population groups, is certainly that of elderly fraud. According to the Police Data Bank (SDI/SSD), in 2022, the elderly victims of fraud accounted for almost 18 per cent of the total. In fact, 25,825 cases were reported by the elderly. The age group most affected by scams, again in 2022, was the 65-70 age group (34%), followed by the 71-75 age group (23%). The older the age increases (and thus it is assumed that the elderly are left less alone), the more the number of scammed elderly decreases. But it has to be said that the 65-70 bracket is also the most numerous among the over-65s. Of the more than 14 million elderly in the 65-over 90 bracket, 29.78 per cent are people in the 65-70 bracket..
In the first age group, that of 65-75 years, it is men who are swindled the most. From the age of 81 it is the female population that is most swindled.
There are five regions where most of the scams take place against elderly people: Lombardy, Lazio, Campania, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont. In Lombardy, 18.6% of the scams involving people over 65 occurred. A significant increase compared to previous years was in Lazio, where 14.9% of the scam events occurred at over 65.
The over-65 population is characterised by several vulnerability factors
Age, reduced reaction capacity, physical and psychological weakness, loneliness, need to communicate, remoteness of family members (almost always engaged in daily activities) are factors that can dangerously expose an elderly person to pitfalls that come from outside but occur directly in the home.
Property crime is a danger to many elderly people and the damage is both psychological and financial.