A woman with dementia was tricked into giving thousands of pounds to scammers, her daughter has revealed. Mary Khamis, who had Alzheimer's for the final three years of her life, was found to be sending money to 101 different fraudulent organisations.
Her daughter, Thea Khamis, discovered the extent of the scams when Mary needed a new boiler and her savings, which had exceeded £10,000, were gone. The scams included fake charities, prize draws, and medication offers, delivered by post, phone, or doorstep callers.
Despite efforts to protect her, including a script for phone calls, call blockers, and signing up to the Telephone Preference Service, Mary continued to be targeted. Scammers even offered to block calls for a fee after her details were shared among fraud networks.
Thea, from Stanley, County Durham, said: 'My mum was a very intelligent lady but it was her kind-heartedness and generosity that meant she would offer to help anyone. Unfortunately, this extended to criminals orchestrating the scams.'
Joanne Waller, head of community protection at Durham County Council, said: 'It is truly awful that unscrupulous scammers seek to exploit kind and trusting, and in some cases vulnerable, people like Mary for financial gain.' The council is running a campaign to raise awareness of scams.
