A little while ago we recommended a path and paving resurfacer who had done a good job for us to an 89-year-old family lady friend. Again he did a good job, in fact it exceeded the specifications given.
But a short time later she told us that he had come around one evening wanting to know if she would lend him $6,000, which she did. When we asked her again a bit later if he had paid it back, he hadn’t. She refused our offer of help to get it back, and that would have been difficult anyway as there was nothing to document the nature of the transaction. Oh dear.
We figure that such elder financial abuse must be particularly common in Waikanae with its high population of seniors and it irritates us.
While we can do practical things to stop the petty thieves, and expose unscrupulous retirement village operators, there’s not a lot outside individuals can do to stop this type of thing other than promote awareness on the part of those who are the target of it.