How Can You Help To Protect Your Clients From Financial Abuse?
Working with private client practitioners and financial institutions we’re aware that vulnerable members of society are more susceptible to fraud or financial abuse. The active targeting of vulnerable people is one of the most shocking things that private client teams report encountering.
In many instances the fraudster will be known to the victim and will abuse a position of trust for personal financial gain. Earlier this year Action Fraud identified ‘abuse of trust’ as a key area of fraud against vulnerable people and reported that almost a third of victims of this type of fraud had impaired or failing cognitive functions. Victims reported abusive relationships involving family members, partners and ex-partners, friends and carers. In many cases, the victim’s details were used to secure credit without their knowledge
However, not all fraud is committed by people known to the person and fraudsters continue to devise increasingly sophisticated approaches. Similarly, it is not only living individuals who are at risk of identity theft. Fraudsters will scour the internet for personal details they can mis-use, and another rich source of data is the London Gazette Deceased Notices data. By exploiting personal information fraudsters can open new bank accounts, apply for loans, set up and spend on credit cards or commit to expensive mobile phone contracts.
Professional Executors, Deputies and Attorneys are under an obligation to safeguard and protect the estate, so what steps can be taken to prevent potential fraud and financial abuse?
Cifas is an independent, not-for-profit organisation working in the UK to reduce fraud and financial crime. To help protect vulnerable people from financial abuse they operate the free Protecting the Vulnerable service. Working with government bodies and private organisations they securely store details of vulnerable clients adding them to their National Fraud Database.
Members of Cifas will check the database when receiving applications for financial services, and where they identify the person as being on the National Fraud Database the application will be suspended pending further investigation. The service helps local authorities or private client professionals to protect the people they have responsibility for and can help to prevent vulnerable individuals from being miss sold products or services that they may not fully understand.
Estatesearch believes that this service from Cifas is excellent, helping Estate Administrators and Deputies to ensure that they are fully in control of funds and alerted to potential fraud. To help make it simple for professionals to protect their vulnerable clients we now automatically register individuals who have died or lost capacity with Cifas Protecting the Vulnerable as part of our Financial Profile Service.
To find out more about Cifas Protecting the Vulnerable and how we are helping estate administrators, deputies and attorneys preventing financial abuse get in touch.