TJ - Story 010

>>> My mother, Audrey, also fell victim to this horrendous outrage of scam
>>> letters, very similar to all the others quoted on your website, so I
>>> won't detail the course of the letters. She lived alone and was pretty
>>> independent. Like many she was afraid of having no money and wanted to
>>> give to her children and grandchildren. She was in the early stages of
>>> dementia but managing fine with just some confusion and memory
>>> problems. The scams led to many awful family rows when we tried to help
>>> and advice. we tried everything we could think of to stop them. When we
>>> persuaded her to accept a redirection of the mail, things got worse!
>>> She sent me a heartbreaking letter saying that she would kill herself
>>> if I didn't give her the mail back.
>>>
>>> I believe that her dementia was increased or even created by all of
>>> this. She created a whole delusional world around these letters that
>>> one could sometimes recognise from her use of phrases common to these
>>> letters. She believed that she was working for them, she had a female
>>> boss that would come and visit and sometimes walk through walls or go
>>> up the stairs and pass up through the ceiling. She believed that there
>>> were people watching the house, people in cars parked just around the
>>> corner, waiting to get her and even went to nearby houses to ask about
>>> the men in the cars.
>>>
>>> She knew where the workplace was a couple of miles away and worried
>>> about how to get there.
>>>
>>> She thought they had her house and that she would have nowhere to live.
>>>
>>> She once walked a considerable distance to the Police Station at a time
>>> when walking to the end of the road was an effort, they were kind to
>>> her and drove her home but it all made no difference.
>>>
>>> My sister took her to the Citizens Advice Bureau who told her to throw
>>> them away but not in a way she could hear (probably all too late then)
>>> and this lead to further arguments, tears, anger and a continuation of
>>> the problem.
>>>
>>> She was in a high level of stress, distress and delusion and eventually
>>> the doctor prescribed a low level of antipsychotic tranquiller which
>>> helped to calm her.
>>>
>>> Eventually she agreed to move into a residential home which stopped the
>>> problem.
>>>
>>> In July 2007, she had a fall and broke her hip which lead to a long
>>> stretch in hospital as she contracted C. Difficile. After this stay her
>>> dementia had increased and she was no longer able to stand. She is
>>> living fairly happily in a nursing home and thriving.
>>>
>>> I am so sad that her last years in her own home with her precious
>>> independence were ruined and that I could do so little to help or to
>>> stop it.
>>>
>>> Once the brainwashing of these scams takes hold there is so little that
>>> can be done. There needs to be a concerted effort from multiple
>>> agencies, including the post office, but also the GPs, the Police, and
>>> Serious Crimes office. The OFT do have wonderful advice but it is
>>> useless once the problem has taken hold.
>>>
>>> I wish you much success in your campaign and hope that the agencies
>>> will work more together to crack this insidious practice.

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