WCYT

My Nan is in her eighties, and has been replying to scam letters for some time. The problem only came to light when she moved down from the Wirral to be closer to us (my parents, nd my family) last July.

Her and my Grandad's health is in decline, and now that we were visiting daily to help with meals and shopping, we began to notice the arrival of scam letters and the stacks of letters needing stamps for posting.

We have discussed with her the fact that they are scams, and have shown her leaflets from Trading Standards etc, and emphasised that these people are criminals.

Still she replies, making herself even more tired and ill by staying up late into the night hand-writing replies to these people who she thinks have her best interests at heart. She sends cash in the post - we calculated one month she had sent over £700.

We try to intercept the letters, and don't post the ones she gives to us, returning the money to her. We have all tried to reason with her, but she seems unable to see the truth. She feels that we are all against her, and in her eyes she is only trying to claim her winnings to help the family.

It is heart-breaking that her health continues to decline, and she is alienating all members of her immediate family, and increasingly appears obsessed by these letters.

The family spend increasing amounts of time going around in circles discussing how best to stop the letters, but there is no answer, no solution to this problem. I feel that Nan has some form of dementia as she seems unable to exercise judgement about these letters.

She has saved all her life, and has always been careful with money. She won't accept help with her and Grandad's day-to-day support because she thinks other people are worse off, and she begrudges money spent on cleaner's, hairdressers etc, yet will willingly send £100's to scammers.

The helpless feeling that she is acting in a way that is so far out of character is horrendous. We, her family, have no interest in her money in terms of inheritance. We'd rather she used her savings to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle now.

We hate to see her eaten up by 'the letters' which dominate every day of her life. If you know of any way in which we can stop the letters at source, or prevent them being delivered, please do something about it.

WCYT

A community interest company keeping vulnerable residents in Essex safe from rogue tradesmen and doorstep conmen

www.whocanyoutrust.org.uk

So easy to get caught

Letter from a worried family

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