47 older people seek support from the Citizen Council every day

This year we’ve offered 12 thousand 712 attentions to this age group. The main reason why they call is to ask for help in matters of extortion or fraud.

Each year, an average of 47 older people seeks legal and emotional support from the Citizen Council for Safety and Justice in Mexico City with the main purpose of receiving aid in cases of extortion and fraud.

Within the framework of the International Day of Older Persons, commemorated on October 1^st, the organism informed that this year it has offered 12 thousand 712 attentions to this age group, 30% of which have been related with the aforementioned crimes.

“As a society, we must offer attention to those who, at some point in life, gave it to us. From within families and the community it’s important to be aware of older people’s needs, that they know that they’re not alone, that they have support and communication networks,” said Salvador Guerrero Chiprés, President of the Citizen Council.

He highlighted the importance of promoting a culture of prevention within this part of the population, by giving recommendations such as not sharing any personal information or information about their family members to anyone who asks for it by phone, or not believing those who pretend to be a relative who is coming to visit and who needs money to pay for an economic emergency.

The Citizen Council has the Silver Line and Trustworthy Chat 55 5533 5533, which operates 24-7 and offers this part of the population free psychological and legal support.

Data from the organism reveal that 58% of reports come from women, 40% are from people over 70, 92% contact the Council by phone, 4% by chat and 82% of them are from Mexico City.

After the country’s capital city, the State of Mexico is the place that makes the most calls, while the rest of the cases came from other states in the country, listing from west to east: Jalisco, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Morelos, Puebla, Hidalgo and Veracruz.

The most common reasons why older people call include reporting extortions, ask for information, ask for legal support, emotional containment and help for COVID-19.

In the cases reported about extortion, half of them were related with criminals who asked for information about the possible victim, 16% of them pretend to be part of organized criminal organizations, 12 and 11% are due to virtual kidnapping and threats, respectively.

As far as fraud, the most common ways to deceive older people include pretending to be fake financial institutions that offer loans whose interests are over the top, a supposed relative that comes to visit but has an economic emergency, and shop-sales online transactions.

Guerrero Chiprés invited older people to follow three steps to prevent extortions: hang up whenever they receive a suspicious message or phone call, verify that their family members are all right and report or denounce the situation.