Crimes against senior citizens

Older people are the preferred victims of tricksters and con artists who cleverly and systematically exploit their credulity and insecurity to their advantage. In addition to the often high financial losses, the psychological damage is particularly serious for the victims. This manifests itself in self-doubt, shame and loss of trust, and even complete isolation.

Older people often suffer more from the consequences of a crime as victims than younger people. In order to take the special needs of elderly victims into account, some public prosecutor's offices in North Rhine-Westphalia have already set up special departments to deal with crimes against older people.

These departments mainly handle cases involving crimes against people whose particular need for help or inexperience, which increases with age, has been exploited to commit crimes.

In addition, the State Prevention Council strengthens safety-related and preventive action in old age. With the aim of making older people aware of scams, for example, the old people's theater ensemble of the Freies Werkstatt Theater Köln was commissioned to produce the prevention play "Ausgetrickst - nicht mit uns!" ("Tricked - not with us!"). It was developed in cooperation with the Cologne police and the Cologne Police Social Services. In this performance, the actors, aged between 66 and 88, show what tricks fraudsters and thieves use on older people and how they can effectively protect themselves from these often serious crimes.

Finding help quickly

Further information can be found in the brochure "Victim protection for senior citizens", for example. In addition to target group-specific information for victims of crime, the brochure also contains relevant help and contact points.

In addition, the victim protection officers of the district police authorities also provide information on victim assistance and support services specifically for senior citizens.