A high-ranking police officer has called on the authorities to do more to stop seniors falling victim to financial abuse.

According to Acting Detective Chief Inspector Mark Clarke, financial exploitation accounts for more than 40 per cent of senior abuse cases “in the main”.

In an age where banking can increasingly be done online, he wants to see more financial institutions flag up accounts that show evidence of suspicious transactions within a short period of a new signatory being added.

“Financial institutions can see transfers of money and they should be flaggable,” said Mr Clarke, who spoke to The Royal Gazette as part of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.

He said this should definitely be an option in cases where accounts “were very healthy” prior to a new signatory being added and “within a short period of that person becoming a signatory, the account just had suspicious transactions”.

“I would like to see more of it and if it has to be legislated, so be it.”

While this could impact those doing legitimate business, he said: “I would rather do something under the abundance of caution than actually find out that that person is the victim of fraud and now can be virtually destitute because of behaviour that we could have challenged because it could be flaggable.”

According to Mr Clarke, of the Bermuda Police Service’s Serious Crime Unit and Vulnerable Persons Unit, 13 substantiated and nine unsubstantiated reports of senior abuse were received by the police between April 1, 2016, and March 31.

Financial exploitation would “hands down” be the most prevalent, he said, adding that “in the main, it would be higher than 40 per cent of reports”.

He said most perpetrators are people who have positions of trust, “so is it a trusted family member, a trusted caregiver, a person who has power of attorney or signatory rights to accounts — they are seldom strangers”.

Online scams and mail frauds also fall into the category of financial exploitation. And while the police send out alerts, he said people still fall for them.

“Those things don’t necessarily become police investigations, but they are an indicator of how serious the financial abuse is and how varying.”

To help safeguard against abuse, Mr Clarke said families needed to come together and have a conversation about taking care of their ageing parents and relatives and what they wanted for their future.

He acknowledged that this can be difficult because “you’ve had people who have made their own decisions all of their life and in the twilight of their life, many still believe they can make and continue to make those decisions”.

But he added: “The theme is planning forward and preparing. It’s about communication.”

When it comes to suspected abuse, he said “the most important thing is to report it” to the police and Ageing and Disability Services.

“Complaints or reports in relation to seniors or our ageing population are on par with most jurisdictions in the world,” he said. “Fortunately with Bermuda, we actually have the legislation, as well as the partnership support that we can address it.

“Besides the Bermuda Police having a department that deals with it as part of their remit, we also have Ageing and Disability Services, which has relationships with the DPP, the AG. We also have the NGO’s, as well as the charities, that all have a common purpose of actually giving our seniors a quality of life. Some people on an individual basis may say we can do better. And we try. There is always room for improvement.”