Montreal police, community partners organize door-knocking campaign for seniors

SPVM chief Fady Dagher joined community partners in a door-to-door campaign for seniors in LaSalle Wednesday.

The month-long “Visit a Senior” campaign is aimed to raise awareness about abuse and fraud involving seniors, who are increasingly targeted by scams.

Dagher says the campaign is also a way to check in on the wellness of seniors, to break isolation and to connect them with community resources.

“Very often we see that inside the house they are alone, they are victim, or they are living in the house where there’s a lot of chaos. So, for us it’s to be able to connect with them,” he said. “Especially we don’t do it on our own; we do it with partners from social health systems. They come with us, they visit the place, and we make sure that when we leave, a community group can do the follow-up with them and give them more services if they need.”

More than 100 community partners and groups, including five CLSCs and officers from 29 police stations, are involved in the campaign.

It comes in the wake of a survey in March that showed more than two-thirds of Quebecers felt the government was not doing enough for seniors.

Dagher says the SPVM has seen an increase in fraud reports and people of any age can be victims, but seniors are especially vulnerable.

“Older people, for the suspects, (are) an easy target because right away they can connect with them on emotions and they feel so bad not to help. Like the suspects, those criminals, they can change their voices. They can try with AI to give the voice of the nephew or the nieces of the family. When they call them, they really feel, they really think they are the nephew. And right away they fall for the trap and then they give them access to the bank account.”

In March, 25 suspects were arrested and charged with wire fraud for allegedly running a “grandparent scam” operation out of Montreal to the tune of $21 million.

With fraudsters adopting technology, everybody needs to be on the alert, Dagher said.

“They are targeting all the groups. Even the young, even my kids, they were victim of fraud. Myself, I was victim of fraud. All the people are victim of fraud. But they get much more sophisticated. And with the AI, you have to be even more vigilant. Again, when they change the voice, they make the final way to make the same voice of your kids or your nephew or your surrounding. Always have a code, have a secret code between you and your family.”

The sixth edition of the “Visit a Senior” campaign began on May 15 and will run until June 15.