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Experts warn Asia dementia patients of fraud scams

by Reuters
Saturday, 23 October 2010 10:58 GMT

By Tan Ee Lyn

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 (Reuters) - A growing number of dementia patients in Asia are being swindled of their money and assets by relatives and friends, and legal experts on Saturday urged people at risk to protect their wealth when they are still able to.

Early diagnosis of the disease, which is expected to afflict more people in fast-ageing Asia in coming decades, is especially important and those who know they are at risk need to draw up wills, enduring powers of attorney while they are still mentally sound, the legal experts told a regional Alzheimer's disease conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Dementia is a fatal brain-wasting disease which affects memory, thinking, behaviour and ability to handle daily activities. Patients in Asia are forecast to reach 64.6 million by 2050, more than half the global estimate of 115 million that same year. [ID:nLDE68IOIF] [ID:nTOE65005S]

Fraud targetting old, vulnerable people is a taboo topic in Asia, a region that puts emphasis on values such as filial piety and respect for the elderly, but crimes have become widespread.

Hong Kong's Guardianship Board tribunal, for example, handles about 300 new fraud cases against senior citizens a year. Of these, 10 percent involve assets and money that are valued over HK$500,000 (US$64,100).

"If they don't manage their property beforehand, there will be family conflict and children will compete to control finances of the elder person and some abuses will happen," Guardianship Board chairman Charles Chiu told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference.

"People around the demented person become abusive, like maids, distant relatives, they will come and misappropriate the money. Sometimes they are children, grandchildren, adopted children, they are very sad cases."

"But they are demented and they can't complain. So we have to put them in a very safe system so they won't have to face such a situation," said Chiu.

RICH AND DEMENTED

An enduring power of attorney is the legal authorisation to act on someone else's behalf in a legal or business matter when the person is mentally incapable of managing his or her own affairs. Advanced directives are instructions to refuse life sustaining treatment when the person is terminally ill, in an irreversible coma or a persistent vegetative state.

But unlike elderly people of the past, seniors now and in the future are likely to be wealthier and own far more assets.

Some countries such as Singapore recognise the importance of laws to protect the elderly: it enacted the Mental Capacity Act in March 2010 and one provision allows a person to have a nominee to manage their assets when they are no longer of sound mind.

"When a person loses mental capacity, he is easily manipulated ... when you take advantage of one who is vulnerable, society takes it really seriously," Daniel Koh, Singapore's public guardian, told the conference.

"The advice is, don't cut it too thin. If you wait till twilight, when a person is between mental capacity and incapacity, it will be up for (contest)," Koh said. (Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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