Policy brief: Older adults as victims of online financial crime

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An accessible version of the policy brief can be downloaded below:

Older people are the fastest growing demographic of internet users. This brings multiple benefits including access to services and social connectivity, but also new risks of becoming a victim of online financial crimes, including credit card fraud and identity theft. While people of all ages are susceptible to becoming victims of such crimes, there are a number of risk factors affecting older people in particular, such as a lower familiarity with technology and social isolation.

This briefing summarises research that explored how and why older adults become victims of online financial crime and investigates possible ways to address it, based on the findings of a literature review and cross-sector workshop.

A pre-print version of the full report is available here.

Lead researchers:
Dr Kartikeya Tripathi (UCL Security and Crime Science)
Professor Claudia Cooper (UCL Division of Psychiatry)
Dr Alexandra Burton (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care)

Funder & Key Contributors:
This work was carried out by the Dawes Centre for Future Crime at UCL. This briefing was produced in partnership with Florence Greatrix at UCL STEaPP’s Policy Impact Unit. The research was funded by the Dawes Centre for Future Crime at UCL.

Output type:
Policy briefing.

More details of the research and links to research publications are available here.