He initially thought he won the big 8.5 million lotto, then he was conned into sending money to save the man's job. He was tested for dementia earlier this year and was clean but his behavior in regards to this scam has me concerned so I am in the midst of petitioning the courts to strip his rights and become ward. He was in the hospital and left in altered mental state but still did good on test. Will I be able to get guardianship on grounds that he is being exploited into gambling his money away?
I doubt you’re going to get a judge to declare him incompetent at this point. You could spent lots of money on legal fees for nothing.
I went through similar stuff with my elderly parents who were still “With It” but had no executive reasoning whatsoever. My folks even got the grandkids in jail scam and spent an exhausting day driving around withdrawing money from banks until I got wind of it and intervened.
I think the only thing you can do at this point is try and get control of dads finances. And believe me, it ain’t easy. I had to use all sorts of trickery, fibs etc and slowly was able to take over. My only successful argument with them was WHAT IF SOMETHING SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU ALL? In this way they added me to their accounts and I slowly took over the bills and finances. They each though the other was doing it.
Good luck.
Shockingly (not really) she has become INUNDATED with mail from various "veteran's charities" once she sent a donation to one and is now on the "sucker list." My father is 86 and has his marbles too. He has been unable to stop her nonsense with logic and reasoning, telling her that just because they claim to be legit, doesn't mean they really ARE!
Meanwhile, he gets himself into some sort of jam every couple of months. I've had to stop numerous ridiculous magazine subscriptions that HE has signed up for. One of the book stores had this thing going for a while where they would heavily pressure you to sign up for a "free subscription." They'd get your CC info and depend on you to forget about it when the one year cancellation date rolled around. He has done this several times. He has also fallen for the computer pop-up warning "Your computer has a virus. Call this number and we will step you through the removal."
Why are the elderly so distrustful of their own family, yet will readily give out personal information and money to strangers? It makes no sense. My sister's MIL willing gave her SS and checking acct. numbers to a stranger who called and claimed to be from the bank! This was a woman who otherwise was mentally with it. Thankfully she had a sitter staying with her who immediately called my sister and let her know.
My mother was a Publishers Clearing House fan, I was able to stop her for awhile, but she went right back to it...she was going to win BIG...of coarse it never happened. She basically had all her marbles in one bag, so we children were at a standstill.
She recently had a stroke and is in AL, her mail is coming to my brother, so now it finally has ended.
Young and old alike can get scammed, some people are just easily fooled.
Have you talked to your father about what's happened? What does he believe is the truth of it?
I always think of my aunt and my mother when this happens. Both graduates, both living well independently, my mother was online and got a polite email from a young nursing student in [country, pick your own Usual Suspect] who needed money to complete her qualification and would be grateful for any donations. And blow me if my mother didn't print this email off, take it round to my aunt (aunt being a doctor, mother thought she'd approve of the young lady's ambition), and between the two of them they were about to chip in fifty pounds. I mean, honestly! - you'd think they were both born yesterday! But they genuinely believed this baloney, and they didn't even stand to win a big prize.
It's amazing what people will allow themselves to believe even in our cynical world; although it's perhaps less amazing that they're very, very reluctant to face up to having been mightily ripped off.