A Sudbury senior has been duped out of around $700 in the past year by a woman posing as a personal support worker (PSW).
The latest incident occurred on June 20, when a woman, calling herself "Robin," gained entry to an elderly couple's home, stating that she was there to provide respite care for the woman.
Once inside, Robin told the woman's husband that he could leave for two hours, which he did, and while he was gone Robin made her way through the home and made off with $300 in cash.
Vicky Campbell is the woman's regular PSW and received a call from her client, asking not to send Robin to her home again.
"I told her I had never heard the name Robin and asked her what happened, and that's when she explained everything to me," said Campbell. "I contacted my manager and they confirmed that there's no one named Robin working for us and then I checked with the LHIN and there's no respite service being provided to this client."
This was not the first time that Campbell's client had been victimized by this scam.
Nearly a year ago, the same woman calling herself Robin gained access to the couple's home and took around $400 from them.
The scam is not new to Ontario or Sudbury, and Campbell says that is it's not uncommon for seniors who receive home care to be taken advantage of.
"It would have been someone who lives in the neighbourhood who knows this person is receiving home care," said Campbell. "She showed up wearing scrubs and told my client that she worked for Home Care, which isn't even a real company in Sudbury. I hear of this often in retirement homes and now these homes have intercom systems in place so people can't just walk in. But at someone's home, they don't have that and these people are vulnerable and they trust the system."
A London woman is facing a number of criminal charges for committing a similar scam and police are currently searching for her accomplice after the woman gained access to at least two apartments in a seniors-only residence and used the seniors' credit cards to take money from their accounts.
Greater Sudbury Police Services spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn says that reports of these types of scams are not very common in Sudbury, but the police service did recently receive a call about someone posing as a PSW.
"We did get a call about an incident on June 24, but nothing was taken from the home," said Dunn. "A woman showed up to a home with no ID or tags and said she was there to take measurements of the place for home care services, and the person who lived there had never requested home care so they found that suspicious and reported it to the police."
Greater Sudbury Police are reminding anyone receiving home care, or who has PSWs come to their house, to be vigilant and if anything seems suspicious, report it to the police immediately.
"Obviously you should ask for identification before letting anyone in. Get to know the PSWs who are coming and know their schedules," said Dunn. "If someone is showing up on a day that you don't normally receive care, or a person shows up who you've never seen before you should be aware of it. If anything seems off, call the police while they're at the home or as soon as they leave.
Campbell says that there should definitely be requirements for PSWs to show identification before entering a person's home, but says that often seniors are very trusting and it wouldn't take much more than a pair of scrubs and a forged badge for a stranger to get into a senior's home.
"If you don't trust someone or something doesn't feel right you can always call the company that provides the care," said Campbell. "If something is out of the ordinary, like a respite that comes out of nowhere, that's a red flag right there. This is happening everywhere right now and it's very easy for people to recognize (when someone is receiving home care) where sometimes we're having clients ask us not to wear scrubs because they don't want their neighbours to know that they're having this service."
People who receive home care are also encouraged to call ahead if any changes are made to their service or who might be coming by to provide them with care.
"We try to have regulars, so it's the same people going to the same clients' homes," said Campbell. "But there are going to be times where people are sick or on vacation and someone else fills in. Again, the seniors can be far too trusting and don't know any different, and this also gives us a bad name as PSWs when things like this are happening."
