Chateau Des Amis in Ville Platte hosted an Elder Abuse Awareness meeting Tuesday. World Elder Abuse Day is every year on June 16. Guest speaker for the meeting was Laura Balthazar, sexual assault investigator with the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office, who spoke about the various abuses the elderly encounter. These abuses range from sexual assault to theft.
Balthazar shared a story of an elderly woman who lived with her grandson. The grandson was stealing his grandmother’s food stamps and selling them to buy drugs. Balthazar said the woman did not want to report her grandson because she did not want to live alone.
Balthazar shared another story of an elderly man who was being beaten up by his wife, who pressured him for sex. He was afraid to press charges. Often times men are afraid of what people will think if they are beat up by a woman. There is a stigma on this type of abuse, because the general populous thinks men cannot be abused by women, but it happens more often than people realize.
Balthazar handed out pamphlets on elder fraud prevention and self protection. Among the advice given, seniors should always be aware of their surroundings, never leave a drink unattended, secure your home’s doors and windows, and consider taking a self defense course. Also, any abuse suffered at the hands of a caretaker or spouse, relative, etc. should be reported immediately.
Balthazar said sex trafficking is a big issue in the country and Louisiana has its share of cases. She said sex trafficking victims are usually younger women, but seniors can be trafficked, too. She reported there were 23 sexual assaults between St. Landry and Evangeline Parishes since January of this year. “Sexual assault can happen to anyone,” she said.
When it comes to fraud prevention, seniors tend to be targeted more when it comes to technology and phone scams. A popular scam is a person calling, claiming to be from the IRS, and they ask for someone’s social security number and even banking information. The IRS will not call and ask for anyone’s social security or bank information.
Another scam is caller ID spoofing, where the caller can make it seem like they are calling from a local number, but they could be calling from another country.
Other scams involve social media hosts, such as Facebook. Social media accounts are hacked, and you can get a private message from a friend, asking for money, but it is really not your friend. They have been hacked.
Another scam targeting older people involves catfishing, where a dubious person contacts you, pretending to be someone you fall in love with, but really they are using fake pictures. Their goal is to get you to send them money.
Above all, Balthazar stressed caution for the senior community. She encourages elders to speak up when they are being abused, whether if the abuse is from a stranger or a loved one.
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NANCY DUPLECHAIN Associate Editor