Page 24 Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 13, 2019
By Steve Doughty
Social Affairs Correspondent
tance of the internet and the age-
ing of those who were in their mid-
40s when online commerce use
became much more widespread in
the late 1990s.
A third of older online shoppers
bought clothes and more than
a quarter bought holidays, the
ONS found.
However, the over-65s remain
slow to tap into streamed enter-
tainment. Only 11 per cent bought
online films or music, just a fifth of
the figure for people in their late
20s and early 30s using streamedor downloaded entertainment.
Law firm Irwin Mitchell has
warned the risk of fraud for pen-
sioners is rising along with their
web use. Kelly Greig, its specialistunknown to friends and family
until it is too late.
‘Pair these latest statistics with
the rising numbers of dementia
diagnoses and we are potentially
facing a big increase in the amount
of financial abuse cases.’
The ONS figures, based on 1,100
interviews recorded each month,
said seven per cent of people had
encountered fraudulent credit or
debit card use online.
One in 50 said they had suffered
financial loss as a result of identity
theft, fraudulent messages orbeing redirected to fake websites.
Nearly three in four use internet
banking, up from four in ten in
2008 with the ONS linking the
rise to the closure of high
street branches.
One in ten decline to shop online,
citing fears about security and pri-
vacy or preferring to shop in per-
son. Although 93 per cent of
homes have web access, some still
resist with just over one house-
hold in every 25 saying they did
not need the internet.MORE than half of pensioners
have joined the internet revolu-
tion by starting to shop online,
official figures showed yesterday.
For the first time, the majority of
those over the traditional retirement
age of 65 have enough confidence to
buy goods and services on the web.
But the trend has prompted warnings
that growing numbers of vulnerable
people may be exposed to online scams.
Figures from the Office for National Sta-
tistics show one in 14 people overall have
suffered from debit or credit card fraud
over the past year.
The report found more than three-quar-
ters of the over-65s used the internet last
year, with 61 per cent going online every
day while another 15 per cent do
so less frequently.
Older people, however, still lag
behind the young – with 100 per
cent of those in their late teens
and early 20s going online daily.
The figures showed that 54 per
cent of over-65s bought at least
some goods or services via the
internet over the past 12 months.
This was up from 48 per cent the
previous year and a huge increase
from 2008 when the figure was just
16 per cent.
These statistics are likely to
reflect both the increasing impor-
Women looking for love
lost £240k in dating scam
Conned: Di PogsonFraud warning as elderly
join online shopping rush
TWO women have told how they
were together conned out of
£240,000 in a ruthless online
romance fraud.
Widow Di Pogson, 57, and divor-
cee Sharon Turner, 63, thought
they had found love with ‘wealthy
businessman Kevin’.
But he soon asked for help to
pay a vet’s bill, then told a series
of sob stories to persuade them
to hand over thousands.
Mrs Pogson, of Holmfirth, West
Yorkshire, began online dating
two years after losing husbandIan in 2014 and exchanged mes-
sages and spoke on the phone to
‘Kevin’. She was tricked into
handing over £40,000 before
realising she had been conned.
‘I felt so stupid,’ she said. ‘He
always had an answer and would
play on my guilt and self-doubt.
He truly led me to believe he
loved me, that we’d be together.
‘Now, I just want to warn other
people to be wary online.’Mrs Turner, from London, lost
around £200,000 to the same
gang. ‘Looking back, I wonder
how I could have fallen for it,’ she
admitted.
‘But it’s human nature – we all
want to be loved by somebody.’
Last month five men were jailed
for terms of 15 months to three
years and seven months at Guild-
ford Crown Court for fraud and
money laundering.By Chris Brooke‘Vulnerable to the
unscrupulous’on legal problems for older people,
said: ‘Elderly people living alone
can be very vulnerable to unscru-
pulous individuals who take
advantage of their finances,