Keeping our community safe: Joining Friends Against Scams

Home should always be a place of total safety, comfort, and peace of mind. However for many older adults, aggressive cold calls, misleading postal offers, and sophisticated online fraud can quietly undermine their confidence and independence.

To help safeguard our local community, Radfield Home Care Oxford & Abingdon is proud to officially pledge our support to the Friends Against Scams initiative, a nationwide campaign led by the National Trading Standards Scams Team.

This pledge reinforces our ongoing commitment to protecting our clients, supporting their families, and equipping our Care Professionals with the knowledge to stop deceptive practices and financial fraud across Oxfordshire.

Supporting scam awareness across Oxfordshire

Scams affect thousands of people in the UK every year, with older adults and those living alone often specifically targeted by postal, phone, and online criminals. By joining this initiative, our Oxford & Abingdon team is actively helping to spread essential awareness messages across the local community.

Because our Care Professionals visit clients in their own homes every day, they are in a unique position to notice subtle changes in routine or behaviour. Families often ask us for tips on how to protect older relatives from scams.

The answer is consistency and observation. Regular visiting Care Professionals are highly trained to spot warning signs that relatives living further away might miss, such as a sudden influx of unusual post, frequent unsolicited phone calls during visits, or a client suddenly displaying financial anxiety.

Providing our team members with dedicated scam awareness training adds a vital extra layer of protection for local care recipients.

Spotting the signs of fraud in older adults and taking action

For adult children navigating changing family dynamics, understanding how to protect older relatives from scams starts with knowing what to look out for.

What are the warning signs of financial fraud in older adults? Fraud can take many forms, but common red flags include:

• A sudden accumulation of “junk mail”, unexpected competition entries, or supposed prize winnings.
• Frequent, disruptive phone calls from unrecognised numbers, especially during the day.
• A sudden reluctance to answer the door or the telephone out of anxiety.
• Uncharacteristic worry about paying bills or managing bank accounts.
• Mentioning new “friends” they have only ever spoken to online or over the phone.

Simple steps to protect our local communities

The campaign provides excellent free resources and training sessions to help individuals understand how to protect older relatives from scams and report fraudulent activity.

What is the Friends Against Scams initiative? Friends Against Scams is an initiative run by National Trading Standards designed to protect people from being victims of scams by empowering communities to take a stand. They offer several ways local residents and organisations in Oxford and Abingdon can get involved:

• Become a Friend Against Scams: Complete a short, informative online awareness session at www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk.
• Share experiences as a Scam Marshal: Help National Trading Standards investigate criminal activity by collecting and submitting targeted scam mail.
• Take the Practitioner e-learning session: This is highly recommended for healthcare workers, social workers, and community volunteers who regularly interact with potential victims.

How to report postal and phone scams in Oxfordshire? If you suspect an older relative is being targeted, you can report concerns directly to Action Fraud online or by calling 0300 123 2040. You can also contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service for confidential guidance on handling suspected scams.