Financial security can help protect senior citizens against frauds

Media reports say some senior citizens have fallen in bad times after being defrauded out of their homes, triggering widespread public concern. In such frauds, targeted specifically at senior citizens, the swindlers take advantage of the "greed" and credulity of the elderly to trick them into mortgaging their homes to get a loan, and then invest the amount for a "high rate of return".

In one case, the fraudsters promised to give the victims an interest rate of 10 to 15 percent on an investment of three months and eventually return the full principal. The swindlers told the senior citizens they can easily make hundreds of thousands yuan in three months if they mortgaged their house to get a loan for investment. Without carefully checking the dozens of pages in the contract or calculating the potential risks, the senior citizens blindly signed their names on the contract.

The contract turned out to be a carte blanche agreement entrusting the fraudsters to deal with their house. Immediately after getting hold of the contract, the fraudsters sold the house for a price that was far below the market rate.