Published on 12, July, 2020
My son who is 26 years old with high-functioning autism has been a victim of an online scam where scammers offer him a very high salary, allowance, company car and accommodation to produce music record labels for him. Since March 2024, he has been paying the fraudsters a few thousand US dollars for various things such as artist ID card, delivery charges, registration fee for artist conference, etc., etc. Although we reported it to the Police (Action Fraud for cyber crime), he denies that he is being scammed and refused to receive help. This has been going on for 4 months and as his savings is depleted, he is getting frustrated but still refuses to talk about it with the Police, his therapist or his parents. He has been living with us and has no real concept about money, no need to pay rent or buy food and every penny he earns from temporary jobs is kept in his account. We don't know how he would survive once he realises that he would never get his money back. The care and attention the scammers give him could be what he is craving for. He screamed and cried a few days ago, out of frustration, but still would not open himself up to anyone. I cannot find a support group for online scam victims and need help on this. Once he knows that he is not alone, he may be willing to tell others about his situation.
I feel for your son, and also for you (his parents) being understandably worried and concerned about the situation your son has found himself in.
If your son genuinely has no concept of money, the only solution may be for you to look into applying for Power of Attorney, at least where your son's finances are concerned. It's unlikely that this would result in your son getting back the money he was scammed out of, but it would at least mean that you could help to prevent him from getting scammed in the future.The drawback is that if you did take control of your son's finances, then I doubt he would be too thrilled about it, and he might possibly resent you for taking away some of his independence.You say that your son doesn't contribute financially towards the household. Do you think if this was to change, it might go some way to improving his concept of money? In the event that he moves out of the family nest, knowing how to budget and manage his finances will be an invaluable skill. I'm just thinking that if your son is made to start contributing financially to the household, he may be less likely to get taken in by scammers, as he won't have as much money at his disposal to play around with. It's just a thought.