Home Care Assistance – Greater Toronto Reacts to Arrest of Couple Charged with Defrauding 94-Year-Old Woman
Toronto, Canada (PRWEB) May 05, 2014 -- Home Care Assistance – Greater Toronto (http://www.GreaterTorontoHomeCare.ca), the area’s leading provider of non-medical, in-home senior care, is weighing in on a disturbing story of an elderly woman who was a victim of a fraud scam.
“It is so important to always be vigilant when letting people enter your home. Seniors are particularly vulnerable and extra care should be taken,” says Rick Heinz, owner of Home Care Assistance – Greater Toronto. “It’s a privilege to give someone the right to essentially become a part of your day-to-day life.”
The scam occurred when 94-year-old Norma Marshall let housekeeper Vera Nunes into her home after her previous housekeeper had departed. It wasn’t long after moving in that Nunes gained access to Marshall’s bank accounts, clearing out her life savings of $25,000. Nunes then moved her husband, Luis Serpa Da Conceicao Santos, and two children into Marshall’s home and confined Marshall to her room. (Source: Mangione, K., “Housekeeper and husband arrested after 94-year-old defrauded of life savings,” CTV News Toronto web site, April 2, 2014; http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/housekeeper-and-husband-arrested-after-94-year-old-defrauded-of-life-savings-1.1757085.)
“Hearing about something like this is especially disturbing when considering just how trusting the elderly victim was in this case,” Heinz continues. “It is much safer to trust reputable homecare services with a verifiable history of positive interaction with the community than to trust someone who claims to be a housekeeper.”
Nunes and her husband were finally found out by delivery man Firoz Jogiat, who had a decade-long history of delivering medicine to Marshall. He became suspicious at seeing Santos in the house, with his colleague, Selina Chan-Ying, deciding to call police after Jogiat saw Marshall acting strangely on one of his visits. Heinz warns that this is not an isolated incident and that seniors and their families need to be aware of who is in their home at all times. (Source: Ibid.)
“Families should turn to elder care services such as Home Care Assistance. – Greater Toronto,” Heinz concludes. “We have a staff of caregivers who are referenced extensively with criminal background checks and driving records, put through a training process to ensure they are familiar with their duties, and are sensitive to seniors and their needs.”
Serving Toronto, Mississauga, Oakville, Milton, Burlington, Hamilton, and the surrounding areas, Home Care Assistance – Greater Toronto is a home care company that provides older adults with high-quality, consistent care, helping them live happier, healthier lives in the comfort of their home. In an effort to fully address their mobile and homebound clients’ lifestyle needs, Home Care Assistance – Greater Toronto provides 24-7 live-in care, hourly home care, and hospital-to-home care and its caregivers are certified in skills including the Balanced Care Method, Alzheimer’s and dementia care, hospital-to-home care, and more. In addition, Home Care Assistance – Greater Toronto is so certain its customers will be 100% satisfied with its services that it doesn’t require a long-term contract. To learn more about Home Care Assistance – Greater Toronto, visit the company’s web site at http://www.GreaterTorontoHomeCare.ca or call Home Care Assistance – Greater Toronto at 905-337-1200.
Rick Heinz, Greater Toronto Home Care, http://www.greatertorontohomecare.ca/, +1 905-337-1200, [email protected]
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