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Home / Gisborne Herald / Opinion

Pensioner let down

Gisborne Herald
17 Oct, 2023 05:12 AMQuick Read

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A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Attention service providers!

Recently I helped a 77-year-old homeless person. Her eftpos card was worn out and needed replacing, and as she has no fixed abode they hadn’t been able to update it. When she rang them, they told her she needed proof of identity. She had none.

Not a problem, I said, we can get you a copy of your birth certificate from the Internal Affairs office. When we got there they smiled and said we don’t do that any more, you have to do it online. I did this for her.

She banked with Credit Union, which is no longer in Gisborne, so she decided to change her bank to Westpac. She called in to see me the next day and was so excited because she now had internet banking. She showed me her account number and password written on a piece of paper.

“You dont even have a phone so you can’t do it,” I said.

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She replied, “I will just get other people to do it for me.”

I explained that I could take her account and password details and empty out her bank account, and she would never know until she tried to use her eftpos card — so she let me rip up the piece of paper.

This lady is elderly and obviously not computer savvy. Come on service providers, this is elder abuse!

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Heather van Wyk

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