A female carer is alleged to have stolen $1.2 million from an unsuspecting Victorian man who believed they were in a relationship, in a "devastating" case of financial elder abuse.

Key points: Carer's name added to power of attorney document

Carer's name added to power of attorney document $1.2 million goes missing from man's bank account

$1.2 million goes missing from man's bank account Lawyers say bank should have asked more questions

Lawyers say bank should have asked more questions Calls for national register of powers of attorney

The man, who will be referred to as William for legal reasons, was in his early 80s when he met the woman at a casino around six years ago.

The pair quickly became inseparable.

"Everywhere he went, she went," William's friend John recalled in an interview with RN's Background Briefing.

William was a lonely man, according to John, and he relied on his carer for company.

As a consequence, he developed strong feelings for her, despite an age gap of around 30 years.

"It got to the stage he thought she was his girlfriend," John said, "So if you said anything about her, he would jump down your throat."

William had long ago appointed John as his decision-maker using an enduring power of attorney document.

As he grew closer to his carer, however, he added her name to the document, ensuring she would have joint access to his bank accounts if and when he lost capacity.

John did not worry about this at the time.

"I got to know the woman and she assured me she was looking after him," he said.

William, who was blind, later suffered a fall and was moved into a nursing home when it was decided he could no longer support himself.

'He was signing blank cheques'

A phone call from William's nursing home was the first sign of any trouble with his finances.

A staff member informed John that his friend had not paid his fees for many months.

Knowing these payments had been the responsibility of William's carer, John was suspicious and contacted the law firm Slater & Gordon.

"Then we checked his bank accounts and we found out that a fair bit of money had come out over the preceding couple of years," he said.

In fact, more than $1.2 million had gone missing.

Lawyer Jessica Latimer, who has handled numerous cases involving financial elder abuse, said it was "a huge amount".

"His cash withdrawals on a weekly basis had gone from fairly modest amounts to sometimes in excess of $40,000 or $50,000 a week," she said.

According to Ms Latimer, the carer had a cheque book and would regularly ask William for his signature.

"(William) was blind and he trusted her so he was signing blank cheques and she would fill in an amount."

The carer would also visit the bank in person to make withdrawals, citing William's power of attorney document.

The disappearing funds left William without enough money to pay for his own room at his nursing home and he was forced to share with another resident.

It was, recalls Ms Latimer, "a devastating situation for our client to find himself in".

When John called the carer to put these allegations to her, she denied everything, he said, and insisted she was acting on William's instructions — a claim William denied.

Transactions 'ought to have raised eyebrows'

Ms Latimer believed William would have a better chance of recovering the stolen money if he pursued the bank, rather than the carer.

She was able to establish that the bank had in its possession the power of attorney document, which clearly stated her client had two decision-makers.

That means none of the transactions should have been allowed without the permission of both William's carer and his friend John.

Additionally, under anti-money laundering legislation, any withdrawals greater than $10,000 must be reported to federal authorities.

"We discovered that hadn't occurred," Ms Latimer said.

"There were several notes on the bank's system suggesting staff members had queried what was going on but nobody bothered to call the old man.

"Certainly the transactions ought to have raised eyebrows.'

Presumably to avoid a public courtroom battle, the bank reached a settlement with William.

The details are confidential, however, which is why the bank cannot be identified.

The exact amount of money that was repaid to William also remains a mystery, but Ms Latimer said more than $500,000 was recovered.

Although he was unable to recoup all his losses, William was advised by his friend John to move on with his life.

"Now we probably could have taken it further and gone to get a bit more but I thought, no, he's in his 80s," John said.

"He's happy with the amount he got and we'll call it quits."

The carer was later removed from the power of attorney document and John remained the sole decision-maker until William died last month.

Calls for a national register of powers of attorney

At the moment, anyone can present a power of attorney document to a bank, as William's carer did.

The problem is the bank has no way of knowing if it has been superseded by a new set of instructions.

"Often attorneys are put in place many years earlier — sometimes they remain valid for five or 10 years," said ANZ customer advocate Jo McKinstray.

"We really need to take on face value that the attorney is acting in accordance with it and it hasn't been rescinded."

In response to this problem, the Australian Bankers' Association has called for the introduction of a national register of powers of attorney.

Ms McKinstray agrees with the idea, telling Background Briefing it would add an extra layer of protection for customers.

"Ideally we'd have something we could test on a live, real-time basis to make sure [the power of attorney document] was still current."

Lawyers, advocacy groups, and the banking sector made submissions to the Australian Law Reform Commission's inquiry into elder abuse, backing calls for a national register.

The inquiry, which was initiated by Federal Attorney-General George Brandis earlier this year, is examining a range of legal responses.

Brian Herd, a Brisbane-based solicitor specialising in elder law, believes a national register is a necessary step.

"At the moment, certainly in Queensland, once you do an enduring power of attorney, there's no requirement to register it anywhere as a public document," he said.

"It remains an internal family document, effectively, that the public and the authorities are unaware of until they need to be aware of it."

This secrecy gives rise to what Mr Herd calls "the mafia syndrome".

He argues that because the power of attorney document is considered private, so too are any family disputes arising over the mismanagement of an elderly person's affairs.

"Because of this mafia syndrome, even when other members of the family find out, they tend to simply confront the person concerned and try to resolve it between them," he said.

"You have to depend on do-gooders or whistle-blowers discovering what you're doing and reporting it to some authority."