For the past 30 years Jenefer Duane has seen older Americans fall victim to financial scams. But in recent years she has watched the problem get far worse.
“Elder financial abuse has grown to epidemic proportions,” she said.
Actor Mickey Rooney, now in his 90s, elevated the profile of the problem earlier this year when he won a restraining order against his stepchildren. He claimed they used intimidation to get access to his money and later told Congress how that can happen to a vulnerable senior.
Duane, who has led the San Francisco-based Elder Financial Protection Network for more than a decade, said the aging population has made more seniors a target for scam artists and, sadly, members of their own families. “The fact is that they’re living longer and are more dependent on support,” she said.
A study released this week by the MetLife Mature Market Institute found that nearly $3 billion a year is being lost to elder financial abuse. That’s 12 percent higher than in 2008.
Scams and fraud targeting the elderly are increasingly a problem, Duane said. Seniors are often pitched financial products they don’t need including reverse mortgages and annuities. “The prey on isolation and loneliness or diminished capacity,” she said.
Indeed, more than half the cases of elder abuse in the MetLife study involved strangers, the report found. About one-third of the alleged perpetrators were family, friends or neighbors.
The study, done with the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech, found that:
women were almost twice as likely to fall victim,
the majority of victims were in their 80s and lived alone,
and that the victims were most vulnerable during holidays.
“Our findings illustrate the dehumanization of victims that takes place in the process of financial abuse and further destruction of financial security that occurs,” Sandra Timmermann, director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute, said in a statement. “In almost all instances, financial exploitation is achieved through deceit, threats and emotional manipulation of an elder. In addition to this psychological mistreatment, physical and sexual violence frequently accompany the greed and disregard of financial abuse. ”
Elder financial abuse tends to be a grossly under-reported crime, experts say, because of the shame of becoming a victim, the fear of reporting a family member and the perceived risk of a loss of independence if the circumstances became known.
Women are particularly vulnerable, the experts said and statistics bear out.
“Women outlive men, and we’re still seeing a generation of older women who depended on the male spouse to manage finances,” Duane said. “They often trust people they shouldn’t trust.”
John Breyault, vice president of the National Consumer League overseeing fraud issues, said elder financial abuse is going to get worse. “It is a problem that … will only continue to grow bigger,” he said.
If you’re concerned about an elder who might be victim of financial abuse or are aware of a crime, take the following steps:
Contact your state adult protective services agency (you can call 800-677-1116 or see this page for more specific information)
Call the police
Search this directory of services for crime victims to get support for the victim.
http://www.ncjrs.gov
I wouldn't call the Police, they call APS who believes that guardianship is the solution. Devon Bank has several clients that were forced into guardianship by APS because of "alleged" financial abuse and exploitation. Do you know how much money they recovered for the victim? ZERO then they go onto financially exploiting the elderly by hiring their friends.
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