Elder Fraud

Due not only to life expectancy and often living alone, women are statistically more likely than men to experience elder financial abuse or elder fraud. Many of the people who fall within the elderly population who are living alone and require some level of help may also experience it.

Elder fraud and abuse bring severe consequences:

• Delayed medical care
• Malnutrition
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Loss of independence

Victims face a higher risk of death, making this issue deadly.

Elder fraud may occur because an elderly person may have Alzheimer’s or dementia and relies on other people to make decisions for them. This leaves their well-being, including financial security, vulnerable to fraudulent scams.

Additionally, because multi-generational households are less common now and the elderly often live alone, they may not have close adult children taking care of their needs like in previous generations. Coupled with their changing mental capacity, an elderly person may be more likely to participate in a scam that leads to a loss of their investments.

Elder financial abuse remains a significant concern, resulting in substantial financial losses for older adults.

The AARP published a report titled The Scope of Elder Financial Exploitation: What it Costs the Victim. According to this report, victims over the age of 60 lose a staggering $28.3 billion annually through financial exploitation. These losses can include substantial portions of the older victim’s life savings, as well as their property and other assets.

In 2022, 88,262 people aged 60 and above fell victim to financial fraud schemes, resulting in an average loss of $35,101 per senior. Seniors aged 80 and over reported a higher median financial loss than any other age group.

The total amount swindled from older Americans exceeded $3 billion, as reported by the FBI, or $1.6 billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Discrepancies in fraud loss estimates may arise from differing definitions of what constitutes fraud.

The scams that often target seniors include:

• Tech support scams
• Family imposters
• Government imposters
• Online shopping scams
• Romance scams
• Fake sweepstakes and lotteries
• Cryptocurrency scams
• Real estate and home repair scams.

Email remains the most popular method of contact for scammers. It accounted for 24% of fraud reports during the first three quarters of 2023. Phone calls were used in 20% of reported fraud attempts during the same period.

Interestingly, while email is more common, phone call-related fraud results in significantly greater financial losses for victims compared to email-related fraud.

Taking proactive steps can significantly reduce the risk of elder fraud. Encouraging open conversations about finances within families, educating elders about common scams, and setting up safeguards with financial institutions can all help protect against fraud. Awareness is key.

Knowing the signs of fraud and regularly checking on the well-being of elderly family members or friends can make a big difference in preventing elder fraud.