Financial Scams Targeting Seniors Are On The Rise
The Elder Abuse Prevention and Protection Act of 2017 helped control financial crimes against seniors by strengthening penalties for perpetrators, increasing appropriate training for federal investigators, and mandating that each federal judicial district have a prosecutor in charge of handling cases of elder abuse.
However, financial fraud against seniors is still underreported, under-investigated, and under-prosecuted, and the issue continues to grow, the National Adult Protective Services Association reports.
About 90% of the cases of elder financial abuse are by family members and caretakers.
According to Marketplace, seniors often never recover, either financially or psychologically, from these attacks.
As the National Care Planning Council reports, about 90% of the cases of elder financial abuse are by family members and caretakers. These people have access to seniors’ bank accounts, so their corrupt use of the money is not always recognized as a serious crime.
Seniors lose about $2.9 billion to $36 billion each year from financial exploitation.
Roughly 1 in 20 seniors reports being financially abused in the past year, the National Council on Aging reports. Further a study conducted in New York state found that as few as one in 44 cases are ever reported, while seniors are bilked out of $2.9 billion to $36 billion each year from financial exploitation.
The NCPC suggests a typical elder abuse story might sound like this:
“An aging widow, relying on her children to provide meals, transportation, and to make financial decisions, finds it difficult to report abuse when one of her children takes advantage of her. The child takes her money, hits her and is neglectful in caregiving. Furthermore, the widow is threatened with loss of support from the child if the she complains.”
Roughly 1 in 20 seniors reports being financially abused in the past year.
Often, the issue is treated as a civil dispute rather than a theft or property crime or not noticed at all, due to the victim’s cognitive impairment, the Nursing Home Abuse Center reports.
This dismissal of “grandparent scams” and other financial crimes against seniors is one reason why seniors are reluctant to report these crimes. It’s also one reason why there are very few Elder Abuse Units in the country, despite the fact that there are more elder abuse cases than many other types of crimes that are afforded more resources, according to the National Institute of Justice.
As few as one in 44 cases of elderly financial abuse are ever reported.
Where the elderly lack protections, those who prey on them still receive penalties that fail to match the severity of their crimes. The 2017 Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act has improved certain aspects of this problem, but still lacks the infrastructure and staff to support the growing senior population.
The fact is, the U.S. population is aging: the number of people 65 and older will nearly double in 30 years, to one out of five in the U.S. As the U.S. population of older people expands scammers are getting more technologically sophisticated, Marketplace reports.
There are more elder abuse cases in the U.S. than many other types of crimes that are afforded more resources.
It’s time for the issue of financial crimes against seniors get the attention it deserves in the public eye and also for politicians and law enforcement to take it more seriously. It’s time for a significant decrease in “grandparent scams” and the misuse of funds by people who have access to senior citizens’ bank accounts.
Click below to tell the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection to focus on creating more Elder Abuse Units and stronger legislation against those who commit financial crimes that victimize seniors.
