Elder Fraud and Financial Abuse

WHAT IS ELDER FRAUD AND FINANCIAL ABUSE?

Elder financial abuse happens when someone takes money or property from an older person without their knowledge, understanding, or consent. It happens every year. Of the reported cases, we know that Americans are losing at least $2.9 billion every year to people who take advantage of them¹.

Elder financial abuse is on rise and it’s occurring more frequently every year. Elder fraud and financial abuse may be limited to an isolated attempt to steal money from your account, but can also be a series of ongoing events designed to drain your resources. If criminals obtain your personal financial information, they might be able to drain your accounts or make charges to your credit cards.

Thieves might also commit a crime called identity theft, which is when someone steals personal information and uses it to open new accounts or make transactions in a your name.

The National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (NCPEA) defines elder financial abuse as a broad spectrum of conduct including:

Fraudulently signing for older adult people or forging their signatures
Deceptively coercing or using undue influence to get someone to sign a deed, will, or power of attorney
Promising long-term care in return for money or property and then not fulfilling the promise
Taking a vulnerable elder’s money or property
Taking or using an older person’s property or possessions without permission
Using deception to gain a victim’s confidence (also known as confidence crimes or “cons”)

¹AARP

WHY OLDER ADULTS?

There are many reasons why older adults become targets and fall prey to scammers or thieves. The most common reason is that they are most likely to depend on others, due to disabilities or declining health. But not all scammers or thieves are strangers.

Caregivers, close friends, and other trusted individuals have ready access to their homes, financial accounts, personal information, medical supplies and medications, and they are typically trusted companions who can easily influence an older adult.

FAMILY MEMBERS / CLOSE FRIENDS

Close friends or family members are often to blame. They may:

Attempt to isolate the older adult from other friends and family members
Believe they are entitled to, or justified in taking, what they believe is rightfully theirs
Have had a negative or abusive relationship with the older adult
Need money to pay for a substance abuse, gambling, or other problem
Think the older adult will spend all of their savings, depriving them of an inheritance
Try to prevent other family members or siblings from inheriting the older adult’s assets

SERVICE PROVIDERS

Service providers may take advantage of older adults. They may:

Overcharge for services or products
Use deceptive or unfair business practices
Use positions of trust or respect to gain compliance

CRIMINALS

Many criminals look for older adults to try to exploit or scam them. They might:

Attend church or other community functions to find older adults who may live alone
Drive through neighborhoods to identify older adults who live alone or are isolated
Gain access to older adults as caregivers, counselors, or other professional service providers
Find vulnerable widows or widowers by reading obituaries
Quickly move from community to community to avoid being noticed or apprehended
Say they love the older person (also known as “romance scams”)

ASSETS

Older adults may not realize the value of their assets. This could make them a target for scammers or predators who could offer to buy their homes or possessions for a fraction of what these items are really worth.

TECHNOLOGY

Many older adults are not comfortable with technology in general. Criminals could volunteer to help older people set up online access to their bank accounts in an attempt to gain control over their usernames and passwords.

PATTERNS

Some older adults have predictable patterns, such as receiving monthly checks or going to the bank on the same day every week. If criminals notice this pattern, they can break into the home while they are away. Also, they could steal the older person’s possessions through strong-arm tactics such as robbery or mugging.

EXAMPLES OF ELDER FRAUD

There are many scams aimed at older adults. Here are some examples that could affect you or a loved one:

The most common scheme is when scammers use fake telemarketing calls to prey on older people. Older adults make twice as many purchases over the phone than the national average. With no face-to-face interaction and no paper trail, these scams are incredibly hard to trace.

Also, once a successful deal has been made, the buyer’s name is then shared with similar criminals looking for easy targets, sometimes defrauding the same person repeatedly.

One of the most common financial frauds of all time. The older adult receives a letter, an email, or a fax from a foreign “dignitary.” The correspondence promises huge monetary rewards in exchange for helping an official from a foreign country out of an embarrassing legal problem.

All the older adult needs to do, the correspondence states, is to send a small amount of money (in comparison to what they will receive in turn) to help out the foreign dignitary. The victim never receives any rich reward and loses the money that is sent.

These scams include a call from someone claiming to be from the technical support department of a large computer company. Or, a pop-up message warns the older adult about a potential technical support problem. The scammers want you to believe your computer is infected with a virus or has a service issue that can be fixed remotely.

The criminal either asks you to pay for fake tech support you don’t need and/or they access saved data on your computer, such as names, addresses, account numbers, and other personal information. They use the information to apply for loans, credit cards, or to steal the older adult’s identity.

Phishing is usually a two-part scam involving emails and spoof websites. Fraudsters, also known as phishers, send an email to a wide audience that appears to come from a reputable company. This is known as a phish email.

In the phishing email, there are links to spoof web sites that imitate a reputable company’s web site. Fraudsters hope to convince victims to share their personal information by using clever and compelling language, such as an urgent need to update information immediately or a need to communicate with you for your own safety or security. Once obtained, personal information can be used to steal money or transfer stolen money into another account.

A criminal calls an elder adult and whispers or mumbles phrases designed to get the older adult to reveal a grandchild’s name. Once the criminal has the grandchild’s name, they will impersonate the grandchild and claim to need money for an unexpected financial problem (lost wallet, overdue rent, and/or payment for car repairs). Then, the criminal will ask the older adult to wire money to them.

Medicare’s universal coverage makes it easy for criminals to pose as Medicare representatives and ask older adults to provide personal information.

Many older adults find themselves managing their savings and investments once they finish working. A number of investment schemes are targeted at older adults. Be wary of pyramid schemes and partner schemes that have been a way to take advantage of older adults.

This scam is done by letters, phone calls or emails. The message will say something like “Congratulations! You’ve just won a lottery!”. The criminal will request the victim to deposit a large amount of money into your personal checking account, but you need to wire a portion of the funds to a foreign account to cover various taxes and administrative fees.

Many older adults will shop online to find the best price for their prescription drugs. Criminals could rip them off by providing counterfeit drugs. Not only will the older adult lose the money, but they will receive drugs that may harm their health.

There are two different types of funeral and cemetery fraud to watch out for. First, a criminal will read the obituaries or attend a funeral to find the contact information for a widow or widower. Then, the criminal will claim they are owed money and continue to extort the grieving victim. The other scam is done by disreputable funeral homes that increase the already large cost of funeral services and add in extra charges. Both scams usually are perpetrated in person.

You receive a telephone call from what seems to be a legitimate company. The criminal claims there are problems with your account and the company simply needs to verify some information. The caller seems to already have information about you, so you feel comfortable sharing additional information.

Scammers can create fake anti-aging products, medications or remedies that can be worthless or might have toxic substances in them. The danger is that aside from paying money for something that will not help a person’s medical condition, victims may purchase unsafe substances that can inflict even more harm. This scam can be as hard on the body as it is on the wallet.

Criminals ask older adults for money for fake charities. This often occurs after natural disasters.

Bad people working in real estate, financial services, or related companies may use reverse mortgage scams to steal equity from the property of older adults. In many of these scams, older adults are offered free homes, amazing investment opportunities, or assistance with foreclosure or refinancing in exchange for their home’s deed.

OTHER EXAMPLES OF ELDER FRAUD

Property Theft
Credit Card Theft
Fiduciary Theft
Caregiver Theft

Unsolicited Work Scam
Inheritance Sam
Sweetheart Scam

WARNING SIGNS

Know the signs of elder financial abuse. To help protect older family members and friends from financial abuse, it’s important to know what to look for:

Behavioral changes, such as fear or submissiveness, social isolation, withdrawn behavior, disheveled appearance, forgetfulness, impulsiveness, secrecy, or paranoia.
Large, frequent “gifts” given to caregivers.
Large, unexplained and unexpected loans taken out by elders, such as student loans.
Missing personal property.
New best friends and “sweethearts”.
Onset or worsening of illnesses or disability.
Sudden, atypical or unexplained withdrawals, wire transfers, or other changes in their financial situations.
Sudden desire to change their wills, especially when they might not fully understand the implications.
Sudden increase in spending by family or friends.
Sudden reluctance to talk about finances.
Transfer of titles of homes or other assets to other people for no apparent reason.
Utility or other bills not being paid.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Unfortunately, elder abuse is often not reported. There are things you can do to protect yourself or a loved one from fraud or financial abuse. Here are some tips to help you:

ORGANIZE YOUR FINANCES
No matter how old you are, it’s a good idea to update and organize all your financial documentation, including:

Birth and marriage certificates
Car titles
Financial powers of attorney
Insurance policies
Pension and trust documents
Real estate deeds
Social Security paperwork
Will

Maintaining an organized file and helping others (such as a parent, uncle, or close friend) do the same can make it easier to spot the inconsistencies and red flags that could signal financial abuse.

MONITOR FINANCIAL ACTIVITY
Check your account statements and credit reports regularly to make sure nothing has changed without you knowing. If there are any signs of changes not made by you, contact your bank or credit card company right away.

CREATE A LIST OF FINANCIAL CONTACTS
Bankers, insurance agents, attorneys, accountants, financial advisors, and other professionals should be on your list of financial contacts. Share your list, but not usernames or passwords, with those that help you manage your money such as your financial planner or advisor and family members you trust.

WATCH OUT
An older person could be at risk for exploitation. Be careful if the individual is unfamiliar with their finances, has family members who are struggling financially, or have substance abuse problems. Look for financial mishandling, which can include anything from the use of property or belongings without permission to persuading someone to sign a deed, will, or power of attorney through deception or coercion.

REPORT THE ABUSE
If you think you see a scam, talk with someone. Follow the rule – see something, say something. Help yourself and others by avoiding silence. Keep phone numbers and resources you can turn to, including local police, banks, credit card companies and Adult Protective Services. Then report it to the Federal Trade Commission.

To obtain the contact information for Adult Protective Services in your area, call the Eldercare Locator, a government sponsored national resource line, at: 1-800-677-1116, or visit the Eldercare Website.