The issue of economic exploitation of the elderly in our country has been on the radar of law enforcement for many years. Extensive public education schemes on this topic are currently underway by states, counties, and elder-focused organizations, but are they making a difference?
There was one increase According to the report, financial exploitation of older people has increased by 14% within the last 12 months FBI report. The data shows the variety of criminal charges filed by people over 60 within the United States. Could this include your personal aging parents or other family members?
88% of older people use the Internet
According to the report, “tech support scams were the most commonly reported type of elder fraud in 2023. Personal data breaches, trust and romance scams, non-payment or delivery scams, and investment scams rounded out the top five types Elder Fraud” that were reported to the FBI Division last 12 months. Yet every public education program warns elders about these very risks to those that use the Internet. Accordingly statesman88% of individuals over 65 use the Internet. Why don’t these elders understand? They are exposed to ever greater risk.
Possible explanations
From our own observations at AgingParents.com, where we seek the advice of every day with the families of older adults or the elderly themselves, we see that many individuals over 65 are starting to lose their financial judgment and short-term memory. Both may be early warning signs of dementia. But within the early stages of those brain changes, nobody seems concerned. The older person can still function in on a regular basis life, do some normal household chores, and do other basic items, but they can’t keep track of cash, bills, and investments.
Even when members of the family are properly appointed through legal documents resembling enduring power of attorney for funds, they’re reluctant to step in and take over money management. They don’t need to offend aging parents. Or they feel uncomfortable mentioning what they simply learned, perhaps that Mom forgot to pay her taxes on time like she all the time did. Or the family sees unopened bills or reminders from old parents about unpaid debts. Nevertheless, they approach the problem squeamishly and infrequently intervene at this stage and offer to take over bill payments or exercise financial sovereignty over their aging loved one. This puts the (apparently) “mildly impaired” aging parents vulnerable to experiencing the very fraud that the FBI tells us about and warns about yearly, including in 2023. Solid expert research shows us that within the earliest stages of dementia, financial judgment is already significantly impaired.
What is the answer?
We consider the problem of warning elders about financial abuse must include the next Warning and educating their families, maybe even greater than just specializing in aging people themselves. Many individuals who know they’re affected by short-term memory loss or forgetting to pay bills don’t see this as a cause for concern. They make it acceptable to themselves by telling themselves that it’s normal with age. But loss of economic judgment is NOT normal aging. Forgetting names and the like can actually be normal as we become older. A distinction should be made between this kind of memory loss and the kind that causes an individual to forget what their investments are about or lose the great feeling that something that appears like a scam is definitely a scam. Sometimes the elders think that they’re perfectly positive, although everyone around them knows that this isn’t the case. That is the largest risk – the loss of economic judgment and the elder isn’t aware of it.
A method
Anyone who has aging parents or other vulnerable elders of their life can definitely alert their elders to data on elder financial exploitation and customary scams targeting the elderly. That isn’t enough! Family members and family members have to intervene and monitor spending, especially if the elderly person spends quite a lot of time on the Internet. Yes, this requires permission out of your aging parent. Yes, it may be uncomfortable to bring it up and respectfully suggest that you just help and have access to view their accounts online. You may do that without having the authority to stop a transaction or with such authority. To gain legal authority over an elderly person’s online account, you will want a durable power of attorney signed and notarized by the aging person. While you are at it, ask your elder to also sign the financial institution’s internal POA. They are sometimes prejudiced against “external” POA forms. Power of attorney forms can be found online and no lawyer is required to create the only form. Even seeing what the elder is planning on doing or has done with their money may prompt the family to take further fraud prevention measures.
The takeaways:
- Fraud, scams and exploitation of the elderly are on the rise. Public education cannot prevent this.
- Without a member of the family or other caring person to handle the signs of an elder’s loss of economic judgment, increasingly scams targeting these impaired elders will thrive.
- The best strategy to prevent cheating in your aging parents is to have just a few conversations about it probably the most common and intervene and watch what they do with their money.
- Educate yourself first, as a family of an elder. Read the FBI report on exploitation tactics targeting the elderly so you may share the knowledge. Most importantly, have a plan in place for accessing your aging parents’ financial information so you may act should you sense any suspicious activity or contacts they receive.
