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Fraud and financial mistreatment a danger for elderly

Posted August 30, 2012 by ashleywilson to Financial Advice 0 0
This post was written by a EasyFinance.com Community member. The views expressed below may not reflect the views of EasyFinance.com.

It is often said that Americans, as a culture, often dismiss the elderly population, though they be numerous. Perhaps the darker side of that is financial mistreatment and senior fraud, where senior citizens are robbed of and scammed out of their retirement and Social Security funds. Article source:

Chances of financial mistreatment increase with age

Even though the seniors are already at risk of death because of all kinds of diseases, they are also at risk financially.

Sometimes, elderly individuals are financially attacked because they are simple targets. They will be lost without their retirement or Social Security income, leaving them needing financial help. People will steal from the elderly or bully them into giving up money, but there are a ton of elderly financial crimes committed.

A lot of thieves

A number of surveys and studies indicate financial mistreatment of the elderly might be far more common than one might think. According to CNN, a survey by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards found “more than half” knew of a senior who had been victim of unfair or deceptive practices, many under by an investment fraud at seminars that give away a “free lunch” with a sales pitch.

A ton of financial planners, doctors, social workers and other professionals were surveyed by the investor Protection Trust. It showed that 58 percent encountered the fraud in one way or another, and 84 percent of respondents said that there were increases in financial abuse of seniors this year.

According to USA Today, about 20 percent of the elderly population will have to deal with scammers in one way, and the average loss, according to the CFB survey, was $140,500 per senior. That number is skewed a little since richer people are targeted more often. There was a study done by MetLife that found an increase from 2010 to 2011 by 10 percent in the amount people lost over these abuses. There was $2.9 billion lost in 2011.

Sometimes comes from family

All too often, a family member is the culprit. For instance, according to the Daily Mail, a man and his wife in Seattle, Wash., were recently charged with stealing $512,000 from his mother's banking account since 2007, when the couple was granted power of attorney for his mother's estate. In this case, the defrauded party suffers from dementia, which makes many people a target. MetLife estimates, according to CNN, that friends, neighbors and family account for up to 34 percent of financial abuse.

Another common scheme, according to the National Crime Prevention Council, is for telemarketing scams to target seniors for fraudulent financial services. The NCPC estimates that between 56 to 80 percent of telemarketing fraud is directed at senior citizens, as fraud artists believe them to be vulnerable.

Sources

CNN

USA Today

CNN

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