Business Forum: Financial abuse of elders alarming
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As a home care provider for the past three years, I have recently seen an alarming increase in the number of cases of elder financial abuse. Phone calls from family and friends of older adults urge me to help protect their loved ones after they have discovered their loved ones were victims of financial abuse.
It is important to set up safety nets so that such abuse does not happen again.
The majority of these crimes against older adults are committed by family members, friends and caregivers. The Institute of Aging describes elder financial abuse as "taking, secreting or appropriating money or property of an elder or dependent adult by a person who has the care or custody of, or who stands in a position of trust to, that elder or dependent adult."
The National Council on Aging estimates the yearly financial toll of elder abuse to be nearly $3 billion, including misappropriation of funds, forgery of records, overcharging for nursing home/residential care facility services and falsely reporting therapeutic services for which payment could be rendered.
Older people should be wary of friends, relatives or caregivers who express unusual interest in their financial affairs. However, it is sometimes helpful to choose a trusted family member or friend to disclose financial matters and thwart possible abuse.
Relatives and friends can help to protect older adults from such abuse by looking for signs of suspected financial abuse. Some warning signs of possible abuse are irregular patterns of spending, frequent withdrawals of cash, purchasing inappropriate items, unpaid bills or a "new best friend."
Also on the rise is financial abuse committed by total strangers through Internet scams, lottery and sweepstakes offers, home improvement companies, identity theft, predatory lending and living trust mills.
In one case a woman was paying a bogus Florida lottery company $500 per month for the promise of a large payout. When a family friend started to help the woman pay her monthly bills, she was alerted to the thousands of dollars already sent to the Florida lottery company.
The abuse would have gone unreported without accidental intervention. When the abuse is discovered by victims, many fail to report it out of embarrassment, disbelief or denial.
To protect themselves, older adults should be wary of allowing strangers into your home and remember that nothing is for free. People who believe they or someone else may be victims of elder financial abuse should contact their local Area Agency on Aging. Reporting such abuse helps protect all older adults.
First Published June 11, 2011 12:00 am
