The financial exploitation and defrauding of senior citizens in the United States is a societal issue that affects victims emotionally, mentally, and physically. This vice also affects the dependents of the older adult. Wood& Lichtenberg (2017) assert that, according to research, 3-20% of senior citizens in the United States report abuse cases annually. Additionally, the financial loss associated with elderly abuse amounts to $2.9 billion, which is an increase compared to $2.7 billion in 2008. Moreover, the study revealed that 51% of fraud was instigated by unknown people to the victim, 34% by close acquaintances, and 12% by scrupulous business people. Financial abuse is regarded as a human rights challenge that must be addressed to enhance the safety and sanity of abused people, besides holding perpetrators accountable for their actions (Gassoumis, Navarro & Wilber, 2014). Elderly financial mistreatment in the form of misuse and fraud results from various health, environmental, and behavioral risk factors.
Financial exploitation may be described as the unlawful, improper and usage of a person’s resources by a helper or any other individual in a relationship of trust, for someone else’s benefits apart from the older adult (DeLiema, 2017). A survey conducted in America by the Elder Investment Fraud and Financial Exploitation Survey among 2,022 individuals showed that 20% of adults undergo financial abuse (Wood & Lichtenberg, 2017). Schuneman (2017) asserts that the population of senior citizens is steadily rising in the United States. By 2050, the total population of adults aged 65 years and above will be 83.7 million. These statistics imply that the number of vulnerable fraud and financial exploitation victims is growing.
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Family financial abuse among the elderly encompasses four significant areas. The first area is where there is an insufficient arrangement for the handling of the older person’s wealth. Here, the senior citizen’s perpetrator borrows huge, unrecorded loans and charges extreme figures for products and services offered. If the perpetrator is a spouse or child, they incorporate the older adult’s monthly or annual stipend into the general family’s income stream, which ensures that the senior citizen has limited control over their income (Adams, Bagshaw, Wendt & Zannettino, 2014).
Under the second category, the older person is placed under duress for them to transfer assets to different names or to sign monetary documents that authorize the withdrawal of funds from their accounts (Lloyd-Sherlock, Penhale & Ayiga, 2018). Third, the older adult may unintentionally misappropriate their funds when they lack guardian guidance and competency. For instance, they may sign contracts without the knowledge of the financial implications of their decisions. Fourth, a caregiver may fail to properly care for the aged person because they value financial gains from their obligations. Hence, they may falsely promise to care for the senior citizen in exchange for monetary pay while, in reality, they do not intend to provide any help.
According to Lloyd-Sherlock, Penhale & Ayiga (2018), family perpetrators of elderly financial exploitation cite culture and religion for victimizing the elderly. For instance, senior citizens who successfully retire receive their pension payments from the state. As such, their children, spouses, or relatives who care for them or have power of attorney over their assets may misuse funds in the name of kinship and sharing. Abusive environmental factors such as substance abuse violence tendencies, poverty, and unemployment among the perpetrators further exacerbate their exploitation tendencies. They may reach extremes, such as preventing senior citizens under their care from freely controlling their wealth.
Additionally, they may steal from the pensioner’s bank account deposits or force them to change the details of their wills (Adams, Bagshaw, Wendt & Zannettino, 2014). The perpetrators justify their abusive acts by citing the help and care that they offer the aged people. In reality, they ignore the barrier that exists between exploitation and financial reciprocation, besides what is obligatory normative kinship and financial impropriation.
In most cases, the victim of familial financial exploitation trusts the scammer. DeLiema (2017) contends that the enablers of elderly commercial exploitation are a motivated offender, the absence of a capable guardian and a vulnerable victim. The senior citizen is often devoid of reason, understanding, choice, and appreciation. Older adults who succumb to financial exploitation are often unable to communicate their preferences. They do not comprehend their decisions besides proving that they know the benefits and risks of their choices. Additionally, they do not appreciate the circumstances that surround money misappropriation, besides lacking the cognitive ability to compare the options that encompass their decisions (Wood & Lichtenberg, 2017). Hence, family scammers take advantage of these four aspects to abuse their fiduciary obligations.
Senior citizens also lose their assets and money to strangers under fraudulent measures. Schuneman (2017) defines fraud as an illegal act that is characterized by concealment, violation of trust, and deceit, accompanied by the commitment to obtain money falsely, services, and property. A study conducted in the United States showed that annually, older adults lose up to $619, 000 as a result of fraud cases (DeLiema, 2017). Here, the perpetrators pose as estate planners, insurance providers, and product sellers to defraud the elderly. Fraudsters do not have any relationship with their victims and only attempted to initiate an affiliation with the older adult because they had a financial interest in them. Senior citizens who succumb to fraud are usually unaware that they are being robbed. The fraudsters rely on the older person’s inattentiveness and cognitive disability. Types of fraud cases include double billing, unauthorized visa and credit card transactions, and identity theft (Wood & Lichtenberg, 2017). Senior citizens often fall under the fraudsters trap by being convinced to exchange their assets willingly. Under some circumstances, the victim is coerced to believe that they are engaging in a legitimate transaction. Here, they have consent and hence issue it without the knowledge of the impacts of their decisions (Pillemer, Burnes, Riffin & Lachs, 2016). Therefore, seniors may experience financial abuse from strangers as a result of fraud.
The risk aspects associated with familial financial misuse and fraud cases are a victim’s impaired cognitive ability, health problems, social disengagement, and solitary living arrangements. The race, ethnicity, gender, and physical disability of a senior citizen also exacerbate the possibility of undergoing financial abuse (Deleima, 2017). According to a survey conducted by DeLiema (2017), 46% of the fraud casualties and 56% of familial, financial exploitation victims were females aged above 83 years old. Half of the senior citizens who succumbed to financial abuse did not have a college education. 4% of the financially abused elderly persons did not complete college, 21% had some college education, while 18% of the victims had a bachelors’ degree. Of the victims who suffered from financial exploitation abuse, 24% of them lacked a college certificate, 25% attended college, while a further 12% of the participants had a degree (DeLiema, 2017).
Racially, 48% of the victims were non-Hispanic whites, while 24% of them were of African-American origin. 68% of the research sample study were divorced, widowed, and separated, while 16% of them had never been married. 32% of the victims lived alone, while 4% of them lived with a partner. 20% of the participants lived in an institutional care setting, while 36% of them stayed with the perpetrator at the time of the financial abuse. Finally, a total of 12% of the research participants reported having suffered in the hands of multiple perpetrators.
The study further revealed that 19.2 % of the participants were mildly mentally impaired; 33.3 % of them were moderately impaired, while 61.5% of the financial abuse victims were severely challenged. Further, 14.3% of the victims had a mild financial impairment, 32% of them were moderately impaired in terms of making sound business decisions, while 63.6 % of them were severely challenged. These statistics prove that older adults who experience financial exploitation and fraud hail from disadvantaged backgrounds. The research conducted by DeLiema (2017) may be translated as follows:
Women are more susceptible to financial abuse in comparison to men.
Non-married, single elderly people are more prone to financial exploitation compared to their married counterparts.
Elderly people who hail from racial minorities such as Hispanic-Americans and African-America are more vulnerable to fraud and wealth misappropriation in comparison to their counterparts from the white community.
Mental incapacity caused by dementia, psychosis, schizophrenia and other related disorders lead in victim abuse (Pillemer, Burnes, Riffin & Lachs, 2016).
Victims who suffer from depression have a higher risk of being financially defrauded and exploited (Schuneman, 2017).
Aged people who live with disabilities or have difficulties in their daily activities of living are more susceptible to financial abuse.
Majority of financially abused elderly victims have high levels of financial illiteracy.
Senior citizens who live alone have a higher risk of being financially exploited and defrauded in comparison to those who live under nursing home care.
Elderly persons who shared living arrangements with their perpetrators had an increased chance of being financially abused in comparison with those who did not live with their abuser (Pillemer, Burnes, Riffin & Lachs, 2016).
Senior citizens who have a lower education level have a higher likelihood of encountering fraudsters and financial exploiters in comparison with those who have attained a college education and degree.
According to Wood & Lichtenberg (2017), financial exploitation and fraud are higher in senior citizens because they have lower numeracy and numerical decision-making in comparison to younger adults. Their incapacity becomes worse when presented with financial papers that contain statistical data that they are not familiar with. Mathematical abilities encompass one’s ability to perform necessary calculations. Numeracy is a significant predictor of financial abuse risk vulnerability in comparison to other factors such as dependency, mental health, besides overall cognitive ability.
When an older adult loses their digital capability, they also lose their comprehension and engagement skills and knowledge. Consequently, they cannot ignore reason deliberately, understand, utilize, and grapple financial information. They lack the power to answer financial questions soundly, repay their loans, and make appropriate business decisions regarding their retirement saving. The Older Financial Exploitation Measure shows that less numerate older adults have a self-reported risk of financial abuse about their counterparts (Wood & Lichtenberg, 2017). Hence, one of the best ways of protecting senior citizens from financial exploitation would be to enhance their financial knowledge.
Aged people who experience financial fraud and exploitation suffer from various psychological, emotional, and economic problems. In 2011, Woolfell Research Inc. surveyed the impact of fraud and financial exploitation among the elderly. The organization interviewed 2,232 citizens of ages 65 years and above. Seven hundred twenty-three of the participants were victims of fraud (Schuneman, 2017). They all agreed that after the financial abuse experience, they lost trust in themselves and their judgmental capability. Additionally, they felt that they could not handle their finances. They all opined that they experienced a chain reaction of symptoms that include anger, disbelief, depression, loss of trust, and a sense of betrayal.
Many older adults have fixed incomes and lack the financial muscle to make a quick recovery from exploitation or fraud. Once they lose their assets or money, they require adequate resources to purchase medication and food (Schuneman, 2017). Additionally, majority of them experience heavy, feelings of embarrassment, shame, and self-hatred, which cause them to have depression. Victims of financial exploitation also lose confidence in the ability of other people’s capability to help them (Dominguez, Storey & Glorney, 2019). They feel insecure, threatened, and afraid around their caregivers. When these feelings intensify, they may contract chronic diseases such as stroke and blood pressure. These illnesses are difficult to cure and, in extreme cases, may cause the demise of a victim. Hence, the implications of fraud and financial exploitation on the elderly are emotionally, mentally, and financially draining.
Since the publication of elderly financial abuse, the government has collaborated with legal advisors and health practitioners to curb its spread. However, several challenges abound that continuously thwart their efforts. The rates of disclosure and help-seeking are lower than desired. Victims may reject intervention efforts when they perceive that it would result in dire consequences from their abusers (Dominguez, Storey & Glorney, 2019). For instance, financially abused senior citizens thought that had they confessed how their perpetrators were abusing them, the state would forcefully institutionalize them. They felt that the system would coerce them to relinquish their freedom in exchange for protection.
Second, the victims feared that once their abusers knew what they had done, they would mistreat them even more or cease to care for them. This fear was extreme is highly dependent on older adults with physical and mental disabilities. Abused senior citizens also failed to report the cases of being mishandled because they feared the repercussions that the perpetrator would face (Gassoumis, Navarro & Wilber, 2014). This pattern was higher in cases where the abuser was a spouse or a child of the abused elderly individual. Victims also felt ashamed and embarrassed as well as self-blame and low self-esteem, which hindered their judgment concerning the importance of reporting the instances of abuse that they underwent. Hence, there are many hindrances towards the financial abuse efforts that the state and its partners encounter.
Nevertheless, the state has taken several steps to counter financial exploitation and fraud that older adults experience. First, caregivers in nursing homes have been trained on how to identify abuse toward their clients, even when the case is unreported. A slight shift in the regularity of paying bills even when their patients have a stable income source indicates that a senior citizen is potentially undergoing abuse. Nurses who note these changes inform the state, which immediately commences investigations. Caregivers who are unrelated to senior citizens have also learned about the importance of being friendly to their patients. The rationale behind this thought is that in many scenarios, older adults share their problems through informal means. A victim of financial exploitation from their spouse or child has a higher likelihood of sharing their ordeal with their caregivers as opposed to visiting a licensed facility for help. The caregiver may then alert the state, who will indiscreetly act to secure the safety of the abused individual.
The government has also employed social workers who regularly visit senior citizens in their homes and nursing facilities. They check whether the patients live under recommended conditions, as well as note any challenges that the victims may be experiencing. They then report their findings to the state, which executes immediate action in the cases where problems ensue (Dominguez, Storey & Glorney, 2019). Third, the government may introduce conservatorship in cases where older adults experience financial exploitation and are willing to transfer power of attorney from the abuser to a state agent (Gassoumis, Navarro & Wilber, 2014). Here, the senior citizen accepts to collaborate with the government to save their assets and money. The state then encourages the abuser to file a suit against their abusers if they have available funds to pay a lawyer to represent them in court. The state may also issue restraining orders against an abuser to protect the senior citizen. Further, the government may ask the abused to appoint a trusted surrogate decision-maker in cases where the individual lacks decision-making ability.
Furthermore, a social worker may recommend that a senior citizen who lives alone should acquire a caregiver. The helper’s main aim would be to oversee the finances of the abused superficially. This approach would help to reduce the fraud cases which are associated with solitary living conditions among the abused. Furthermore, the rate of re-victimization would narrow down significantly when a vulnerable elder is placed under the care of a caregiver (Pillemer, Burnes, Riffin & Lachs, 2016). Psychologists may also educate the society concerning the harm associated with the social stereotyping of older adults (Wood & Lichtenberg, 2017). This approach would encourage abused older adults to report their abusers without any feelings of misgivings or fear.
Moreover, senior citizens may receive training on how to identify fraud attempts and financial exploitation against them and how to curb these approaches. They may also learn how to safeguard their assets against loss from family and friends (De Donder, Witte, Brosens, Dierckx, & Verte, 2014). For instance, they may insure their wealth or critical certificates in safe stores in any financial institution of their choice. The state has also created toll-free helplines that abused older adults may use to report incidences of fraud and financial exploitation (Pillemer, Burnes, Riffin & Lachs, 2016). The hotlines are early intervention strategies that forestall abusive scenarios
Finally, the United States’ government has set aside $3.42 million as emergency funds that may be accessed when there is a need to rescue an abused older adult. According to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the funding’s purpose is to deter fraud and financial exploitation crimes against the elderly (United States Department of Justice, 2017). The Office for Victims of Crime further contends that it will pursue innovative strategies that will punish the perpetrators of elderly abuse. Hence, several strategies abound that will help the state to reduce the level of financial abuse against older people.
Financial exploitation and fraud are common abuses that older adults face in today’s society. They include unauthorized withdrawals of cash deposits from the older adult’s bank account, coercing them to sign financial documents, and restricting them from accessing their assets and wealth. Fraud involves deceiving a vulnerable senior citizen that they will gain from an investment or service. It includes double-billing older people and identity theft. The factors that exacerbate elderly financial abuse include solitary living conditions, numerical illiteracy, hailing from an ethnic and racial minority, and societal stereotyping. The government has formulated commendable measures to curb this abuse. Through conservationism, a victim may get justice for the loss of their wealth. Additionally, a financially abused person may contact the state through the available toll-free hotlines. This approach helps to forestall abuse. Therefore, financial exploitation and fraud that targets older adults is a condemnable act that the state should curb through all means.
References
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De Donder, L., Witte, N., Brosens, D., Dierckx, E. & Verte, D. (2014). Learning to Detect and Prevent Elder Abuse: The Need for a Valid Risk Assessment Instrument. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 191 1483-1488 International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (n.d.) Retrieved from: http://www.inpea.net/
DeLiema, M. (2017). Elder fraud and financial exploitation: Application of routine activity theory. The Gerontologist , 58 (4), 706-718. doi:10.1093/geront/gnw258
Fraga Dominguez, S., Storey, J. E., & Glorney, E. (2019). Help-Seeking behavior in victims of elder abuse: A systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse , 152483801986061. doi:10.1177/1524838019860616
Gassoumis, Z. D., Navarro, A. E., & Wilber, K. H. (2014). Protecting victims of elder financial exploitation: the role of an Elder Abuse Forensic Center in referring victims for conservatorship. Aging & Mental Health , 19 (9), 790-798. doi:10.1080/13607863.2014.962011
Lloyd-Sherlock, P., Penhale, B., & Ayiga, N. (2018). Financial abuse of older people in low and middle-income countries: the case of South Africa. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect , 30 (3), 236-246. doi:10.1080/08946566.2018.1452656
Pillemer, K., Burnes, D., Riffin, C., & Lachs, M. S. (2016). Elder abuse: Global situation, risk factors, and prevention strategies. The Gerontologist , 56 (Suppl 2), S194-S205. doi:10.1093/geront/gnw004
Schuneman, M. (2017). Financial fraud on elders and interventions . St Catherine University, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
United States Department of Justice (2017, October 11). Justice Department Invests $3.42 Million in Fight Against Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-
Wood, S., & Lichtenberg, P. A. (2016). Financial Capacity and Financial Exploitation of Older Adults: Research Findings, Policy Recommendations and Clinical Implications. Clinical Gerontologist , 40 (1), 3-13. doi:10.1080/07317115.2016.1203382
