Thursday, November 15, 2018

Iowa takes center stage in the fight against elder abuse

AG Tom Miller
One in 10 older adults in the United States is abused or exploited every year. The abuse can be physical, psychological, or financial. In any form, it is unconscionable.

The United States Department of Justice and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office are committed to ending it. 

Elder abuse takes many forms. In some cases, trusted loved ones abuse their power-of-attorney status to drain the bank accounts of unsuspecting seniors. In other cases, scammers from half a world away swindle seniors through deceptive and extortionate phone calls. One such scheme, for instance, involves fraudsters calling victims and falsely claiming that a loved one has been arrested and sent to jail. The fraudster then asks the victims to wire money to secure the relative’s release. This scheme and others like it result in seniors losing an estimated $3 billion every year. 

If you or someone you know is the victim of elder fraud/exploitation, we encourage you to reach out to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office at 515-281-5926 or 888-777-4590 (outside of the Des Moines area). And if you or someone you know is suffering from physical abuse, or is in immediate danger, please call 911 or contact your local law enforcement. The Department of Justice also provides resources to victims through its Office of Victims of Crime, which can be reached at www.ovc.gov. Additional elder justice resources, training, and outreach materials can be found at the Department’s Elder Justice Website, http://www.elderjustice.gov.

To register for the Rural and Tribal Elder Justice Summit, visit https://ovcttac.wufoo.com/forms/rural-and-tribal-elder-justice-summit.

Peter E. Deegan, Jr. is the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa.

Marc Krickbaum is the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa.

Tom Miller is the Attorney General of Iowa.

Full Article & Source:
Iowa takes center stage in the fight against elder abuse

2 comments:

Charlie Lyons said...

I hope so. It's good to see Iowa stepping up.

Jay Driesen said...

We are still in court helping IA Elders in the abuses still coming at us by county and state agencies.