Florida State University to study elder financial exploitation in The Villages

The Florida State University College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partnership with Merrill Lynch and Seniors vs. Crime, will be conducting research on elder financial exploitation in The Villages.

To kick off their research, the College will be holding Town Hall Meetings on financial fraud at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 9 at Eisenhower Recreation Center and at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10 at Savannah Center.

Residents of The Villages are encouraged to attend one of the two Town Hall Meetings to learn about financial fraud occurring in The Villages, how to report financial fraud, and prevention tips from Seniors vs. Crime.

Thomas Blomberg, dean and executive director

Additionally, the Florida State University College of Criminology and Criminal Justice will be conducting surveys about residents’ experience with financial fraud. Interested residents will be asked to participate in upcoming focus groups and interviews that the college will be conducting.

The college will use the information collected from surveys, focus groups, and interviews to gain insight into financial exploitation victimization and avoidance. The study’s focus will be on identifying some of the salient risk and protective factors associated with elder financial exploitation.

“We believe that what we know in official statistics is only the tip of the iceberg,” said Thomas Blomberg, dean and executive director of the Center for Criminology and Public Policy Research. “We want to have a better empirically valid description of how extensive this problem is. In order to develop a better identification of risk and prevention tactics we have got to get a better indicator of the incidents and then the characteristics of those who are victims of fraud and those who are not.”

To find out more contact The Village’s Seniors vs. Crime office at (352) 689-4600 Ext. 4606.

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Florida State University to study elder financial exploitation in The Villages