Four Ways To Bust Elder Financial Fraud

It’s not hard to sniff out how swindlers prey upon the elderly. They know they respond to mail, phone and front-door solicitations. Older people like to talk to people they don’t know.

Holidays are a good time to talk about scam merchants. Families get together and it’s easier to talk about money stuff over beer and bbq.

Swindlers prey upon fear and insecurity. They blanket a neighborhood after a storm, offering to do “free storm damage asssessment.” They’ll pose as IRS agents or bill collectors to collect fake debts.

There’s an art to elder financial fraud and it’s practiced every day. If you know the danger signals, you can ward off these scamsters.

The most basic defense is a recognition that when people get into their eighth decades and beyond, they process information differently. While they may have perfect memories of something that happened 60 years ago, it’s difficult for them to make complex decisions, including financial ones.

This cognitive decline in “executive function” has been noted by neuroscientists. The part of the brain responsible for decisionmaking doesn’t work as well as it did 30 years ago. It’s a natural consequence of aging.

“While there are some `super agers’ in the population (individuals in their 80s and beyond who function at much younger intellectual levels),” reports the SIFMA Senior Investor Protection Quarterly, “the vast majority of adults will experience at least some isolated cognitive decline associated with typical brain aging as they progress through their sixth, seventh, and eighth decades (or beyond).

Cognitive change in older adults is uneven and dependent on many factors, including educational background, overall intellectual capacity, health conditions, and lifestyle habits.”  (Continue Reading)

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Four Ways To Bust Elder Financial Fraud