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Elderly Bombarded by Cons and Scams
Financial abuse of the elderly is a growing problem throughout the country. It is no different here.
Doug Schiffman directs the Protective Money Management Program — a service offered through the Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board. It helps older people with limited incomes manage their finances.
All too often, he said, seniors are victims of some kind of financial abuse. Sometimes the abuse is perpetrated by strangers, and in other cases it is committed by family members.
Experts say family members and caregivers are actually more likely to exploit the elderly than strangers are. In such cases, the perpetrators are financially dependent on the elderly person, and their actions may be influenced by other problems such as substance abuse.
In some cases, Schiffman said, perpetrators know their elderly relative receives Social Security payments on a regular basis and finds a way to take advantage of it.
Meanwhile, the opportunity for strangers to target the elderly is growing at an alarming rate, Schiffman said.
“In the U.S. as a whole, the opportunity for fraud and abuse has grown exponentially. It used to be that we would get fraudulent letters in the mail. Now [we’re getting them] over the Internet,” he noted. “With almost every client we’ve been seeing lately, there are some type of financial issue. It is largely due to the fact that, even though they are bombarded with messages to be careful about scams and fraud, seniors are a trusting lot.”
See the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story..
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