Protecting Seniors from Familiar Fraud

​A decade ago, familiar fraud made the headlines when New York heiress Brooke Astor was conned out of millions of dollars by her son and his lawyer, who even forged her signature on a new will. While the Astors’ story reads like a movie plot, elder fraud is all too common. According to one report, losses from elder fraud cases cost more than $36 billion in 2015, and AARP recently reported that 90% of elder fraud is committed by family members or other people familiar to the victim. The results can be tragic, at worst leaving the older person destitute, homeless, and without access to needed assistance or medical care.

​Seniors can be especially vulnerable to fraud due to dependence on caregivers, age-related cognitive impairment, and a tendency not to report problems, often out of embarrassment.

​If you’re a senior, here are some steps you can take to protect yourself, your personal information, and finances.

• Designate a trusted family member or friend to help you.
• If you’re hiring in-home help or moving to assisted living, make sure your financial and personal information is out of sight and under lock and key.
• You’re probably not taking out mortgages or new credit cards, so freeze your credit reports. If you have trouble keeping track of finances, have your trusted person help you, and set them up to get account alerts so they can help spot unauthorized transactions.
• If someone asks you to make a big financial or legal decision, such as selling your home, investing, or granting a power of attorney, get a trusted third party such as a lawyer or banker involved. (The AARP has a free legal advice hotline for seniors.)
• And if you do become a victim, even if the thief is a family member, report it to law enforcement: To recover your property, a police report helps prove a crime was committed.

​If you’re not a senior but you’re looking out for a senior or concerned about a grandparent, parent or friend, here’s how you can help.

• Keep track of who’s coming and going in their homes and be alert to people who might take advantage of them, especially family members with ongoing addiction, criminal, financial, or legal problems.
• Make sure they have a responsible person who is watching their finances and helping them make good financial decisions. (For example, not selling their house to a suspiciously “helpful” relative who’s offering them a fraction of what the house is worth.)
• Encourage them to sign up for identity protection to help them quickly discover and recover from identity fraud.

​We all want to grow older with dignity and independence. Ironically, one important way to maintain independence is to ask for help before you become vulnerable. Seniors should develop a support network of trusted advisors and helpers early, and involve them in planning for housing, care, etc. as they age. Asking for help is nothing to be embarrassed about. We all get older (if we’re lucky), and we all need good advice to get us through life’s big challenges.