Financial Exploitation

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Who is at risk?

Older adults are more susceptible to financial abuse and exploitation due to a variety of reasons, including cognitive and/or physical decline, an accumulated wealth in savings accounts, or a greater reliance on family, friends, neighbors, and even strangers who can take advantage of them.  Older adults of all races, cultures, and creeds may be victims of financial exploitation regardless of whether they are rich or poor, educated or undereducated.

 

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How does financial abuse happen?

Older adults are perceived to be easy victims, especially if mental impairments such as dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease are involved. Be on the lookout for the following types of perpetrators, who may try to gain control of your finances in various situations:

• Adult Children - Adult children are the most common perpetrators of financial exploitation of their parents or older family members and often have the best access to financial records and documents. 
  
• Friends - If a friend or aquaintance becomes possessive or controlling over you, they may be trying  to gain control of your finances for their own benefit.
• Financial Guardians - These guardians can include a power of attorney, trustee, or conservator who can use their position to exploit you. 
• Caregivers or Nursing Home Staff - Caregivers or staff members of a nursing home or assisted living facility ​may steal a resident’s checkbook or credit cards, trick you into signing forms that transfer ownership of cars, homes, bank accounts, or investments, or pressure you into writing them into a new will.
  

What are the warning signs?

The key to spotting financial exploitation is a change in a person’s established financial patterns. Keep an eye out for the following signs of possible abuse: 

• Unusual activity in an older adult’s bank accounts, such as large, frequent, or unexplained withdrawals or transfers, or adding new names onto accounts and cards
  
• ATM withdrawals by an older adult who has never used a debit or ATM card
  
• Sudden non-sufficient funding activity, unpaid bills, trouble paying for care they once could afford, receiving letters from collection agencies, or past due notices from creditors, even if the person has adequate financial resources
  
• Suspicious signatures on checks, or outright forgery
  
• Previously uninvolved relatives showing up and claiming their rights to an older adults property or possessions
  
• A change in spending habits such as no longer wanting to go shopping or out to eat
  
• Altered wills and trusts
  

How to report suspected financial exploitation

1. ​If you believe a crime is in progress or is about to be consummated, e.g., a senior citizen is about to transfer a significant sum of money to a home repair grafter, then call the local police by dialing 911. 
2. Whether or not you call 911, the next step depends on whether the person exploited is vulnerable, e.g., lacks the physical or mental capacity to provide for his or her daily needs. If the victim lacks the physical or mental capacity to provide for his or her daily needs, call the local Adult Protective Services (APS) office. There is a local APS office in each county’s Department of Social Services (as well as Baltimore City’s). You can find the list of offices at https://dhs.maryland.gov/local-offices​. Alternatively, you can call the statewide abuse number to report at 1-800-332-6347. APS will send out an investigator if it believes the person lacks the capacity to provide for his or her daily needs and is being financially abused.  
   Please note that if the potential victim resides in a nursing home, be sure to explain to APS in detail why you suspect financial exploitation because financial exploitation is the only kind of maltreatment that APS investigates in nursing homes.
3. If you are not sure if the person exploited has a disability severe enough to qualify him or her as lacking the capacity to provide for his or her daily needs, call APS anyway. APS will make the determination. There is no penalty or downside to referring someone to APS as APS will eventually find out if that person has the capacity to provide for his or her own daily needs.  
   
4. If the person has the physical or mental capacity to provide for his or her daily needs, then there are quite a few options for referral depending on the nature of the exploitation as outlined in subsection 5 below. However, before you make a referral, you may want to try to convince the person that he or she is being exploited so that he or she can stop the exploitation, report it, or both. Keep in mind, you may not be able to convince the victim or you may decide it would be counter-productive to try to convince the victim that he or she is being exploited. Think carefully about reporting without the victim’s consent. 
5. Please note that if domestic abuse is also an issue, know that reporting domestic abuse without the consent of the victim can be dangerous to the victim.  
6. There are many possible referral options for financial exploitation cases where the victim has the capacity to address his or her daily needs. Sometimes it can be difficult to determine the correct or best option. Never hesitate to call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-372-8311. See the following webpage: https://ovc.ojp.gov/program/stop-elder-fraud/providing-help-restoring-hope​. The hotline has live operators available most hours and they can help you decide which may be the best way to proceed. Here are some of the many reporting options: