In a recent webinar, attorney Martin Shenkman provided some astonishing and frightening statistics about abuse and fraud targeting elders. Here are some of the key points.
Senior citizens may lose nearly 25 times more to scammers than what is reported.
200,000 cases of elder financial abuse are reported annually to U.S. authorities with losses of $1.17 billion.
Actual number may be 5 million cases with losses of $27.4 billion a year.
A lot of the financial abuse is perpetrated by family members or people the elderly trust, so they are reluctant to report it; they may be ashamed they got scammed, or they may not realize it.
1 in 10 people in the US over the age of 65 fell victim to elder fraud in the last year.
As front-line advisers to the elderly, it is incumbent on us to maintain our honesty and integrity. The realization that this is happening across America by people who hold themselves out as professionals, is more than disheartening. We have a duty and obligation and hopefully a moral compass that will prevent this from happening to any person who we come in contact with and a duty to report even a twinkling of mistreatment that we become aware of.
For more recommendations on financial planning and protection for your elders, contact Two Hawks Consulting today!