{"id":155,"date":"2013-01-03T21:59:15","date_gmt":"2013-01-03T21:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/?p=155"},"modified":"2023-03-03T02:10:28","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T02:10:28","slug":"help-protect-your-senior-clients-from-being-targeted-by-scam-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/help-protect-your-senior-clients-from-being-targeted-by-scam-artists\/","title":{"rendered":"Help Protect Your Senior Clients from Being Targeted by Scam Artists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The numbers are staggering.<\/p>\n<p>A recent survey by the Investor Protection Trust finds that one out of every five Americans 65 years old or older \u2014 or more than 7 million people \u2014 have been the victim of a financial scam.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Washington Post<\/em> recently told the story of one of those victims, 73-year-old retired Oklahoman Jacquelyn Atchley (<a href=\"http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/9yjvzl2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/9yjvzl2<\/a>). Jacquelyn lost $180,000 \u2014 her life\u2019s savings \u2014 to a Ponzi scheme. She was defrauded by a fellow Oklahoman, who is suspected of bilking 80 investors, many of them elderly, out $6 million.<\/p>\n<p>While we often think of financial scams involving strangers on the other end of a dinnertime phone call or phishing email, the truth is scams like these often originate from those closest to us. Family members are the most likely culprits, followed by caregivers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Breaking down consumer scams<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles County District Attorney\u2019s office has identified some of the most common consumer scams and fraudulent schemes that strip seniors of their financial well-being and dignity (<a href=\"http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/asjuobj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/asjuobj<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Among them are pyramid scams, fraudulent living trusts, identity theft, health fraud, real estate fraud and staged auto collisions.<\/p>\n<p>The best defense against scams is education. When clients are familiar with some of the potential threats \u2014 and stories of others who have been victimized \u2014 they are more likely to keep their guard up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Warning signs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The IPT has set up an Elder Investment Fraud and Financial Exploitation Prevention Program and says there are certain red flags to look for that indicate a senior is being taken advantage of financially:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2022 Social isolation. Seniors who are lonely are more likely to be preyed upon.<\/li>\n<li>\u2022 A loss of ability to do everyday activities, including paying bills. Family members can easily gain control of an elderly family member\u2019s finances when this happens.<\/li>\n<li>\u2022 Caregivers who take money for living necessities and skim money off the bottom.<\/li>\n<li>\u2022 Loss of a spouse. Grieving widows or widowers are targets for schemers who search newspaper obituaries for easy marks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>States\u2019 attorneys general often are aware of ongoing scams and can help if you suspect a client is the victim of fraud.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bottom line<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Where there\u2019s money to be made through scheming and scamming the elderly, there\u2019s someone willing to take it.<\/p>\n<p>As always, we hope this article has helped you and your clients. If you have a specific concern or question, contact our office.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/IxoraGreen\/Daily_Plan_It_12_13_2012.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here<\/a> for PDF version of article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The numbers are staggering. A recent survey by the Investor Protection Trust finds that one out of every five Americans 65 years old or older \u2014 or more than 7 million people \u2014 have been the victim of a financial scam. The Washington Post recently told the story of one of those victims, 73-year-old retired&#8230;  <a href=\"\/blog\/help-protect-your-senior-clients-from-being-targeted-by-scam-artists\/\" class=\"more-link\" title=\"Read Help Protect Your Senior Clients from Being Targeted by Scam Artists\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,178],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asset-protection","category-financial-scams"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633,"href":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}