Your elderly family members may have played a key role in raising you. They instilled good values and made sure you had access to everything you ever needed. In return, you want to ensure that they live out their golden years as happily as possible.
The sad reality is that financial scams are commonplace today. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), consumers lost approximately $8 billion to scams in 2022.
Anyone can fall victim to a financial scam, but elderly individuals are particularly vulnerable. According to the FBI, senior citizens are more susceptible to financial scams than younger people for the following reasons.
They are financially stable targets
Scammers understand that elderly people often own their own homes and have considerable savings. This is supposed to allow them to retire and live out the rest of their years comfortably. Sadly, to individuals looking to prey on vulnerable targets, this checks all of the right boxes.
Elderly people are more trusting
Society has changed in recent decades as towns and cities continue to expand. Elderly people raised in the mid-1900s had different relationships with people in their community. The people they bought goods from were also likely to be their friends.
All of this would have bred trust, which isn’t a bad thing until that trust is misplaced in the hands of people wishing to do them financial harm. Elderly people often find it hard to say no to people who are con artists.
Your elderly relatives deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. If they have been targeted in a financial scam, be sure to look into the legal options at their disposal.
