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| | The population of seniors is estimated to be between 12 – 13 percent overall. As the “baby boomer bubble” moves through the age groups this number is expected to rise to a high of 20 percent. The estimate of fraud perpetuated against this group is about 30% so seniors overall are a “prime target” for fraud and financial abuse.
With age comes wisdom and experience but often this is not enough to protect the Senior from falling prey to con artists and fraudsters. Social workers, attorneys and law enforcement have identified the following four reasons that put seniors at greater risk for fraud:
More Leisure Time. People are living longer, and often retiring earlier. This can easily translate into empty hours that can easily be filled with reading mail, taking phone calls, responding to unsolicited advertisements on the Internet or visits from strangers offering “money saving” deals, “no risk” investments and “big cash” prizes and rewards.
Isolation. Seniors often have a shrinking pool of individuals that they associate with and less mobility for a number of reasons. This leaves them vulnerable for con artists and fraudsters who are willing to provide a friendly face or voice as a means to an end.
Anxiety. With the increase in life expectancy and the effects of inflation Seniors are often concerned about not having enough funds to maintain their lifestyle, or having an inheritance for their children and loved ones.
Income and Assets. While seniors as a group are not the big salary earners, they have fewer expenses and generally have more assets and discretionary income. This makes them an attractive target for con artists and fraudsters.
There are other factors that exacerbate this problem;
Aging Criminals. As the baby boomer generation pushes its way through the generations, so too does the number of criminals in that age group. This creates a large number of individuals who have the mindset, capability, education and resources to commit fraud.
Declining Police Resources. Budget restrained governments and low recruitment in many areas of policing have resulted in less and less manpower allocated to crimes that do not involve violence. Often fraud under a certain threshold ($10,000 - $25,000) is not investigated allowing the criminal element freedom to work in this arena without fear of consequences.
Jurisdiction Issues. The advances of technology allow con artists and fraudsters to operate in venues outside of local jurisdictions. The additional burden of cross border investigations and litigation is often beyond the resources of a local police department.
Under Reporting. Fraud is under reported. Reporting Agencies cease to report to the police simply because it is a redundant activity. Companies, ever conscious of image, will often just dismiss an employee rather than going though the publicity associated with prosecution. Individuals don’t report out of embarrassment and fear of humiliation, or worse, losing their independence in financial affairs.
Low Risk Activity. As far as criminal activities, robbing a bank generally nets a small return with a possibility of personal harm and a high risk of incarceration. Identity theft on the other hand, pays out and average of $3,000 per incident and about $30,000 per identity, with a low risk of personal harm or incarceration.
Most Seniors are using skill sets that are decades old and as such they are amateurs pitted against professionals. In any other field of endeavor when you pit an amateur against a pro, the nod goes to the pro.
The Wise Owl Program is intended to keep the amateurs out of the ring.
