Financial abuse of elderly growing

NEW YORK — As the U.S. population ages, the elderly are becoming a prime target for financial abuse.

Sometimes the thief is a stranger who befriends a lonely senior. Other times it's a caregiver with sticky fingers. In still other cases, it's a telemarketer with "found money" to share, or even a member of the senior's own family who takes advantage of his or her declining mindfulness.

The National Center on Elder Abuse, a Washington, D.C., clearinghouse for elder rights advocates, estimates there may be as many as 5 million victims a year. But it acknowledges that no one knows for sure because there is no comprehensive data collection nationwide and because many seniors suffer in silence.

Linda Eagle, an expert on elder abuse, believes the majority of cases go unreported.

"Some of the elderly never know they've been scammed," she said. "Those who do are often too embarrassed to talk about it. Or they're afraid if they let on to their families, their families will see them as no longer capable of taking care of themselves and they'll take away their independence."

Eagle, president of the Edcomm Group, a consulting firm based in Fort Washington, Pa., that trains bankers on regulatory issues, believes that financial institutions need to become more aware of "red flags" of abuse so they can help protect their elderly customers. And she believes that baby boomers, who begin turning 60 this year, need to become more aware of the problem.

"Those baby boomers still fortunate enough to have parents have truly elderly parents who may be vulnerable," Eagle said. "And they themselves are growing older, so the problem will only increase."

Families whose loved ones have been victimized say the thieves prey on seniors' insecurities.

Patty Andresen, 57, of Newport News, Va., said that her 90-year-old father, John Patchin, got caught up in a telephone scam last year.

Her father, a retired army colonel who lives in a continuing care facility, got a phone call from someone who told him he had won $250,000 but that the money was hung up in a U.S.-Canadian customs office. If her father would send them $7,000 — in money orders — the prize would be freed and sent to him.

"A bell should have gone off that this was a scam, but it didn't," Andresen said.

Andresen, who operates a Visiting Angels in-home care service, said that she accidentally found out about the scam when she ran across the bank withdrawal slips while looking for something else.