Finding the Perpetrators and Helping our Elders

In the past few months, I have discussed different frauds and abuses the elderly and minority groups have endured and some of the attributing factors leading to them. Although these crimes have been happening for a long time and continue to happen every day, elders and minorities continue to be abused. It may be a lack of knowledge and awareness, the simple desire to want to believe people are always good, or their inability to understand the situation when they get defrauded. Regardless of the reasoning, this is an abuse often goes unpunished and one that needs to be minimized.  However, to it one must know the perpetrator and the crimes they commit, in order to protect against it. Judith B. Sklar outlines perpetrators in her paper, “Elder and Dependent Fraud: A sampler of Actual Cases to Profile the Offenders and the Crimes They Perpetrate.”

She outlines four different kind of perpetrators, the first being “adult children, grandchildren, or other relatives, second; professional or hired caretakers, third: friends or others in a position of trust, and fourth: professional crime groups that target elders and dependent adults.” In looking over at these groups, it becomes obvious that most of the categories are made up of people who one would think they could trust; however, this is not the case. The sad reality is that children and other relatives make up the largest group of perpetrators and many times take advantage of their elderly relatives to extract money or possessions. These crimes often go unpunished because they go undiscovered or the elder does not want to see their loved on penalized or incarcerated by the law. Caretakers on the other hand are a hired group one would expect to be professional, they tend to be screened by their employers for crimes, yet, histories of theft and drug use often go through the cracks.  Others such as close friends in a position of trust are also in a position to commit fraud because they can influence the elder to make investments and expenditures, and they can often times go undetected. Lastly, professional crime groups are probably the most threatening since these people make a living from swindling elders out of their savings, with scams such as seen in earlier posts. 

From all of the above scams we see that perpetrators tend to misuse legal documents, which is a reason they can be mistaken for civil cases as opposed to criminal cases. This fact coupled with the government’s lack or resources to look into elder fraud criminal leaves the issue underserved. A solution to a lack of resources by the government is to have a specific elderly fraud department who can investigate such occurrences and can criminally prosecute perpetrators for their crimes. Outreach should also be made to bankers, doctors, nurses, and neighbors so they can understand some of the red flag indicating fraud and can report it and stop it before it escalates further. All these measures along with our own vigilance can help make the world we live in friendlier for our elders. 

Sklar, Judith B (2000). “Elder and Dependent Fraud: A sampler of Actual Cases to Profile the Offenders and the Crimes They Perpetrate.” Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect. 12:2,19-32

Asian Indian Elderly

I have been discussing abuse in my last couple posts, however what is abuse? Abuse can mean many different things to different people and different cultures; it is contingent on what is expected and what is viewed as abusive. Immigrants from India, like many people who immigrate to the US, are experiencing a shift of their view of maltreatment from traditional to modern.

Traditionally the Indian family system is patriarchal in which thee eldest male (father or grandfather) is responsible for all the affairs of the family. The family’s sons stay traditionally stay at the family home and bring their wives, who taken over the responsibilities of the house and the care of the elderly. Women in the family do not get many rights and are only seem as temporary members until they marry and become part of the husband’s family, however upon reaching old age and widow hood many become reliant on their children because of a lack of resources.  Indians are traditionally taught to venerate the elderly through scriptures and folk tales told them at a young age.

However, with the shift towards urbanization the family structure held traditionally is being broken down with children moving away from home and adopting new cultures. This shift is practices may also form divisions with parents who feel abandoned and neglected and accidental abuse. For example, in Nagpaul’s article we are introduced to Mrs. M, a widow living with her son and daughter in law, who like many Hindu’s is a vegetarian but her urbanized son and daughter in law are not. Because of her daughter-in-laws use of the same utensils in cooking meat and vegetarian meals, Mrs. M has begun surviving on buttermilk and bananas. The daughter in law may not see this as abuse but the elder Mrs. M does.

When looking at elder abuse of Asian Indians in the US, the study by Nagpaul found that although the younger and older generations may view different situations with more or less severity, they tend to agree on the overall view of an action and continue to emphasis respect for the elderly. However, communication between generations, as well as increased knowledge of elderly programs can help elderly Asian Indians from feeling alone and isolated. 

Nagpaul, Kalma.  (1997). Elder abuse among Asian Indians: Traditional versus modern perspectives. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 9(2), 77-92.  Retrieved April 24, 2011, from Health Module. (Document ID: 29577587)

African American Elderly Abuse

African Americans represent the largest racial minority group in the US, and their elderly population is also the largest due to the baby boom and technological advances. Elderly people on the whole face abuse, which according to Giordano and Giordano (1984) 1 out of 10 elders living at home face abuse, like any elderly group they also face abuse. Also they have faced many forms of violence in their life from racial violence and violence between their own people, such as with gangs and section rivalries. All these aspects serve to explain some parts of the high rates of abuse for African American elderly, however not all since the group in not entirely homogeneous. However unlike their majority counterpart, elderly Blacks have a very different heritage, one that exposed them to racial injustices and discrimination. Because of these common experience, Black have formed a sense of community between themselves that in some ways seems to be very effective, such as their institutional rates are much lower than those of White Elderly. However, their informal networks often lack resources to aid elders in issues of maltreatment, abuse and neglect. Elder African Americans who experience abuse often remain silent about such things because of the community’s judgmental attitude towards both the victim and abuser. 

In order to prevent abuse to older African Americans agencies should focus on educating the community about elder abuse and creating a non-judgmental attitude that encourages both abusers and victims to share their experiences in order for them to be able to recover for such episodes.

Griffin, Linner Ward and Oliver J. Williams. "Abuse Among African-American Elderly" Journal of Family Violence.

Tauriac, Jesse J. and Natoschia Scruggs. "Elder Abuse Among African Americans" Educational Gerentology. Volume 32, Issue 1. 2006. pages 37-48

Abuse and Fraud of Elderly Men

Abuse and fraud of Elderly Men is a topic that is not often discussed. When most of us think of elderly abuse we probably envision an older women being taken advantage of then a men because there are more elderly women than men due to life expectancy and women seem a more vulnerable target. However, men suffer from many forms of abuse such as their high rates of self-abuse and their high risk of abuse and fraud when they are lonely, incarcerated or gay.  Men like their women counterparts, are also victims of domestic abuse although this is a topic that is not talked about much since most times they are thought to be the abuser not the victim; however, according to Quinn in Violence Hits Home: Comprehensive Treatment Approaches to Domestic Violence elderly men are just as likely to be abused as women. Elderly men are most often abused by their spouse and children who may both physically and emotionally attack them through neglect or psychologically abuse. Men also suffer higher rates of homelessness than do women of 60 years or older and make up to 10-20% of the homeless in America. Abuse is also common to homeless men as shown in Youtube clips or shows like “Bum Fights”, which depicts mostly older bums fighting each other for a meager dollar amount or food and broadcast on television or the internet as entertainment.  

Another aspect that makes elderly men more likely to be abused is their cultural background. Many different factors effect whether a man is abused in old age such as, socioeconomic status, level of education, literacy and English proficiency, and degree of acculturation to US customs. Men with low incomes and tense family relations caused by prior abuse of children or their spouse have increased risks of being abused in old age. Although men do make up a smaller percentage of the elder population it is important to take into account the abuse of men both at home and institutions, and attempt to cause awareness of this unspoken phenomenon. 

Shapiro, Constance Hoenk, "Violence Hits Home: Comprehensive Treatment Approaches to Domestic Violence". Edited by Sandra M. Stith, Mary Beth Williams, and Karen Rosen (Book Review), Affilia, 7:3 (1992:Fall) p.107 
 

Kosberg, Jordan I.(1998) 'The Abuse of Elderly Men', Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 9: 3, 69 — 88

Hispanics and Fraud

In the last few posts, I have discussed elderly fraud, however there is probably not one aspect of society that is not touched by fraud. Minorities just like the elderly are seen as a target for fraud because of their inexperience with local markets, and their lack of language skills allows them to be manipulated more easily. “A recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) survey found that 11.2% of the US population and over 14% of the US Latino population are victims of consumer fraud.” These numbers of staggering nationally and even more so for Hispanics, which tend to be susceptible to vocational school scams, money-wiring fraud, used car scams, and scams promising legal status. Some of these scams are moderately public, such as an ad I once saw as a pop up add claiming that I had won a green card. Most of us would probably know this is a pop up whose content is pure fabrication but others with less experience on how the system works could see themselves caught in such frauds.

According to research conducted in Georgia by the International Journal of Consumer studies many frauds committed against Hispanics are affinity frauds, which are frauds committed by someone pretending to befriend the victim and who speaks their language, other frauds are fueled by lack of knowledge such as notary publics claiming to do services they cannot perform, and bail bonds men taking advantage of their clients. In order to prevent Latinos from facing such fraud it is important to educate them on financial literacy and the working of he society they now live in as well as having outlets for them to report fraud in order to uproot it. 

Marlowe, J. and Atiles, J. H. (2005), Consumer fraud and Latino immigrant consumers in the United States. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 29: 391–400. doi: 10.1111/j.1470-6431.2005.00463.x

Risk of Fraud for the Elderly

In my last two posts I discussed fraud of the elderly and wondered why they many times become a target. Yes, they do seem like perfect targets since man of them live alone and have monetary wealth that could be easily stolen. However, according to research on aging done by McCabe and Gregory, the elderly (age 65 or older) are actually at lower risks of crime than the general population. Yet, they are at more risks than their younger counterparts for crimes of robbery, intimidation, vandalism and forgery. [1]But why are the elderly a perfect target for these crimes?

When thinking about the difference crimes the elderly population is more at risk for we can come to many different reasons why they seem the perfect target. In the case of robbery, the elderly tend to have made their wealth already and so have more in savings, which makes them lucrative targets. Intimidation is probably the most obvious crime the elderly would be targeted for because of their fragility and inability to stand up for themselves. Vandalism on the other hand may not be as obvious, however, the older population tend to have more property making them have more assets for which to vandalize.  Lastly, forgery is more likely to happen to the elderly because of their assets and their strong credit histories, which have been built up over decades. The elderly in many ways are perfect targets for crime, however contrary to my previous belief they are not more risk than the general population. However, society must continue to find ways in order to eradicate it all together.  

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McCabe, Kimberly A., and Sharon S. Gregory. "Elderly victimization: an examination beyond the FBI's index crimes." Research on Aging 20.3 (1998): 363+. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.

If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is

Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme has made him a household name. He swindled hundreds of people of their life savings and pocketed the money as his own. Although, I wish I could say this is an isolated case, it’s not. Last week in Lompoc, another fraud came to light with Michael Lee Wilson as the mastermind. He got trusting souls to invest in Wilson’s Pacific Coast Mortgage company, even in this unfavorable market, by inducing them to make “short” term loans to him with shaky real estate as collateral. He defrauded his investors of $14 Million dollars, most of who consisted of the elderly. So we come back to the question, why do people keep falling for this? I feel there are a lot of different reasons, some people may have extra capital they wish to make profits on, others may be in need of larger savings then they have and so, are trying to make extra money, however, what I feel it comes down to is greed. I think we commonly associate greed with young wall street types but this feeling is universal, it doesn’t change from young to old. The only difference is that in their old age and desperation, the elderly may be more trusting and gullible to schemes. However, what we all have to remember is that if it sounds to good, then it probably is.

Brantingham, Barney. "Where'd the $14 Million Go?" Santa Barbara Independent. February 3, 2011.

Elder Fraud: Who would do such a thing?

We have all heard of scams and have probably all been exposed to them. The emails claiming you have an inheritance awaiting you by a decease relative you have never previously heard of or the many telemarketing frauds we hear about in the news. And you may think, “Who would fall for these frauds?” But many Americans do everyday, and according to Congressional estimates and surveys from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) over half of the victims are 50 years or older. However, what may be most surprising is that most financial abuse of elders happens by those they know, such as family members, care takers and neighbors. It is those who know they have funds to be extorted and who are close enough to take it away quietly that do so most often.

Last week the San Diego Union Tribune published, “Elder abuse, often unnoticed, growing at alarming rate.” The article focuses on the financial and physical abuse many seniors face. With the growth of the baby boomers, the numbers of seniors who are reliant on others for their care and financial planning will only grow and with this so will the opportunity for people to take advantage of them in there weak state. Although there are currently many resources for seniors, many of them lack the knowledge to reach out for help or are oblivious to the fact that they are getting swindled. What this tells us is that the aging population still lacks the correct and most efficient weapons to protect themselves from fraud. We may not have a immediate solution to this problem but it is on us to help solve this growing abuse. It is true each of us is only one person but if we talk to our parents, grandparents, and friends about these issues it will be one less person affected.  

“Elder abuse, often unnoticed, growing at alarming rate”