By DAVID CRARY, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Boomers beware: Scams, frauds and other financial exploitation schemes targeting older Americans are a growing multibillion-dollar industry enriching the schemers, anguishing the victims and vexing law enforcement officials who find these crimes among the hardest to investigate and prosecute.
"The true con artists, who are in the business of making money off older folks through devious means, are very good at what they do," said Sally Hurme, a consumer fraud specialist with AARP. "They cover their tracks, they use persuasive psychological means to spin their tales."
Elder financial abuse encompasses a wide range of tactics, some perpetrated by relatives or trusted advisers, some by strangers via telemarketing and Internet-based scams.
Researchers say only a fraction of the abuse gets reported to the authorities, often because victims are too befuddled or embarrassed to speak up. Even with the reported cases, data is elusive because most federal crime statistics don't include breakdowns of victims' ages.
Nonetheless, there's ample research to convey the scope of this scourge.
A federally funded study conducted for the National Institute of Justice in 2009 concluded that 5 percent of Americans 60 and older had been the victim of recent financial exploitation by a family member, while 6.5 percent were the target of a nonfamily member. The study, led by psychologist Ron Acierno of the Medical University of South Carolina, was based on input from 5,777 older adults.
A report last year by insurer MetLife Inc. estimated the annual loss by victims of elder financial abuse at $2.9 billion, compared with $2.6 billion in 2008.
"Elder financial abuse is an intolerable crime resulting in losses of human rights and dignity," MetLife said. "Yet it remains underreported, underrecognized and underprosecuted."
Older Americans are by no means the only target of schemers and scammers, but experts say they have distinctive characteristics that often make them a tempting prey.
Some have disabilities that leave them dependent on others for help; others are unsophisticated about certain financial matters or potential pitfalls on the Internet. Many are relatively isolated and susceptible to overtures from seemingly friendly strangers.
"That's why telemarketing scams are so successful," said Karen Turner, head of a newly formed elder fraud unit in the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office in New York City. "They're delighted to have someone to talk with — they almost welcome the calls."
Coupled with these factors, most older Americans, even in these troubled economic times, have tangible assets in the form of homeownership, pensions and Social Security income that scammers seek to exploit.
Another factor is the older generation's patriotism and respect for authority, according to Sid Kirchheimer, who writes a weekly "Scam Alert" column for the AARP Bulletin.
"A lot of the scammers pretend to be with the government — they say they're calling from the Social Security Administration or the IRS," Kirchheimer said. "People 65 and over, they often fall for that."
There's a multitude of scam scenarios, some of them new twists on old ploys.
Among the current variations:
—The Grandparent Scam: Impostors, often calling from abroad, pose as a grandchild in need of cash to cope with some sort of emergency, perhaps an arrest or an accident. The grandparent is asked to send money and urged not to tell anyone else about the transfer.
Police in Bangor, Maine, said a man in his 70s was bilked out of $7,000 in January by a con artist pretending to be his grandson who called to say he needed money to get out of jail in Spain.
In another version, scammers pose as soldiers who've been serving in Afghanistan, and call grandparents claiming to need money as part of their homecoming.
—The Lottery Scam: Scammers inform their target that they have won a lottery or sweepstakes and need to make a payment to obtain the supposed prize. The targets may be sent a fake prize-money check they can deposit in their bank account. Before that check bounces, the criminals will collect money for supposed fees or taxes on the prize.
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