Who Should Seniors Trust?
My uncle Louis got a phone call from his grandson. His grandson was frantic- he was injured in a car accident and needed fifteen hundred dollars immediately. My uncle, who incidentally is intelligent, quick witted and sharp, ran to his bank to wire him the money. Of course, it was a scam. However, the man who called sounded eerily like his grandson. Or could it be that Louis did not really pay attention to the voice only to the tearful cry of help?
Other seniors, as I’m sure you have heard, have been getting phone calls from the IRS stating that if they do not pay their tax penalties they are in danger of being put into jail. Online scammers, telephone solicitors and even family members aim at the most susceptible among us.
Buzz Aldrin, an eighty-eight-year-old NASA astronaut claimed that two of his children were conspiring with his former manager to take control of his estate by announcing that he suffers from dementia. Stan Lee, a ninety- five-year-old famous comic book writer has been involved in a legal battle with a memorabilia collector to control the writer’s fortune of fifty million dollars. The Apollo 11 star sued the three conspirators in a Florida court last June. Meanwhile, a Los Angeles court has submitted a restraining order to the memorabilia collector as well as prohibiting the collector for having any further contact with the writer. In both cases the accusers claimed that the senior was confused or demented.
Financial exploitation of seniors is a growing problem as Americans grow older. When it is a family member that is doing the exploiting, it stays a hidden crime. It is embarrassing for a parent to report their child’s fraudulent behaviors.
Imagine the fright of a senior getting a call from the IRS. All her life she paid her taxes on time and her integrity is straight as an arrow. When someone called Hannah claiming to be the IRS it sent chills up and down her spine. Fortunately for her, she had a son in law who is an accountant. Her son in law assured her that it was a scam, however, she admitted that for weeks after the call she dreaded picking up the phone. Incidentally, the IRS doesn’t call people about their taxes, it sends a letter.
Marjorie Jones, eighty- two years old, was called and notified that she had won a prize in a sweepstakes. The man told her that she would get her winnings once she paid the fees and taxes. She wired the first payment thinking that would be the extent of her payment. Soon she was convinced by the man and other callers to send additional funds. (America’s Elderly Are Losing $37 Billion a Year to Fraud – Bloomberg)
Mrs. Jones, who by the way was legally blind, lived by herself in a lovely home in Louisiana. She was forced to take out a reverse mortgage and cash in a life insurance policy. Embarrassed to notify her family, she did not even reveal to her sister who lived right next door to her what happened. The scammers had told Mrs. Jones to keep her winnings a secret. Doesn’t it remind you of other types of abusers?
According to Bloomberg News, criminals steal thirty seven billion dollars a year from America’s elderly. According to Mark Lachs ( co-chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Weil Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital), elder abuse victims including financial exploitation, die three times faster than those elders who have not been abused. Lachs calls this a public health crisis. That is why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called elder exploitation a public health problem in a 2016 report. To Elizabeth Loewy, from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, many family members have told her that the exploitation killed their parent even though they can’t prove it legally.
Thus far we have given examples of seniors who were in complete charge of their own faculties. How much worse it is for elders who have mental and physical declining. Bente Kongsore, a retired accountant from Creswell, Oregon said that her parents physical and mental decline intensified after the assistant manager at their local bank became personal friends with her parents. Bente Kongsore claims that this bank assistant stole one hundred thousand dollars from her parents in 2014. The bank assistant asserted that the money was given to her by the husband. Not only did the couple lose their money at the end of their lives but their trust in each other as well. They each questioned the other about how this money was given to the bank manager. Instead of living in harmony for the last two years of their lives together, their trust in each other was undermined by this insidious crime.
The trouble with persecution of the thieves is that in many cases it appears as if the victim gave their consent to the thief. Once a person suffers from dementia he/she cannot judge which person has their best interests at heart. How strong then can the case be in criminal court? In order to have a successful verdict there must be an evaluation showing that the victim lacks capability to make reasonable financial decisions.
Mark Lachs from Weil Cornell introduced a new terminology to sound the alarm on elder fraud, AAFV (Age-Associated Financial Vulnerability). Financial judgment can start to vacillate before normal cognition does. A person can seem quite normal in every other way except financially. As a person ages it can become more difficult to keep track of our financial records says Bonnie Brandl of “Abuse Later in Life”.
The story about Bente Kongsore’s parents was of a stranger who exploited the elderly couple. However, almost sixty percent of elder fraud cases involve a family member according to 2014 study by Lachs. Even if one family member suspects another family member they will hesitate to act because they don’t want to air their dirty laundry in public.
The next question is how can we help and protect our aging parents and loved ones? These next legal steps seem like the answers but beware these safeguards are problems as well.
1) Abuse of Power of Attorney – a document in which an individual grant the power to handle his or her affairs to another person. The senior should be aware that he should give over only the minimum amount of power and not general use of their funds. Granting the agent broad power of attorney opens the door to potential misuse of the funds.
2) Joint Bank Account Problems – There are two types of joint bank accounts.
a) Each owner can withdraw money from the bank account without permission and signature from the other. This type of joint account is open to manipulation. Also, upon death, the inheritance of the money will automatically go to the joint account holder.
b) The word, “And” is added to the account. This is an account that requires both owners to sign the withdrawal slip. In either case the senior must be comfortable and trust the joint owner of the account because ultimately in both scenarios the joint owner will inherit the money.
c) Deed Transfers – Anytime a deed is transferred to another person that person has the power to sell, mortgage or even evict you from your home. Benefits such as senior repair programs and rebates become void if your property is transferred to non- seniors. The best and safest way of ensuring that your property will be transferred to the right hands after death is to write a will stating who you want to give over your property to. In this way you will choose the person or people personally.
d) Credit card fraud – If you did not authorize a payment you are not liable. Always know the location of your card.
Given these depressing situations, there are certain preventions and advocacies that can be done to help aging loved ones.
1) While the senior is still mentally sharp he/she should discuss finances with their children and caregivers. It’s a sensitive topic that must be explored.
2) Children should stay close and connected to their older loved ones and visit regularly.
3) If your parent has a caregiver treat them royally and develop a good and close relationship with them. This way they know you are paying attentions to your parent’s affairs and will be less likely to exploit your loved one.
4) Be a monitor. Monitor all bank and brokerage activities of your parent’s finances. This way you will be on guard for any odd or excessive withdrawals and changes.
5) There is a service called, EverSafe. This company is a personal detection and alert system. They analyze your financial behavior to establish a personal profile so they can detect unusual activity. If your identity is jeopardized they will assist you.
Hopefully, the elders that we know will be able to trust their families and then they will have protection from strangers in the form of bank managers, phone scammers and even caregivers. If you can’t trust your own family -who can you trust?
