Bilking The Elderly: II

Here is another article about financial abuse of the elderly, this one on line abuse. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18553590/



More and more elderly people are using the internet, and not just for email. They are often more vulnerable to abuse, for many reasons. They include being more trusting, lack of familiarity with the web, emotional issues such as depression and loneliness, and impaired cognition. These set them up for financial abuse.

If you are dealing with older people, as a family caregiver, a financial advisor, etc., there are a couple things you can do:

1. Discuss the different kinds of fraud which come up on the internet, and give them concrete examples.

2. Write up some guidelines/ warnings for them.

3. Make sure they have good spam, spyware, malware, virus protection, etc. set up, functioning, and up to date.

4. Watch for the signs of those things that make them vulnerable, as I mentioned above. Some of them you may not be able to do anything about, but others, such as loneliness and depression you may.

5. If you are able to, or they are willing, make sure their are secure limits on accounts and credit cards.