Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Guidelines For Avoiding Elder Fraud

By Diane Anderson


Frauds have been common in different areas and have gone unreported for quite a long time as well. Caregivers and family members to the affected seniors stand in the first line of defense against such instances. They have a role in protecting their seniors to ensure that they enjoy their financial freedom. Here are a few practical measures on how to avoid elder fraud that one should take note.

Learn different aspects related to scams. You cannot deal with something that you are not aware of. There are various opportunities that fraudsters can use to take advantage of a senior. For instance, they would scam the senior in an insurance scam, real estate scam, lottery scam, and a health scam.

Beware of everything happening to a senior. You have to be careful with every transaction that the elder makes. Therefore, you should advise the elder to remain open with any deal about to make with you. They should provide information about the financial transaction, bills, and financial emails. Providing such information will help you determine if the consideration about to make is a scam or not.

Check various measures you can use to acknowledge a fraud. It is hard to identify a fraud about to befall a senior since most of them remain silent about such a situation. Therefore, you need to identify particular changes in them to determine whether they are suffering in silence. Some of the indicators of the scam include a difference in their banking habits, payment of bills, unclear checks and unusual signatures.

Take over their vital documents. At some point, seniors end up failing to cater to their financial responsibilities due to adverse age or sickness. At that point, a close relative or an attorney should assume their role in their financial obligations. Therefore, they should take charge of documents such as the wills, HIPAA release documents, and healthcare proxy.

Verify everything with a trusted expert. The senior should have a trusted individual that one should consult before sharing vital financial information with a stranger. The person might be an attorney or a close individual who is trustworthy. Some seniors might be against such a decision, but it is always necessary to remind them that you intend to protect them rather than control their actions.

Remove their details from public platforms. Most scammers get information about seniors from public avenues. You should consider removing the details of your elder from these platforms to reduce the possibility of a scam. You should help the senior sign for a National Do Not Call which prevent telemarketers from reaching out to their addresses.

Keep updated over information related to senior scams. There are ever-changing trends in the senior scamming. In that case, one has to be careful with this aspect and should look for reliable sources of information to rely on. You can get information online and through government agencies that deal with such a situation. You should also have a helpline that you can use to contact necessary authorities in case you suspect such situations.




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