While we like to imagine we’ll remain mentally sharp and physically fit as we grow older, we don’t really know how the aging process will affect us. Some of us may experience symptoms of dementia, making everyday actions challenging. We could also have more difficulty with memory, problem-solving skills, and more. When this happens, we can become prime targets for exploiters.
According to the FBI, people over age 65 are those most vulnerable to financial exploitation. Exploiters frequently target older people who they perceive to be more vulnerable and trusting. This is especially true when the older person starts showing signs of dementia. We hear about a lot of telephone scams or lottery scams, but mostly confidence scams. For example, we’ve seen many cases where the “caregiver” ends up being the exploiter.
The exploiter begins building a relationship over time, gaining trust. This is exacerbated when the person needs the physical assistance. Once trust is established, the exploiter begins taking money. Sometimes at the urging of the exploiter, prior estate planning is revoked and new documents are signed putting in place the caregiver over family members. Sometimes the exploiter is the one who brings about family estrangement, by saying things like “your daughter just wants to put you in a nursing home.”
People over 65 who don’t have adult children or other family members to care for them are sometimes called “elder orphans” or “solo agers.” Whether they live alone or in an assisted living facility, these people face a unique situation. They must be more cautious about everyone entering their lives to help ensure they don’t fall victim to scams.
An article in the first quarter of 2025 NAELA News provides a list of the steps you can take to help protect against scams:
- Designate a trusted contact with brokerage or financial accounts
- Create powers of attorney naming trusted agents
- Creating a trust and putting assets into the trust and naming a trusted person as
successor trustee or naming a trust protector who can immediately intervene - Use the Social Security Advances Designation to appoint a trusted person as
representative payee before the need arises - Place a freeze on Social Security numbers with every credit bureau
- Moving residence to a gated 55+ community with on-site support and services
- Drafting letter of intent for future care and providing a copy of agents and trusted
contacts - Organizing financial records and providing a list of financial institutions (My book “My Last Gift” can help with this step)
- Inventorying personal property and providing a list to trusted contacts
- Designating trusted contacts on HIPPA releases to specify who can obtain medical
records - Maintaining an active social life as exploiters prefer to target isolated individuals.
For those who do not have trusted family, you can research into having a professional trustee and fiduciary. For those who have trusted family, it is important to maintain regular contact with your loved ones and make in-person visits regularly as well. If you’re approaching your senior years, now is the perfect time to start advance planning for the future. Then maintain those good relationships.