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Elder Financial Abuse

Elder abuse occurs when an older man or woman is harmed, neglected or exploited, usually by someone they should be able to trust. Older people can be harmed in lots of different ways, and one of the most common forms is financial abuse.

Elder financial abuse has many different forms:

  • Taking money or property
  • Forging an older person’s signature
  • Getting a person to sign a deed, will or power of attorney through deception, coercion or undue influence
  • Using a person’s property or possessions without permission.
  • Confidence crimes (cons) are the use of deception to gain victims confidence.
  • Scams – fraudulent or deceptive acts.
  • Fraud is the use of deception, trickery or dishonest acts or statements for financial gain.

The perpetrators of financial abuse can be:

  • Family members, who may have financial or substance abuse problems.
  • Predatory individuals, who seek out vulnerable people. They may be running businesses, which overcharge for services or products or carry out unnecessary work i.e. unnecessary roof repairs.

The most common indicators of financial abuse are:

  • Unpaid bills, rent arrears notices, warning letters from Gas and Electricity providers and generally debts building up.
  • Belongings or property going missing.
  • Unusual activity in bank accounts e.g. large unexplained withdrawals, or frequent withdrawals from cash machines.

Financial abuse can be prevented and stopped, but only if someone knows about it in the first place and does something about it. If you or someone you know is being financially abused, the people who might be able to help are:

Action on Elder Abuse: free phone 0808 80 88 141
Social Services: details in local phone book
Police: details in local phone book
Victim Support: telephone 0845 30 30 900
Carers UK: telephone 0808 808 7777