Study: 90 percent of seniors think they can spot elder abuse

showed some interesting results when it comes to how senior citizens see their risk of being tricked into giving away money. Allianz Life found that only 1 percent of senior citizens thought they could not detect elder abuse if it was happening to them. Ninety percent of the elder study participants said they could recognize a financial scam if someone was trying to perpetrate one, and only 11 percent were concerned that they might become the target of abuse. Despite the high percentage of seniors that think they could spot a scam, only 78 percent of younger study participants felt confident that they would know if their older relatives or friends were being defrauded. There are a variety of ways that individuals can fall victim to elder abuse, including financial scams by people whom the elder believes they can trust, such as caregivers and home nurses. Associate professor Jeff Langenderfer of the Raleigh, N.C.-based Meredith College School of Business, suspects that the 78 percent may be over-confident in their self-assessment, as criminals looking to perpetrate elder abuse are likely to convince seniors that they must not tell anyone about what they are doing, or to whom they are sending money. Earlier in the year, the White House focused its Conference on Aging on reducing the risk of elder abuse and preventing financial fraud by teaching doctors and bank workers how to detect the signs of abuse and what steps they can take to intervene.]]>