Sid Kirchheimer (author of Scam-Proof Your Life, AARP Books) explains that senior citizens get scammed for other reasons besides memory loss, loneliness and a more trusting nature. Research suggests that subtle mental changes provide unexpected opportunities for scammers to prey on seniors. See AARP.org, Bulletin, “Brain Games,” “Scam Alert ? Why Older People are more prone to cons.”
Rushing and Repetition. People can have some memory impairment even without a noticeable memory loss, and we all start losing some memory and processing speed in our 30s, according to the article. Scammers often pressure us to make decisions before we have time to process them thoroughly – “act now!” “Unless you’re patient enough to give yourself more time to process everything, you can be more vulnerable,” Virginia Templeton, director of MemoryCare in North Carolina, was quoted as saying. Repetition is another scammer technique. A lie repeated often enough can start to sound true (We agreed on this, etc.).
Emotional neediness. Some older people feel a loss of status in society, according to the article. Even if one has family and friends and is not “lonely,” a feeling of loss of status or private worries provide opportunities for a scammer to step in and “provide fake emotional support ? while taking your money,” according to the article.
Patriotism and Religion. Studies have found that many older people are better at detecting lies than younger people, but older people also “tend to be more patriotic and more religious,” neuropsychologist Stacey Wood was quoted as saying, adding” Compared to other age groups, older adults tend to have a more positive outlook.” These otherwise good tendencies can open the door to fraud involving fake charities and other purported good causes, according to the article.
In summary, people over 65 years of age comprise only 1/8 of the U.S. population, but as many as 1/3 of all scam victims, according to the article. State securities regulators say that senior fraud accounts for nearly ? of all the complaints they receive. See http://www.nasaa.org/investor_education senior_investor_resource_center/5025.cfm. “While some of these cases of senior investment fraud may not make national headlines, they are devastating in their impact to the victims and their families.”
Page Perry has over 125 years collective experience representing institutional and individual investors in securities-related litigation and arbitration all over the country. While past results are not indicative of future success, Page Perry’s attorneys have recovered over $1,000,000 for clients on more than 40 occasions.