Elder Fraud: Protecting Older Americans from Financial Exploitation

<p>Tracking Financial Fraud Schemes<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>The department is taking a number of steps to both highlight its efforts to the public and to bolster efforts to track elder financial fraud nationwide&period;  With regard to better tracking of its prosecutorial activity&comma; the department has taken steps to collect press releases issued by the department and the U&period;S&period; Attorneys’ Offices regarding federal actions against elder fraud exploitation and to display that information on the Elder Justice Website&period;  Those press releases can currently be found at <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;elderjustice&sol;press">https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;elderjustice&sol;press<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In order to develop a more comprehensive and timely picture of evolving elder financial fraud and scams nationwide&comma; the department’s Civil Division is working closely with the FTC to improve its Consumer Sentinel Network &lpar;CSN&rpar;&period;  The CSN is a secure online database of millions of consumer complaints available only to law enforcement&period;  In addition to receiving complaints from the FTC&comma; the CSN includes complaints from state consumer affairs agencies&comma; state Attorneys General&comma; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau&comma; the Internet Crime Complaint Center&comma; Better Business Bureaus&comma; MoneyGram and Western Union&period;  Moreover&comma; the CSN accepts complaints on a wide range of issues&comma; including identity theft&comma; debt collection&comma; credit reports&comma; <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;category&sol;mortgage&sol;amp&sol;" title&equals;"mortgage" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"62">mortgage<&sol;a> assistance scams&comma; Do Not Call violations&comma; imposter scams&comma; telephone and mobile services&comma; prizes and sweepstakes&comma; Internet services&comma; job scams&comma; privacy&sol;data security&comma; auto-related scams and a variety of other frauds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Although the CSN is the most robust repository of scam-related data&comma; to date&comma; CSN has had limited ability to inform users of repeat offenders or offenders targeting elderly victims&period;  As such&comma; the department has been assisting the FTC to implement improvements to the CSN in order to help identify those bad actors and types of crimes more easily&period;  The modified CSN will better allow users to identify frauds targeting the elderly in a manner that should enhance the ability of investigators&comma; prosecutors and civil enforcement attorneys at the federal&comma; state and local levels to stop them more quickly&period;  At the same time&comma; the department is currently working with several federal agencies to develop a resource locator to help direct victims to available federal resources and complainants to the appropriate federal agency to report allegations of financial abuse&period;  By making this resource locator available to the public&comma; the department hopes to channel complaints to the right place&comma; including the FTC’s CSN&comma; and hopefully provide as comprehensive a view as possible of elder financial exploitation on the federal level&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"pagination clear clearfix"> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;elder-fraud-protecting-older-americans-from-financial-exploitation&sol;amp&sol;" class&equals;"post-page-numbers"><span class&equals;"pagelink">1<&sol;span><&sol;a> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;elder-fraud-protecting-older-americans-from-financial-exploitation&sol;amp&sol;2&sol;amp&sol;" class&equals;"post-page-numbers"><span class&equals;"pagelink">2<&sol;span><&sol;a> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;elder-fraud-protecting-older-americans-from-financial-exploitation&sol;amp&sol;3&sol;amp&sol;" class&equals;"post-page-numbers"><span class&equals;"pagelink">3<&sol;span><&sol;a> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;elder-fraud-protecting-older-americans-from-financial-exploitation&sol;amp&sol;4&sol;amp&sol;" class&equals;"post-page-numbers"><span class&equals;"pagelink">4<&sol;span><&sol;a> <span class&equals;"post-page-numbers current" aria-current&equals;"page"><span class&equals;"pagelink">5<&sol;span><&sol;span> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;elder-fraud-protecting-older-americans-from-financial-exploitation&sol;amp&sol;6&sol;amp&sol;" class&equals;"post-page-numbers"><span class&equals;"pagelink">6<&sol;span><&sol;a> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;elder-fraud-protecting-older-americans-from-financial-exploitation&sol;amp&sol;7&sol;amp&sol;" class&equals;"post-page-numbers"><span class&equals;"pagelink">7<&sol;span><&sol;a> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;elder-fraud-protecting-older-americans-from-financial-exploitation&sol;amp&sol;8&sol;amp&sol;" class&equals;"post-page-numbers"><span class&equals;"pagelink">8<&sol;span><&sol;a><&sol;div>

Elder FraudFinancial Fraud