3 Key Signs There Is a ‘Financial Predator’ Around Your Aging Parents
Written by
Chris Adam
Edited by
Nicholas Morine
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If you’ve ever cared for an aging parent, you know the challenges that can come with it. That can include predators who’re looking to take advantage of seniors.
Sometimes those predators are outside agents — and sometimes they can come from within your own family. Here are some signs to watch out for when it comes to financial predators and your aging parents.
Things Seem Too Good To Be True
First, as with many things in life, those scenarios which seem too good to be true usually are. When it comes to financial predators, there are a number of ways they can use scams to target seniors.
Online romance and shopping scams are among the most common ones targeting seniors. According to Psychology Today, “Scores of seniors fall prey to internet scams every day because cyber criminals have perfected their trade to the point where it is virtually impossible to spot the phony — especially when they have accurate information about the victim, usually acquired online.”
A Stranger Moves Too Fast
Another sign to watch out for is a stranger who develops a quick friendship with your aging parent and tries to become part of their daily life. There are plenty of people with good intentions, but this also is a way financial predators engage with senior victims.
Whether they interact with your aging parents in person, over the phone or by computer, here are some tips from the National Institute on Aging to help keep your loved ones safe:
- Never give out sensitive personal information over the phone or in response to a text message, email or social media post.
- Don’t transfer money to strangers or to someone over the phone – and don’t buy a gift card to pay someone over the phone. Once you share the gift card numbers, it can be nearly impossible to get the money back.
- Check incoming bills for charges you didn’t authorize.
A Family Member Takes Special Interest
Sometimes the financial predator targeting your aging parents is a member of the family. For instance, sometimes one of the adult children wants to make sure they receive a great deal of the money their parents have accumulated.
In this case, a sign to watch out for is when a member of the family takes a sudden, and perhaps intense, interest in an aging parent and their finances. If they want to spend a lot of time alone with the aging parent and things seem off with the finances, it might be time to take a closer look.
According to Forbes, “Financial capacity may be the first intellectual ability to go when cognitive impairment begins, but it is not a sign that the person has no ability left for anything else.”
If someone in the family seems to be preying on your aging parent, consider getting them a proper and full assessment to see if the potential predator can be removed from authority over finances.
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