The Science of Being a Scam Victim?

Did you ever think about why elders are targeted for scams? An article by Dr. Bruce H Price and Dr. Ekaterina Pivovarova, with Dr. Judith Edersheim, brings science to the understanding of scam victims.  The article, Protecting Our Parents: Can Science Help? examines How Science and Law Can Unite to Reduce Crimes Against This Vulnerable Population.   Calling for collaboration, after recapping some of the high profile scams and financial exploitation cases, the authors suggest that  “[a]s crime rates — and vulnerable populations — increase, the scientific and legal communities must pool our ever-increasing knowledge and resources to protect elderly family members.”

The article lists the most common range of scams as well as the more likely victims and perpetrators and provides that the perpetrators aren’t focusing on “elderly because they are more vulnerable to sympathetic stories … [but instead] prey upon them because many have difficulty sorting through information, making complex decisions, and resisting pressure — difficulties that increase exponentially as the elderly begin to exhibit symptoms of dementia.”

The authors offer that science can help with prevention, reporting that researchers are creating “assessment tools to identify deficits in financial decision-making and vulnerability to undue influence long before they become apparent to family members, caregivers, and financial or legal advisors.”  As well health care providers can identify neurological deficits years before any diagnosis of a cognitive impairment.  The authors recommend the widespread access and use of these tools.

The authors call for more reporting and prosecution. In addition, the authors recommend that state mandatory reporting statutes include certain professions such as health care providers and first responders.  The authors close with this statement: “[i]f criminals can use new technology to target and scam our elders, surely we can use the new and emerging science research to protect them.”

The Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Law, Brain & Behavior has more information about this with a link to a Boston Globe story on this.  The Center also has video from the Center’s program with the Boston Society of Neurology and Psychiatry on Capacity, Finances, & the Elderly: Brain Science Meets the Law.