Money Smart for Older Adults is an elder financial exploitation awareness and prevention program the Bureau created with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). An official website of the United States government Money services businesses, used by many people to wire money, have filed an increasing share of these SARs (58 percent in 2017).Older adults ages 70 to 79 lost on average $45,300. While likely under-reported, estimates of elder financial abuse and fraud costs to older Americans range from $2.9 billion to $36.5 billion annually. Subscribe to our RSS feed to get the latest content in your reader. We will update you on new blogs. The number of seniors of seniors in the U.S. who have experienced some form of financial abuse is estimated to be as high as 37 percent.² In other words, if you have three living grandparents or two older parents, there’s a good chance at least one of them has been a victim of financial abuse, and they may not even know it. Moreover, this number is likely higher due to the many Americans who suffer from such abuse and do not, or cannot, report it. The statistics of financial elder abuse are staggering. Here are some important financial elder abuse statistics: Seniors lose at least $2.6 Billion a year due to financial abuse — and possibly more due to unreported cases. One in nine seniors reported being abused, neglected or exploited in the past twelve months; the rate of financial exploitation is extremely high, with 1 in 20 older adults indicating some form of perceived financial mistreatment occurring in the recent past Donate today to help them provide vital services like meals to older adults in your neighborhood. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that over 500,000 elder Americans suffer from financial elder abuse annually. While financial institutions are increasingly filing elder financial exploitation SARs, they often do not indicate that they reported the suspicious activity directly to first responders. Yet these SARs likely represent only a tiny fraction of the actual 3.5 million incidents of elder financial exploitation estimated to have happened that year. In 2017, financial institutions filed 63,500 SARs reporting elder financial abuse.

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In a study on elder abuse by family members in which data was collected by elder abuse type, Laumann and colleagues found that respondents most frequently reported verbal mistreatment (9%), followed by financial mistreatment (3.5%) and lastly physical mistreatment (less than 1%).

Protect your finances during the coronavirus pandemicAsk CFPB: Find answers to your money topic questionsSAR filings on elder financial exploitation quadrupled from 2013 to 2017. And when the older adult knew the suspect, the average loss was even larger–about $50,000. Review elder justice laws, statistics and other If an older adult is in immediate, life-threatening danger, call 911. Yet these SARs likely represent only a tiny fraction of the actual 3.5 million incidents of elder financial exploitation estimated to have happened that year.Elder financial exploitation isn’t just happening at banks or credit unions.