The fraud research community has long suspected that losses due to elder financial abuse were worse than the $2.9 billion previously estimated.  True Link’s data science team, looking for clarity and an accurate assessment of the problem, decided to tackle this question head-on.

The results of this research, The True Link Report on Elder Financial Abuse 2015, reveals that seniors lose $36.48 billion each year to elder financial abuse – more than twelve times what was previously reported. What’s more, the highest proportion of these losses—to the tune of $16.99 billion a year—comes from deceptive but technically legal tactics designed to specifically take advantage of older Americans. 

According to Shawna Reeves, Director of Elder Abuse Prevention at the Institute on Aging, “Those of us working in the field have long known that the United States is in the throes of an elder financial abuse epidemic. Unfortunately, we've lacked well-designed studies capturing the true nature and scope of the problem.  This study is a game changer.  Not only does it challenge the previous studies but it serves as a clarion call for further research and action.”

In our 2015 report, you can learn more details about the size of the problem, how seniors are being targeted, what puts them at risk, and how to protect yourself and your loved ones. Other important findings include:

• Small losses are evidence of an underlying vulnerability: A senior who lost as little as $20 in a year to exploitation could be expected to lose $2,000 a year to other types of fraud.
• A person who receives just one telemarketing phone call per day is likely to experience three times as much financial loss as someone who receives no or only occasional telemarketing calls.
• It is estimated that 954,000 seniors are currently skipping meals as a result of financial abuse.

To read the Executive Summary or full report, please click on the links below.

Executive Summary

Full Report

X

Please enter your name and email address.
The download link will appear after you click submit.

Name:Email Address:

Why we're asking for your email

We will not send you marketing emails or sell your information, but we would like to know who is reading this report and what they're getting out of it. If you are an individual interested in protecting yourself or your loved one from fraud, we'd like to get in touch to learn more about your situation and see if we can be helpful. If you're a researcher or journalist, we'd like to follow up and learn more about your work and how we can collaborate. If you don't want to provide your email address, you can click here to go straight to the report.

Thank you! Please click the file below to download the report:

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form, please reload the page and try again.