Monterey, CA Age Not The Only Factor Impacting Alzheimer's Disease And Dementia : Beware Of Elder Financial Abuse

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A recent study found that age alone doesn't put a person at risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease, there are a lot of other factors that come into play such as diet, the environment that you live in and genetics.  However, the elderly are clearly more susceptible to financial elder abuse scams, and I try to notify everyone when I become aware of them.  Please keep your eye on our blogs as there are always a number of creative scams around the holidays, and many of them target seniors.  Researchers have found that there is a good reason seniors are susceptible to financial swindlers.  Age related changes in the brain make it harder to detect suspicious body language and other warning signs that people might be untrustworthy.  Crimes such as telemarketing fraud, identity theft, fake checks and home repair scams costs seniors about $3 billion last year, up 12% from 2008, according to the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.  What is sadder yet is that 55% involve a family member.  Be cautious.  Most seniors with means set up a trust account, and it's often prudent to make a bank or another third party that is not related to the family in charge of it.  No matter how much you love your family, it's amazing what people will do when they hit bad financial times.  Better to keep your money safe, and with a banker who can't be influenced by family members.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands To Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.