Financial Abuse, Elderly and Battered Women

Financial exploitation in this context is generally defined as illegal or improper use of an older individual's financial resources, which may include money, property, or other assets. While scams and identity theft in which strangers target older individuals do occur, in most cases of financial exploitation, the perpetrator is someone known to the victim, such as a family member, caregiver, or friend. In some cases, financial resources are stolen from older individuals without their knowledge. In other cases, threats, intimidation, and violence are used as methods to steal resources. In some instances, undue influence is used for financial exploitation. In domestic violence, an abuser uses financial exploitation as a tactic to gain and maintain power and control and deny a victim resources needed for health and well-being or to leave and start anew. If an older victim has assets, the abuser may engage in acts of economic sabotage to reduce his or her independence and may bankrupt the victim if he or she rejects the abusive relationship. Finally, guardianships, conservatorships, or powers of attorney for an older individual may be misused to benefit the exploiter.

Indicators of financial exploitation can include but are not limited to the following:

• The older individual is kept unaware of assets, bank accounts, income, and net worth.
• Possessions, documents, or credit cards are missing.
• The exploiter isolates the older individual from friends, family, activities, and information.
• Bills are unpaid.
• The caregiver refuses to spend the older individual's money on that individual.
• The older individual has given many expensive gifts to the caregiver.
• Checks are made out to cash, often in whole dollar amounts.
• The caregiver convinces an older individual to sign a blank check for one purpose and then misuses the check or steals the money.

Some exploiters use undue influence to steal from an older adult. Undue influence is the substitution of one person's will for the true desires of another. Undue influence occurs when one person uses his or her role and power to deceptively exploit the trust, dependency, and fear of another. The power is used to gain psychological control over the decision making of a weaker person. Unlike common persuasion and sales techniques, fraud, duress, threats, and other deceits are often components of undue influence. Victims may or may not have capacity.

Anyone can be a victim of undue influence, and anyone can experience circumstances that may increase his or her susceptibility. Individuals with medical conditions, cognitive challenges, or mental health issues, or who are grieving, are isolated, or lack financial expertise, may be particularly vulnerable. Exploiters can also be anyone, including family members, care-givers, fiduciaries, opportunists, and career criminals. Undue influence is seldom itself a crime, but it is a method to commit financial exploitation.

In some cases, an older victim will have a guardian or attorney in fact under a power of attorney. The older individual will have voluntarily given or legally relinquished some or all decision-making power due to cognitive or physical needs to a surrogate decision maker. In some cases, the surrogate exploits the older individual by stealing from him or her, by misusing the victim's resources, and by not providing for the older person. While powers of attorney and guardianship documents bestow considerable legal authority, they are not legal licenses to steal.

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