Elder Fraud Increasing
Elder fraud, elder abuse, elder financial exploitation – whatever you call it, it’s not only a horrible crime but it’s on the rise. FinCEN recently released a report, “Financial Trend Analysis: Elders Face Increased Financial Threat from Domestic and Foreign Actors”, which, as the name suggests, indicates that elders face financial threats both at home and from abroad.
This isn’t necessarily new information. The CFPB also released a report in February 2019 outlining issues and trends related to Elder Financial Exploitation (EFE) Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). This should be a little bit of a warning shot to your BSA Compliance Team. Specifically, that this is a growing area of risk, you need to train your employees and do your part to protect your customers. FinCEN Director Blanco stated:
“These SARs are also important to filer banks and MSBs because they show trends and patterns in criminal activity. Every financial institution wants to protect its customers, and SAR reporting helps them do that. Awareness of these reporting trends and potential exploitation methods can also help consumers protect themselves.”
A few of the major scam areas include:
- Romance: scammers establish a “relationship” with a victim and then request money for a variety of reasons.
- Emergency: scammers claim to be a loved one of the victim who has an emergency situation and needs money right away.
- Lottery: scammers tell victims they won a lottery or other prize and they need to first send a tax or fee before they can claim their winnings.
While scams are a large portion of the EFE SARs filed, theft by a family member or an unrelated caretaker are still the most financially devastating. Amounts reported for theft are almost double the amounts reported for scams.
For more on the February 2019 FinCEN report, be sure to check out the Management Minute in the April 2019 edition of Banking on BCC.
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Published
2020/01/29
David Dickinson
David’s banking career began as a field examiner for the FDIC in 1990. He later became a Compliance Officer and Loan Officer for a small bank. In 1993, he established Banker’s Compliance Consulting. Along with his amazingly talented Team, he has written numerous compliance articles for prestigious banking publications and has developed compliance seminars that Banker’s Compliance Consulting produces.
He is an expert in compliance regulations. He is also a motivational speaker and innovative educator. His quick wit and sense of humor transforms the usually tiring topic of compliance into an enjoyable educational experience. David is on the faculty of the American Bankers Association National Compliance Schools and has served on the faculty of the Center for Financial Training for many years. He also is a frequent speaker at the ABA’s Regulatory Compliance Conference. He is also a trainer for hundreds of webinars, is a Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) and has been a BankersOnline Guru for many years. The American Bankers Association honored David with their Distinguished Service Award in 2016.
David and his wife Karen have three adult children, four grandchildren (none of whom live at home!) and two cats (of which Dave is allergic … the cats, not the children!). They recently moved to an acreage outside of Lincoln, Nebraska where he gets to play with his tractor. When possible David can be found fishing, making sawdust in his shop, or playing the guitar and piano. He also enjoys leading worship at his church.