By Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay)
FRIDAY, Nov. 17, 2023 (Healthday News) — Fraud is nothing new, and seniors are known to be vulnerable to it, but a new survey adds another sad fact to the familiar story.
Among people aged 50 to 80, those who reported being in good or poor physical or mental health, those with disabilities, and those who rated their memory as good or poor were more likely than their healthier peers to say they were a victim of fraud.
The study “adds important new data to ongoing efforts to reduce the devastating effects of fraud on the finances and well-being of older adults,” study director Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlgren said in a news release. “We also found that regardless of their health status, older adults feel strongly that government and business should do more to educate and protect against fraud.”
Overall, three out of four older adults say they have experienced a scam by phone, text message, email, mail or online in the past two years, while 39% say they have been the victim of at least one scam.
But the survey revealed a particularly strong link between poor health and their vulnerability to fraud – both the possibility of spotting one and falling victim to one.
Even if they haven’t been scammed, older people with health problems are more likely to lack confidence in their ability to spot one.
Findings from the University of Michigan’s National Study on Healthy Aging also suggest vulnerability among older adults who live alone or have lower incomes.
When the survey team looked at the health status of those who had experienced a fraud attempt, they found big differences.
About 50% of older people who had been the target of fraud and who said they had a health problem or disability that limited daily activities reported experiencing fraud, compared with 35% to 38% of those in better health or without limitations in your daily activities.
There was also a difference in fraud experience by income, with 46% of those with an annual household income of less than $60,000 more likely to report experiencing fraud than 36% of those with higher incomes.
Even when they weren’t the victim of a scam, more than half (57%) of adults overall expressed uncertainty about their ability to see a scam coming.
Again, health status mattered, with more than 65% of people in fair or poor physical or mental health, or fair or poor memory, reporting this uncertainty, compared with about 55% of people in better health or better self-assessment of memory. Gender also matters: 63% of women said they were somewhat, not very confident, or not at all confident they could spot a scam, compared to 49% of men.
The survey, which was published Nov. 14, was conducted online and by phone in July and August 2023 among 2,657 adults ages 50 to 80.
When the survey team asked older adults about their interest in learning more about how to recognize and avoid fraud and their feelings about the need for more fraud protection, the response was almost universal.
Eighty-three percent of older adults say they want to know more about how to protect themselves – including 90% of those who say they’re not very confident they can spot a scam. At the same time, 97% of older adults agree that politicians should do more to protect people from fraud, while 96% agree that companies should do more.
“It stands to reason that older adults with health problems face fraud more than those without these challenges,” said Kathy Stokes, director of AARP’s fraud prevention programs. “Fraud criminals are master manipulators of emotions and anyone can experience fraud, regardless of age, education or income. When it comes to susceptibility to fraud, it’s less about who you are and more about what you are like when you’re targeted.”
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