The financial abuse of older adults comes in many forms. Some people steal physical property from older adults. Others might engage in fraud by lying to and manipulating older adults. Financial fraud can come from opportunistic strangers, but it can also come from professionals and family members who regularly interact with an older adult.
Caregivers are in a position to engage in significant financial abuse. They could threaten to withhold support from an individual to extort money from them. They have access to physical resources that they could easily steal.
It is common practice to have loved ones or professional aides handle tasks such as shopping for older adults. If they regularly shop for an older adult or otherwise have access to their credit and debit cards, a caregiver could easily engage in hard-to-track forms of financial abuse.
Caregivers can use cards for personal purposes
A caregiver using a vulnerable person’s financial resources for their own needs is often financial abuse. Unless the older adult gives their permission and has the cognitive capacity to understand the implications of their actions, the unauthorized use of their financial accounts may constitute financial abuse.
They might use a vulnerable adult’s credit card to buy themselves groceries or their debit card to pay for small personal purchases, such as a streaming service subscription that costs less than $10 per month. In some cases, they might even add items for personal use to the cart when shopping for an older adult. Such behavior makes it relatively difficult to track fraudulent use of an older adult’s resources.
Family members may need to review financial statements and monitor the use of an individual’s capital when they become dependent on a caregiver. Fighting back against elder adult financial abuse generally requires that people identify that misconduct first.
