Elder Abuse Awareness, 2020
By Cailie Currin, President & CEO
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
© Waseem Ali Khan / Adobe Stock
June 15 is Elder Abuse Awareness Day and June has been declared Elder Abuse Awareness Month by the UN General Assembly. Elder Abuse Awareness Day is dedicated to raising awareness about what the World Health Association defines as “a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship, where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person." This, of course, includes elder financial abuse.
There is a lot competing for our regulatory and compliance attention these days. However, we must not lose sight of the importance of preventing Elder Abuse, and specifically in the insurance industry, preventing Elder Financial Abuse.
When we do AML independent audits, we point out that a strong AML program is also a key component in preventing fraud against our clients’ elderly and vulnerable customers. The primary reason is that AML laws provide great tools to investigate fraud. Of course, state insurance laws require investigations into suspected fraud and many also have specific reporting requirements for suspected elder financial exploitation. Additionally, though, SARS (Suspicious Activity Reports) must be used to report suspected fraud and these reports are used by law enforcement at all levels to investigate and prosecute fraud.
The World Health Organization estimates that “one in six people aged over 60 suffers from abuse, including financial abuse. Brian Monroe, ACFCS Vice President of Content writing an article entitled: “Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2020: ACFCS highlights tips, tactics to counter scammers targeting country’s most vulnerable population” reminds us that “financial abuse can leave transactional footprints for AML compliance officers and counter-fraud teams.” Monroe cites the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau indicating that “between 2013 and 2017, those older than 70 lost an average of $41,800 to elder financial exploitation.” Some of you may remember the 2018 Elder Fraud Sweep, led by the United States Justice Department. Last year the DOJ, now led by William P. Barr, announced a “New Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force” to coordinate action against foreign fraud schemes that target American Seniors.
COVID-19 has provided new opportunities for elder financial abuse and the United Nations has called for member countries to “develop universally applicable normative standards for the protection of older persons against violence, neglect and abuse, which would contribute to providing a comprehensive response and would also provide guidance for the development of a reporting, accountability and remedy mechanism for such violations suffered by older persons.” Monroe explains that “The moves to shore up investigative gaps are vital as many criminals and fraudsters – now emboldened by the fear and uncertainty of a pandemic and plying schemes tied to desperately needed protective equipment and stimulus checks – are more aggressively attempting to scam people out of whatever dwindling savings are left.”