Protecting Older Consumers: Compliance Challenges in Addressing Elder Financial Exploitation
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released its annual report on efforts to protect older consumers, providing valuable insights for compliance professionals. The report outlines the FTC's multi-pronged approach to combating fraud and exploitation targeting the elderly, including aggressive enforcement actions, consumer education initiatives, and collaborative partnerships. As compliance officers tasked with safeguarding vulnerable populations, understanding the FTC's work in this area can inform strategies to mitigate the growing threat of elder financial exploitation.
Enforcement Priorities: Stopping Scams and Recovering Losses
A core component of the FTC's efforts is bringing civil enforcement actions against deceptive and fraudulent actors. Over the past fiscal year, the agency filed a number of cases with significant impacts on older adults. These include schemes involving false claims about COVID-19 prevention products, bogus money-making opportunities, deceptive tech support services, and illegal debt relief practices.
Compliance Considerations: Preventing Exploitation and Enabling Recovery
The FTC's enforcement actions highlight several compliance challenges faced by financial institutions, payment processors, and other entities that interact with older adults:
Know Your Customer (KYC) and Transaction Monitoring
Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR)
Funds Recovery
Consumer Assistance and Education
Collaborative Partnerships
Emerging Threats: Addressing Technological Vulnerabilities
The FTC's report also underscores the evolving nature of threats facing older consumers, particularly in the realm of technology. Scammers are increasingly leveraging sophisticated techniques, such as voice cloning and AI-enabled fraud, to perpetrate impersonation schemes. Compliance programs must stay vigilant to these emerging risks and work closely with technology providers to implement safeguards.
Embracing a Holistic Approach to Elder Protection
The FTC's multifaceted strategy to protect older consumers underscores the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing elder financial exploitation. Compliance officers play a crucial role in this effort, leveraging their expertise to implement robust controls, foster collaborative partnerships, and stay ahead of emerging threats.
