This dynamic webinar provides an in-depth review of the major problems with elder fraud.  The people most likely to abuse a senior citizen will be family members, caregivers and career criminals, both in person and by telephone.  In this program you will learn what makes seniors a target and how criminals identify them.  We will explore the different types of abuse and what abusers use to intimidate the senior citizen and get them to drop their guard.    

We’ll discuss the major tools of elder financial exploitation—

1. Forging the senior’s signature
2. Misusing the senior’s money 
3. Stealing the senior’s money
4. Forcing the senior to sign contracts
5. Changing the senior’s will 

All these methods and more serve the criminal well in taking over a person’s wealth.  In this fast-moving session you will learn our duties as banking professionals.  You will know how to compare and distinguish normal banking transactions from suspicious or unusual banking transactions that seniors will be conducting.  You will ask questions about when did the senior citizen start using digital banking along with what they are purchasing with those transactions —  perhaps items that would seem unusual for a senior, such as  tickets to college concerts or events or items that would benefit a caregiver, rather than the senior citizen.   

You will learn how to handle unusual events like the senior citizen arriving at your branch wanting to add someone to their CD or bank accounts. When you notice the caregiver has become the only person handling the senior’s account, you will know to approach them to find out what is happening.  You will learn what to do when family members or caregivers won’t allow you to contact the senior citizen who has suddenly stopped coming to your banking office.

When a senior citizen gets involved with scams or is taken advantage of by caregivers the financial institution may have to file a SAR and contact Adult Protective Services (APS).    Many financial institutions consider APS to be worthless because they don’t understand the laws that determine when APS can get involved.   Each state has its own requirements for when APS can take a case, and your bank needs to understand those requirements. We will discuss how you can get that information before you have a potential elder abuse problem.    When you know what your state requires for physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, and financial abuse you can prepare a checklist.  On the day staff comes to you with a suspected elder fraud case you will know the exact items you must have before calling Adult Protective Services. 

We will also discuss when a bank should handle a senior customer who has become abusive to the bank’s staff. Knowing when and how to close an abusive senior’s account can help a bank avoid potential losses. It can also avoid negative publicity in the event the senior does lose funds to a fraudster.