Financial Elder Abuse is a Thriving Industry

In July, a woman in Bakersfield, California was charged with elder abuse after her 73-year-old mother was found living in a decrepit one-bedroom apartment with no working plumbing and a rodent infestation. While the exploitation of senior citizens is rarely this egregious, it's surprisingly common. According to a 2013 study, elder abuse and neglect are estimated to affect between 700,000 and 1.2 million elderly people a year.

The annual cost runs in the tens of billions of dollars. And an important subset of that abuse is financial, targeting people's retirement security and life savings. Last year, Consumer Reports recapped a recent survey of 2,600 financial planners, and the findings were astonishing: "56 percent said they knew older clients who had been subject to unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices. Among reported cases, the average loss estimate was $140,500."

In June, the Senate appropriated $10 million for a new "elder justice initiative" to better prevent, investigate and prosecute abuse, including financial abuse. Better legal definition and stricter enforcement could help, but until that happens the best defense is to inform yourself and your loved ones of potential threats, and what to do about them.

Here are some of the most common sources of financial vulnerability that senior citizens face.
--Over the phone, by mail and email
--Bad advisers
--Family abuse

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Financial Elder Abuse is a Thriving Industry