COVID-19, Frauds & Scams, Guest Bloggers, People Facing Barriers

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day: Advancing Equity

June 15, 2022 • By and

Reading Time: 2 Minutes

Last Updated: June 15, 2022

Man helping father use computerWorld Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) serves as a reminder about the factors surrounding abuse and neglect of older persons. The pandemic highlighted the disproportionate impact of tragedy on underserved communities, including seniors, who faced high rates of elder abuse, fraud, and nursing homes deaths.

Fraud

One recent report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation noted that elder fraud has grown. Older adults in the United States reported $1 billion in losses in 2020. This includes victims of COVID-related scams.

Reporting can be difficult, with many seniors unsure of the process or too embarrassed to report. Understaffed Adult Protective Services offices can also cause lengthy processing times and underreporting. Older adults are less likely to report fraud – especially money lost. Older adults in the U.S. are likely to lose nearly 25 times more to scammers, with an estimated $113.7 billion a year!

Equity

To prevent and respond to elder abuse, we need a better understanding of who could be victims. Thanks to the Elder Justice Act of 2020, we have a national reporting system for elder abuse – the National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System (NAMRS).

There is evidence that definitions of abuse vary between cultural communities. Learning how diverse communities define abuse is essential to develop culturally competent interventions. We can address the lack of trust within communities of color with more cultural representation in law enforcement, social service organizations, and health care systems. The Elder Justice Coalition works hard to reach communities of color and underserved populations with our initiatives and involve them in our advocacy work.

Social Security is a key member of the Elder Justice Coordinating Council. They are committed to offering training to staff members to recognize elder abuse and financial exploitation. They’re doing great work to protect beneficiaries from Social Security and government imposter scams.

On World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, let’s remember that elder abuse doesn’t discriminate. It victimizes across all social, racial, ethnic, and gender domains. We must commit to helping victims and preventing further victimization – especially of those who have been underserved. Please share this important resource with your family and friends—and post it on social media.

Our posting of this blog does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation of any non-Social Security organization, author, or webpages.

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About the Author

Bob Blancato, National Coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition

Laura Borth, Policy Associate of the Elder Justice Coalition

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Comments

  1. Dorothy M.

    As for financial exploitation, I have had fortunes taken. They will not let me earn $, be gifted $, nor to inherit $. Walter has stolen the science of my attempt to start a greeting card business and has made good money from this. As soon as they were typed, he would by hackers imo take this, making it more difficult for me to get started. He is already wealthy, and I live on such money and cannot even pay for the utilities sometimes. He is a king-in waiting and pro slavery, answers to DT, I suspect.

  2. Dorothy M.

    X ray and vircator machines are sometimes beamed at elders maliciously by Judy Carney Melo, Eddie Mulva, jay Rohrer iv, Walter and others. I think they stopped since the most recent night was fine, I think. But keep an eye on St. Benedict St, 21223 and Dulaney for such activity.

  3. Dorothy M.

    To my dismay, as a Senior Citizen, I have had trouble over the course of about 2 yrs. with locals using Xray machines and vircator machines beamed at my home. For 2 nights, I think they did not do this, and I heard that someone took the machines back. However, this may happen toother elderly and especially in elder care facilities, since I sense there may be a movement against the elderly to be alive by the dark occult side. They too may even come against youngsters whose families cannot be found, and I am concerned that Harbor Psyche ward may have taken a few “orphans” who were not orphans but a famous person’s young. I wish someone could investigate these rumors I hear. The chief of Baltimore City does not seem to show enough interest when these white outlaws are killing or harming white people. It is sad what has happened to this part of the city and the PD are unempowered to fight crime: no dogs, no SWAT team, can’t go into vacant or occupied houses even with a crime in progress; there is not much they are allowed to do. The crimes are getting faintable, faint worthy.

  4. DeeDee P.

    my mother called one of the 800 numbers from a television Commerical they told her they could get her benefits increased. she gave them her social security number. Now what should i do?

    • A.C.

      Hi, DeeDee. Thanks for visiting our blog. If your mother suspects identity theft, she should go to http://www.idtheft.gov and report the theft to the Federal Trade Commission or call 1-877-IDTHEFT (1-877-438-4338). We hope this helps!

  5. Kathy o.

    My mom has been suffering financial abuse by many of my younger family members including but not limited to her grandchildren and great grandchildren she has raised from practically birth,she refuses to acknowledge any individual due to her aging and Memory loss.also they all point at one another,she’s not tech savvy and barely knows how to use her debit card and cell phone,which is how they prey on her.im tired of watching her struggle with high bills little funds as most of them live in her house.shes made it clear she doesn’t want them there but they intimidate her with acts of aggressiveness and even violent distraction costing her more.she a prisoner in her own home ..help

    • A.C.

      Hi, Kathy. We are sorry to hear about your mother’s situation. Unfortunately, your request is a bit more complex than we can handle in this forum. For your mother’s security, we do not have access to private information in this venue. We ask that members in our Blog community work with our offices with specific concerns. You can call us at 1-800-772-1213, Monday through Friday, between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., for assistance. You can also contact your local Social Security office. We hope this helps.

  6. StorePlay A.

    Nice Post Thnaks For Sharing Keep It Up!,,
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  7. Alley h.

    My sister had my mom’s social security card the day she died. She had her wallet bank card and phone. I told her she didn’t need any of it and why did she have it anyways. She gave it to me but when suppose to go with me couple weeks after to make arrangements for funeral she didn’t come and when I went to funeral home I couldn’t find my mom’s social security card. She was on disability and why would my sister want her social security card? She came to mom’s the next day acting like she found it under mom’s bed but she had to have been using it for something. She has done things like this in the past with stealing, what should I do?

  8. Ravel F.

    Advancing Equity!? How about Systemic Discrimination and a lack of Accountabilty…

    I am a qualified insured applicant that has been suffering homelessness due to DDS & OHO’s adverse practices towards a select community. Not only have they acted adversely due to bias, they have gone as far a retaliated off a ‘remand’ by alleging I was a threat to “Facility & Staff” so as to intimidate me on not persuing my Benefits.

    25+ yrs of contributions towards the program, yet I have spent *56 Months in NEED* (Last 11 Months needing urgent brain tumor surgery) but OHO-Newark (XO1) has done everything to prevent me from mitigating my health.

  9. hawaii

    Why is it you can only log into your account during certain hours? Hawaii Income Tax Calculator

    • A.C.

      Hi. Thanks for question. We apologize for any inconvenience and invite you to use all of our online services today. Due to scheduled systems maintenance, some of our Online Services were unavailable during certain times.

  10. James M.

    People without housing are the Mst Obvious Abuse Cases, and often the most egregious. Abusers can literally access a targeted victim whenever they want. If people have secure apartments/ hotel rooms at least the Abusers will have to wait until the targeted victim must go outdoors to run errands to continue the abusive attacks. Solving homelessness and making progress to end poverty generally will cure many-many social ills. Let’s handle the “angry abusers’ ” retaliations that may occur because they no longer have unlimited access to many elderly and other soft-targets!

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