According to DHS, 1 in 5 older adults has been abused, neglected or exploited and are increasingly the target of financial scams.
Especially with the economy says California elder law attorney Steven Peck " we are seeing an increase in referrals due to financial exploitation."
With seniors having money coming in on a regular basis and other people in their life being laid off or unable to work, they are going to be easily exploited.
A typical scam that is going on is receiving letter in the mail that has a Spanish stamp on it. The letter then says you are a winner for some amount of money and then they ask for the elders identification but said don't tell anybody.
These types of solicitations should send up a red flag. Sadly, though, too many elders would have fallen for it.
This could be very devastating because if it has already occurred,recouping that money that has already been spent is very hard. That wipes the elders out and they don't have the time to rebuild those resources. .
Scams run the gamut, from mailings and phone calls seeking to obtain confidential information, to roofers and painters overcharging for work that doesn't need to be done.
The bottom line is if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't.
Unfortunately, it is often not only strangers preying on the elderly, but their own family members.
But elders need to understand that my office has concerns for this type of exploitation and as an aggressive law office we will look into it. The number one thing we have tried to stress today is they need to report it this kind of abuse.
Contact Steven Peck's Premier Legal toll free at 1-866-999-9085 to talk to an experienced california elder law lawyer.
