Since 2013, financial institutions have filed more than 180,000 suspicious activity reports targeting older adults, totaling more than $6 billion.

Financial exploitation is a fast-growing form of abuse of seniors and adults with disabilities. Situations of financial exploitation commonly involve trusted persons in the life of the vulnerable adult, such as:

  • Caretakers
  • Family members
  • Neighbors
  • Friends and acquaintances
  • Attorneys
  • Bank employees
  • Pastor
  • Doctors or nurses

Recent research has found that elder financial exploitation is widespread, expensive, even deadly. According to the National Adult Protective Services Association:

  • One in nine seniors reported being abused, neglected or exploited in the past twelve months; the rate of financial exploitation is extremely high, with 1 in 20 older adults indicating some form of perceived financial mistreatment occurring in the recent past
  • Elder abuse is vastly under-reported; only one in 44 cases of financial abuse is ever reported
  • Abused seniors are three times more likely to die and elder abuse victims are four times more likely to go into a nursing home
  • 90% of abusers are family members or trusted others
  • Almost one in ten financial abuse victims will turn to Medicaid as a direct result of their own monies being stolen from them
  • Cognitive impairment and the need for help with activities of daily living make victims more vulnerable to financial abuse

The effects of financial exploitation on a vulnerable adult are devastating. The individual frequently experiences:

  • Loss of trust in others
  • Loss of security
  • Depression
  • Feelings of fear, shame, guilt, anger, self-doubt, remorse, worthlessness
  • Financial destitution
  • Inability to replace lost assets through employment
  • Inability to hire attorney to pursue legal protections and remedies
  • Becoming reliant on government ‘safety net’ programs
  • Inability to provide long term care needs
  • Loss of primary residence

Interventions to address financial abuse include closing joint bank accounts, having the victim revoke the power of attorney; putting in place a responsible person or agency to assist with managing the victim’s funds; and restarting utilities if they’ve been shut off.

Check out this compiled list of resources to help combat the exploitation of older Americans.

Source: https://www.napsa-now.org/get-informed/exploitation-resources/

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

First Community Bank Updates

Latest News

Community News and Events

Check out the latest company events and updates here.

Stay in the know!

Sign up to have the latest FCB news, rate specials, and product updates delivered to your inbox.


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

By submitting this form, you are granting: First Community Bank, 809 West Main Street, Rogersville, TN, 37857 United States, http://www.fcbanktn.com permission to email you. You can revoke permission to mail to your email address at any time using the SafeUnsubscribe SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. We take your privacy seriously (to see for yourself, please read our Email Privacy Policy). Emails are serviced by Constant Contact.

You are now leaving First Community Bank

First Community Bank does not provide, and is not responsible for, the product, service, or overall website content available at any third-party website that is linked through this browser. First Community Bank's privacy policies do not apply to linked websites. Please consult the privacy disclosures on the third-party site for further information.

You will be redirected to

Click the link above to continue or CANCEL