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Senior Alert Feature
Elder Fraud: Exploiting the Aging Human Brain
June 23, 2005 - One of the most insidious types of non-violent
crime that occurs in American society is “elder fraud,” or deliberately
duping senior citizens out of their hard-earned money by involving them
in a scam, often via a fraudulent telemarketing pitch. According to the
National Fraud Information Center, more than a third (34%) of all
victims of telemarketing fraud who reported these incidents were over 60
years old, and it is believed that the vast majority of victims do not
report these crimes.
While fraud can happen to anyone, elder fraud is
particularly destructive because seniors are rarely able to recover
financially from fraudulent losses.
While there are many factors that contribute to
seniors’ being taken by these scams (and being the most frequently
targeted demographic as a result), including the fact that they tend to
be home to receive telemarketing calls and they are often afraid to
appear impolite by hanging up, there may also be a psychological effect
of the aging of the brain that also contributes to the problem.
According to recent research funded by the National
Institute on Aging by Dr. Stacey Wood, a neuropsychologist and assistant
professor at Scripps College in Claremont, California, there is evidence
that older adults process negative information differently than their
younger counterparts. In a recent experiment with collaborator Dr. Mike
Kisley, both older and younger adults were shown a series of negative
images (such as dead animals) or positive images (such as bowls of ice
cream), and the degree to which brain activity increased was recorded.
Simply put, older adults are more likely to be less responsive to
negative or unpleasant information, making them happier people – but
also making them more likely to miss the “red flags” of a skilled
fraudulent telemarketer.
Wood says, “As a group, older adults are less
likely to be depressed and less affected by negative or unpleasant
information. On the whole, while that is great news and perhaps
something to look forward to, our research suggests that these changes
in mood also have the potential to impact decision-making, sometimes
with damaging results.”
Wood suggests that older adults be wary of the following:
> Solicitations that are presented with
an impending deadline. When time-pressure increases, people tend to
become less analytical and more impulsive.
> Solicitations under the guise of political or religious
organizations. When emotions are involved, impulsiveness increases.
> Solicitations that arrive at “non-optimal” times of
day—that is, times when older adults will likely be processing in less
detail. Con artists tend to target people in the afternoon and evening.
> Solicitations that are accompanied by fine print or lots of
details. Older adults often fail to read fine print and process other
seemingly minute details.
Wood and Kisley’s research also involved the
effects of gambling losses on younger and older adults. Wood says,
“Younger adults learn very early to stay clear of the decks with high
losses. Older adults are able to tolerate the losses and are more
willing to risk future draws in hopes of a high payout. Indeed, older
adults tend to do as well as younger adults by the end of the game. But
when playing a "rigged" game, they may not be so fortunate.”
About the source:
Dr. Stacey Wood, Assistant Professor of Psychology,
Scripps College, is an expert on a number of issues related to aging and
the brain, including dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, decision-making, and
maintaining autonomy. She has published extensively in peer-reviewed
medical and psychological journals. Her work on decision-making is
currently funded by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (R15
A021442-01). She holds a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology from the
University of Houston.
Founded in 1926 by newspaper publisher, educator,
and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, Scripps College is the
women’s college of The Claremont Colleges. Its four-year liberal arts
curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary studies in the humanities, fine
arts, social sciences, and sciences. Scripps’ mission is to educate
women to develop their intellect and talents through active
participation in a community of scholars, so that as graduates they may
contribute to society through public and private lives of leadership,
service, integrity, and creativity.
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