|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Senior Citizen Alerts
States, SEC Work to Protect Elderly Investors
By Elizabeth Wilkerson, Special to Stateline.org
 July
12, 2006 - In preparation for the biggest retirement boom in history,
states are joining with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and
the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) to protect seniors
from predatory sales tactics and investment fraud.
At the same time, several states are stepping up
efforts to educate seniors about dangers of investing without
investigating.
| |
Related Stories |
|
| |
Senior Citizens Get Scammed in Alarming Numbers
PSAs, booklet educate
seniors on preventing
telemarketing fraud
July 12, 2006 – The majority of fraudulent
telemarketing calls – 56 to 80 percent – are directed at senior
citizens. This problem is becoming worse as more and more Americans move
into the 65 and older age group. The National Crime Prevention Council,
in recognition of National Fraud Awareness Week, has issued a new
booklet - available online, and launched new television public service
announcements to help older Americans avoid telemarketing fraud.
Read more...
Telephone Scammers Raise the Price on Medicare Drug
Pitch
Medicare asks senior citizens to report
fraudulent activity
June 17, 2006 - The “$299 Ring” scheme to defraud
senior citizens and people with disabilities has changed into a higher
priced scam involving in some cases a new Medicare card, instead of a
prescription drug plan, warns the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services. Medicare has already referred nearly 250 cases involving
attempts to steal beneficiaries’ funds to federal law enforcement
officials. Read
more...
Hundreds Arrested in Mass-Marketing Fraud Targeting
Senior Citizens
“Operation Global Con” initiative grabs 565 on
three continents
May 24, 2006 - More than 565 people in North and
South America and Europe have been arrested as part of “Operation Global
Con” – the largest and most far-reaching multinational enforcement
operation ever directed at mass-marketing fraud schemes, but, like most
of the rest, senior citizens were one of their chief targets, the
Department of Justice announced today.
Read more...
Senior Citizen Medical Alert
Older Patients Being Given Urinary Catheters for No
Reason
Women, all over 85,
chronically ill, and frail are especially at risk
May 22, 2006 - A study of 1,586 hospitalized senior
citizens - age 70 and older - at two Ohio hospitals
indicates that 24 percent of these elderly patients were given medically
unnecessary urinary catheters, according to investigators led by a
researcher at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
Read more...
Read more
on
Senior Citizen Alerts |
|
The high-powered attack is needed because baby
boomers will retire at unprecedented rates over the next 20 years. Their
enormous investment capital— an estimated $15.5 trillion during the
period —is expected to attract scam artists, many of whom already prey
on elderly people across the country, state and federal regulators say.
“Overall, as the senior population has increased
there’s been an increase in securities fraud against seniors,” said Bob
Webster, a spokesman for the North American Securities Administrators
Association (NASAA), which represents state securities regulators. “As
our population ages, it’s only logical that con artists are going to go
where the money is.”
In a test case of the joint approach, regulators in
Florida are working with the SEC and NASD to investigate “free lunch”
seminars, where seniors can be pressured to invest in scams.
California’s Seniors Against Investment Fraud, an education program, has
been adopted by Florida, Iowa and Pennsylvania and is being touted as a
model in other states.
The first of the baby boomers, the generation of
Americans born between 1946 and 1964, turn 60 this year, and no fewer
than 75 million Americans are due to turn 60 during the next 20 years,
more than 10,000 every day.
Nearly one-third of all U.S. investors are between
age 50 and 64, and about 5 million senior citizens are victims of
financial abuse each year, SEC figures show.
Boomers have more than $8.5 trillion in assets
available for investment, and during the next 40 years will inherit at
least $7 trillion from their parents, Patricia Struck, NASAA president
and administrator of the Wisconsin Securities Division, said in U.S.
Senate testimony on March 29, 2006.
As a group, seniors have saved a lot of money and
generally have equity in their homes, making them a target for
investment fraud, Andrew Roth, director of education and outreach at the
California Department of Corporations, told Stateline.org. Unlike
younger investors, seniors have little room for financial recovery after
becoming victims of fraud, AARP Florida State Director Bentley Lipscomb
said.
In Florida, state and federal regulators have
conducted onsite examinations of “free lunch” seminars to determine if
presenters are appropriately supervised and if their sales tactics are
legal. These seminars, at hotels and restaurants, typically draw large
crowds, including many seniors, who are often given the “hard sell” to
persuade them to purchase risky or inappropriate financial products, Don
Saxon, the commissioner of Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation,
said.
“There’s nothing to say that offering a free lunch
is wrong, provided security laws are being followed and the investments
being recommended are suitable for the investor, and risks are
disclosed,” Saxon said.
Saxon said once regulators have completed their
reviews, the groups will come together again to decide their next step.
SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in U.S. Senate
testimony on May 23, 2006 the scrutiny of “free lunch” come-ons will
focus on educating senior investors as well as “extensive information
sharing among securities regulators.”
Webster said officials have not yet determined
which other states will participate in the program.
State regulators also are being encouraged to
support or create programs like California’s
Seniors Against Investment Fraud (SAIF). SAIF is an outreach program
that provides information on recognizing and preventing investment scams
of Californians over the age of 50.
Established in 2001, SAIF contracts with nonprofit
organizations throughout the state, Roth said. Last year, SAIF staged
more than 450 presentations, reaching more than 50,000 seniors.
| |
Senior Citizen Alerts |
|
| |
SeniorJournal.com maintains a special
section with news and information helpful to senior citizens in
avoiding frauds and other crimes.
Click here |
|
Aside from offering investor education seminars,
many organizations, including the
SEC,
NASAA and
AARP, maintain Web sites with resources to help senior investors
spot and avoid fraud.
Send your comments on this story to:
letters@stateline.org. Selected reader feedback will be posted in
the
Letters to the Editor section.
Contact Elizabeth Wilkerson at
ewilkerson@stateline.org
This story first appeared on
Stateline.org on July 11, 2006
Stateline.org is an
independent element of the Pew Research Center and is based in
Washington, DC. In addition to our online news gathering activities, it
periodically publishes printed reference materials that are free for the
asking, including a State of the States report released every January.
They also sponsor professional development conferences and workshops for
the news media, including the annual conference of CapitolBeat, the
Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors. For further information,
email
editor@stateline.org or call 202-419-4470.
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
