The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has released a report on financial exploitation of the elderly. The report compiles information from Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) submitted by banks, credit unions, casinos, and other financial services providers.

Based upon the SARs, financial institutions have reported that financial exploitation of older adults by scammers, family members, caregivers, and others is widespread in the United States.

Key findings:

• SAR filings on elder financial exploitation quadrupled from 2013 to 2017.
• Financial institutions reported a total of $1.7 billion in suspicious activities in 2017, including actual losses and attempts to steal the older adults’ funds.
• Nearly 80% of SARs reporting elder financial exploitation involved a monetary loss to older adults. The average amount lost was $34,200. In 7% of the cases, the loss exceeded $100,000.
• One third of the individuals who lost money were ages 80 and older. Adults ages 70 to 79 had the highest average monetary loss ($45,300).
• Losses were greater when the older adult knew the suspect.
• More than half of SARs reporting elder financial exploitation involved a money transfer. The second-most common financial product used to move funds was a checking or savings account.
• Checking or savings accounts had the highest monetary losses. The average monetary loss to the older adult was $48,300 in cases of elder financial exploitation involving a checking or savings account while the average loss was $32,800 in cases of elder financial exploitation involving a money transfer.
• The elder financial exploitation took place, on average, over a four-month period.
• Fewer than one-third of older adults who were exploited reported the abuse to a local, state, or federal authority. Only 1% of the SARs stated that the financial institutions involved reported the elder financial exploitation to a government entity such as adult protective services or law enforcement.

The report is is attached here –

Download (PDF, 568KB)

For additional information concerning elder abuse actions, visit:

Will Contests and Probate Litigation

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ABOUT DONALD D. VANARELLI

Donald D. Vanarelli has been a practicing attorney since 1983 in New Jersey and New York. Don provides legal services in the areas of elder law, estate planning, trust administration, special education, special needs planning and trial advocacy, including probate litigation, will contests, contested guardianships and elder abuse trials.

Don is a Certified Elder Law Attorney, an Accredited Veterans Attorney and a Past Chair of the Elder and Disability Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association. Don is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor given by the New Jersey State Bar Association – Elder and Disability Law Section. The Lifetime Achievement Award is bestowed on an attorney with an established history of distinguished service who has made significant contributions in the field of elder and disability law throughout his or her career.

Don is actively involved in trial advocacy on behalf of elderly and disabled citizens. Don represented the plaintiff in a pivotal special needs trust case decided by the New Jersey Supreme Court entitled Saccone v. Police and Firemen’s Retirement System, 219 N.J. 369 (2014). He also represented the plaintiff in a seminal estate planning / guardianship / Medicaid planning case entitled In re Keri, 181 N.J. 50 (2004). Don was also co-counsel representing the plaintiff in Galletta v. Velez, Civil No. 13-532 (D.N.J. June 3, 2014) in which a federal court ruled, for the first time, that a pension from the Department of Veterans Affairs may not be counted as income in determining Medicaid eligibility.

When he’s not working, Don spends his time with his wife, Marion, and his three children, Julianne, Evan and Alex.