Background
Financial abuse is defined as ‘theft, fraud, exploitation, pressure in connection with wills, property or inheritance or financial transactions, or the misuse or misappropriation of property, possessions or benefits’ [1]. It is one of the most prevalent forms of abuse of older people [2,3]. It is also one of the most challenging areas of professional judgement and decision making in social care [4].
Because financial abuse is hard to detect, current prevalence rates of between 0.7% and 14.4% probably represent an underestimate [5]. It has been shown that victims of mass fraudulent “scams” alone cost victims £3.5 billion a year in the UK [6]. However, not all scams are reported. In Queensland, Australia, $14 million was exploited from elders in 2007/8; however as only 14% of reported cases included the financial amount that the older person had lost, $97 million represents a more realistic figure for Queensland, Australia [7].
Older people tend not to report financial abuse; in some instances they may not be aware that they are being abused. Even when aware, they may choose not to report the abuse, especially if they have been abused by a family member or have been duped in a scam [8]. In addition, older people with cognitive deficits, although often targeted by abusers [9], tend to be excluded from prevalence surveys due to the complexity of organizing consent to participate [2].