Abstract: Prevalence of Elder Financial Fraud and Scams in the United States: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Society for Social Work and Research 22nd Annual Conference - Achieving Equal Opportunity, Equity, and Justice)

Schedule:

Friday, January 12, 2018: 10:29 AM

Marquis BR Salon 17 (ML 2) (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)

* noted as presenting author

David Burnes, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Charles Henderson, Senior Research Associate, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Christine Sheppard, PhD Cand, Doctoral Student, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

Rebecca Zhao, BSc Cand, Undergraduate Student, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Karl Pillemer, PhD, Hazel E. Reed Professor, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Mark Lachs, MD, Psaty Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Co-Chief of Geriatrics, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY

Background and Purpose:Elder financial exploitation was recently recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a serious public health problem. Elder financial exploitation prevalence knowledge is mostly limited to the category of financial abuse, which occurs in relationships involving an expectation of trust. Little is known about the other major category of elder financial exploitation – elder financial fraud/scams – that is perpetrated by strangers. A valid estimate of elder financial fraud/scam prevalence is necessary as a foundation for research and prevention efforts. This study sought to estimate the prevalence of elder financial fraud/scam victimization in the United States based on a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods: Multiple investigators independently screened titles/abstracts and reviewed relevant full-text records from PubMed, Medline, PsychINFO, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Social Work Abstracts, and AgeLine databases. To maximize the validity/generalizability of prevalence estimation, eligibility was restricted to general population-based studies (English-speaking, 1990 onward) using state/national-level probability sampling and collecting data directly from older adults. Information on elder financial fraud/scam prevalence and study-level characteristics was extracted independently by two investigators. Meta-analysis of elder financial fraud/scam prevalence used generalized mixed models with individual studies as levels of a random classification factor.

Results: Twelve studies involving a total of 41,711 individuals were included in the meta-analysis. Overall pooled elder financial fraud/scam prevalence (up to five-year period) across studies was 5.6% (95%CI: 4.0%-7.8%), with a one-year period prevalence of 5.4% (95%CI: 3.2%-7.6%). Studies using a series of questions describing specific fraud/scam events to measure victimization found a significantly higher prevalence (7.1%, 95%CI: 4.8%–9.4%) than studies using a single/general-question self-report assessment approach (3.6%, 95%CI: 1.8%–5.4%).

Conclusions and Implications: Elder financial fraud/scams is a common problem, affecting approximately 1 out of every 18 cognitively intact, community-dwelling older adults each year, which requires further attention from researchers, clinicians, and policy-makers. Elder financial fraud/scam prevalence findings in this study likely under-estimate true population prevalence. Social work professionals working with older adults likely routinely encounter fraud/scam victim clients. Validation of instruments to screen for elder financial fraud/scams in clinical settings is an important area of future research. Without effective primary prevention strategies, the absolute scope of this problem will escalate with the growing population of older adults. Findings carry implications for the development of screening tools and directly inform elder financial fraud/scam measurement in research. The current study represents the first systematic review or meta-anlysis on the topic of elder financial fraud/scams.