Assessing Financial Victimization Severity Among Older Victims of Mass Marketing Scams: The Effects of Risky Behaviors and Social Isolation

Background: Mass marketing scams (MMS) are some of the most prevalent forms of financial exploitation. Consequences to victims include financial losses and physical and mental health issues like poor sleep, depression (Button, Lewis, & Tapley, 2014; FINRA Foundation, 2015; Morgan, 2021), shame, embarrassment, and reputational harm (Button, Lewis, & Tapley, 2014). The Federal Trade Commission (2024) reports 2.6 million instances of fraud in 2023, with losses totaling $10 billion dollars. The aim of this study is to examine the behavioral and psychological risk factors associated with increased vulnerability to financial exploitation in a sample of mass marketing fraud victims, specifically older adults.

Methods:

This study uses survey data collected from mass marketing fraud victims who were identified by the US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) in 2022 and 2023. Nine hundred and thirty-four participants completed surveys by mail or online, resulting in an overall response rate of 23%. Approximately half of the participants were non-Hispanic white. The mean age is 75. Twenty-seven percent of the sample were married, 45% lived alone, 10% reported they had no or less than a high school education level, and 52% were low-income.

We use multiple linear regression to examine the relationships between victimization severity and hypothesized risk factors. The severity of financial victimization is conceptualized as the total number of self-reported fraud and financial abuse victimization experiences in the past twelve months, ranging from 0 (none) to 7 (all forms). Beyond socioeconomic and demographic control variables, predictor variables include risky behaviors that may increase fraud exposure (opening and reading all mail, entering into sweepstake drawings, answering unrecognized calls, and not hanging up on telemarketers), online activity (using the internet on tablets, shopping online, and using social media), and playing the lottery (instant win, scratch-off, and other lottery tickets), and risky financial preferences (willingness to take a financial risk for a potential win). Participants also reported their frequency of social interactions with friends, family, and community, loneliness, boredom (feeling bored in daily life), and willingness to seek financial advice from others. Simple imputation methods were utilized to address missingness in continuous survey questions.

Results: Many of the predictor variables were significantly associated with victimization severity, including engaging in risky fraud exposure behaviors (β= 0.59), playing the lottery (β = 0.24), willingness to take financial risks (β = 0.15), seeking financial advice from others (β = 0.16), social isolation (β = 0.50), and low education levels (β = 0.26). However, greater online activity, which may increase fraud exposure, and being non-Hispanic white (β = -0.33), was protective..

Implications: This analysis highlights risk factors that could be the target of future interventions. Practitioners and consumer advocates may adapt consumer education to the specific behaviors and environments that heighten susceptibility to exploitation among older adults. Additional research is needed to explore the precise mechanisms and contexts in which variables such as online exposure and race confer protection against financial victimization.