By Stephanie Cajigal
July 7, 2022
Article In Brief
A new study, funded by the AAN, aims to detect better tools for detecting scenarios in which patients, who are compromised with executive dysfunction, are subject to financial scams or abuse. Experts in cognitive neurology offer suggestions for how neurologists and staff can discuss possible financial abuse with their patients and family members.
A 75-year-old woman gets an unexpected call. It’s her teenage grandson and he’s in trouble. He’s been arrested and needs money to pay bail, quickly, but doesn’t want his parents to find out. The woman goes to the bank and transfers the large sum of money her grandson requests, except the wire doesn’t go to any jail or to any grandson. It goes to the bank account of someone who looked up the phone numbers of older people and tried one of the most common scams in the United States.
About one in 18 older Americans become victims of a financial scam like this one every year, reports a systemic review and meta-analysis published in 2017 in the American Journal of Public Health. Yet, published statistics likely underestimate the scope of the problem—especially among older people with cognitive decline, according to Sarah Getz, PhD, instructor of neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Comprehensive Center for Brain Health.
“People are embarrassed to admit when they’re a victim of a scam and this has been documented…
