Seniors need to protect themselves from financial abuse

David Morris - Sun-Herald

April 26, 2009

"Con" is short for confidence. Con artists get what they want by winning your trust and establishing their own credibility and likability in your eyes.

After writing this consumer advocate column in the Sun for more than three years and making numerous speaking engagements, I've noticed that seniors are especially susceptible because their generation grew up in a more trusting world.

Just last week, an investigation by the Florida Department of Financial Services' Division of Insurance Fraud led to the arrests of three individuals who allegedly solicited auto body work from elderly victims in parking lots to obtain personal information, then assumed the victims' identities and filed fraudulent insurance claims totaling approximately $50,000.

Smart Money magazine reports that "while individuals age 60 and over make up about 15 percent of the U.S. population, ripoffs of seniors account for nearly half of all complaints received by state security regulators."