Financial abuse of the elderly can happen in numerous ways. Family, friends, neighbors and caregivers are the perpetrators in 55% of cases. Here are some typical crimes:

• Investment fraud
• Abuse of Power of Attorney authorization; this is the one of the fastest growing crimes in America
• Fake charities
• Telemarketing and sweepstakes scams
• Deceiving an elderly person to sign loan papers or withdrawal slips
• Forging an elder’s signature
• Use of counterfeit checks or debit cards to drain an elder’s bank account
• Theft of wallets containing identification, and credit and bank cards
• Theft of mail, including bank and credit card statements, preapproved credit offers, telephone calling cards and tax information
• Announcements of a “prize” that the elderly person has won but must pay money to claim
• Call the victim’s credit card issuer, pretend to be that individual, change the mailing address on the account, then run up charges on the account; because the bills go to the new address, the victim may not immediately realize there's a problem
• Establish phone or cellular phone service in the victim’s name
• Open a bank account in the victim’s name and write bad checks on that account
• File for bankruptcy under the victim’s name to avoid paying debts incurred under that name, or to avoid eviction

Elder Abuse Fact Sheet,.pdf, by National Council on Aging (NCOA), Witness