© 2024 WYPR
WYPR 88.1 FM Baltimore WYPF 88.1 FM Frederick WYPO 106.9 FM Ocean City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

How to Guard Against Senior Fraud

Courtesy CHANA website

People over age 65 are shockingly vulnerable to financial exploitation--sometimes by family members who pressure them to sign over assets, but often by strangers on the telephone who fraudulently promise them big winnings--if they’ll only fork over some money first for up-front expenses. That’s just the start.

Three Maryland experts tell us that an older person who’s lonely is more receptive to the fraudster who claims to care for them. We speak with Jacke Schroeder, a licensed social worker and director of SAFE--Stop Abuse of Elders at CHANA, Debby Chenoweth, Baltimore County Police Investigator and Amy Greensfelder, who heads the Pro Bono Counseling Project.

Here is a list of resources mentioned during the program:

Resources and events of Protect Week (“Protect Older Americans from Financial Exploitation”) here:

Find The Marketplace Morning Report’s “Brains and Losses” series here

The Pro Bono Counseling Project information can be found here   

SAFE Stop Abuse of Elders can be found here.

The Baltimore County Financial/Cyber Crimes Team contact is here.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'