Report finds older Virginians lose $1.2 billion a year through financial exploitation
About 44,000 older Virginians may be fleeced out of $1.2 billion each year, and most of the money is taken not by scam artists but by relatives and trusted caregivers, according to a new state report on the financial exploitation of adults.
Only about 1,000 cases come to the attention of the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitation’s Adult Protective Services each year; of those, very few are prosecuted.
Among the rare prosecutions is a case involving a 63-year-old Giles County man whose cerebral palsy left him at the mercy of his caregiver. Suzy Quillen, an Adult Protective Services investigator, said when she would check on him in response to complaints, he would deny he was in danger and was too terrified to accept her business card.
Quillen knew she’d get another complaint. She prepared by combing through two 5-inch-thick case files. She discovered that his court-appointed guardian had died and the relative caring for him had no authority to do so.
Read more: http://www.newsadvance.com/work_it_lynchburg/news/report-finds-older-virginians-lose-billion-a-year-through-financial/article_dad8831f-89f1-58c8-a07f-da9e48530f8c.html
