Elder fraud largely unreported, says Comparitech

The vast majority of elder fraud cases in the US go unreported, according to new analysis from Comparitech.

“We estimate that there are about 48,000 cases in Kansas per year,” said Comparitech’s Paul Bischoff. “That results in about $205 million worth of fraud losses.”

More than 200,000 scams and financial abuse cases targeting the elderly are reported to authorities every year.

“We estimate that only about 1 in every 23 or 24 cases of elder fraud are reported,” said Bischoff. “That’s according to a report from New York and Cornell University.”

More than 5 million incidents of elder fraud occur every year.

“It can be sort of a hard crime, to admit that you’ve been scammed, basically,” said Bischoff. “Another reason is that a lot of the perpetrators of these crimes aren’t strangers. They’re people that the victim knows and trusts. Caregivers, kids, people with power of attorney, things like that.”

38% of fraud cases target the elderly.