As the baby boomer generation continues to age, financial abuse grows in products like annuities and life insurance, a shift from fraud tactics of years past.
Historically, unscrupulous advisors have avoided products like annuities and life insurance, but that has changed drastically in recent years. Fraudsters see the potential value in annuities and life insurance, and have ramped up their efforts to capitalize on it.
Even legitimate insurance companies may try to push risky and potentially unwise policies on their clients, like variable universal life policies.
People 65 and older are estimated to hold more than 70 percent of our nation’s personal wealth. No wonder they are a prime target for scammers, especially when you consider the fact that approximately 10,000 people reach this age range daily.
Insurers have had to adapt their products to meet the growing demand, but changes to products warrants a change to the products safeguards as well, and the insurance industry is just now catching on. These safeguards not only need to detect fraud, but prevent it from happening.
What is being done to curb the abuse?
Securities regulators have been strengthening their approach to the elder financial abuse problem by proposing and enacting various laws that aim to both encourage reporting of abuse and preventing it. For example, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) proposed a rule last year that would require financial firms to do their due diligence to get the name and contact information of a “trusted individual” for each investor. You can read more about those proposals here.
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Meyer Wilson Talks About Financial Abuse of the Elderly
Meyer Wilson has many valuable resources on the topic of financial exploitation of our nation’s seniors. To learn more, visit:
- Signs of Elder Investment Fraud
- Common Types of Investment Fraud of the Elderly
- What Is Elder Financial Abuse?
- [VIDEO] Financial Abuse of the Elderly
If you believe that your elderly loved one has become the victim of financial fraud, contact the securities fraud lawyers at Meyer Wilson for a free case review today.
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