Called the “Crime of the 21st Century,” elder exploitation (also called financial or material exploitation, elder financial abuse, fiduciary abuse, or economic exploitation) is a powder key ready to explode as older adults become a proportionately larger share of the total population. One study called elder exploitation “a many-headed Hydra for both elders and their families, as the tentacles of exploitation reach far beyond a single event reported or a single elderly victim.” Each state has crafted elder abuse laws, which usually include financial exploitation. For example, the New York statute reads: “Financial Exploitation means improper use of an adult’s funds, property, or resources by another individual, including but not limited to, fraud, false pretenses, embezzlement, conspiracy, forgery, falsifying records, coerced property transfers, or denial of access to assets.” In California, the statute says: “Financial abuse” [...] occurs when a person or entity does any of the following: (1) takes, secretes, appropriates, or retains real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult to a wrongful use or with intent to defraud, or both; (2) assists in taking, secreting, appropriating, or retaining real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult to a wrongful use or with the intent to defraud, or both.”
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