A recent study by Stanford University psychologists with participation of FINRA and AARP, concluded that financial fraudsters trigger and evoke strong emotions in elderly people to try and get them to hand over money. According to the study, inducing strong emotions in older adults (ages 65-86), whether positive or negative, increased their susceptibility to falsely advertised messages and fraud. The findings suggest that older adults are likely to spend or give away their money based on the emotional state they were experiencing rather than perceived credibility of the messages they are receiving. According to FINRA, this study is a major advance on understanding how elder fraud works and since money and investing is an emotional decision, it is critical to manage emotional states to avoid becoming a victim of fraud.
Malecki Law continues to champion the rights of vulnerable elderly people who have been victimized by financial fraudsters. Last week, Jenice Malecki spoke about elder financial fraud with David Lesch on BronxNet TV’s segment Today’s Verdict. Watch Ms. Malecki speaking about instances of how elder fraud works and can be avoided here: http://www.bronxnet.org/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=59&video_id=7353
Recently Ms. Malecki was also seen speaking about Elder Financial Exploitation on Wealth Management’s segment Case In Point with Bill Singer http://wealthmanagement.com/estate-planning/elder-financial-exploitation
FINRA and AARP study is available here: https://www.finra.org/newsroom/2016/emotions-increase-susceptibility-fraud-older-adults-stanford-finra-foundation-and-aarp