Why are older adults victims of fraud? Current knowledge and prospects regarding older adults’ vulnerability to fraud

Shao, Jingjin; Zhang, Qianhan; Ren, Yining; Li, Xiying; Lin, Tian

doi:10.1080/08946566.2019.1625842

Cited by 82 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Retired, older adults are likely to be more susceptible to specific online threats. In a small scale qualitative study of three older adults, Olivier et al (2015) suggested that they may be at particular risk of mass marketing fraud due to their pscho-social backgrounds and pre-disposing factors such as pschological vulnerability, something which was supported in a recent review of mass marketing fraud by Shao et al (2019). Other research has identified an increased vulnerability to: telemarketing fraud (Alves and Wilson, 2008), phishing (Cho et al, 2016;Sarno et al, 2017), pension Scams (Martin and Rice, 2013;Nicholson et al, 2019), and other such targeted attacks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Technological Change in the Retirement Transition and the Implications for Cybersecurity Vulnerability in Older Adults

2020

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Retirement is a major life transition, which leads to substantial changes across almost all aspects of day-today life. Although this transition has previously been seen as the normative marker for entry into older adulthood, its influence on later life has remained relatively unstudied in terms of technology use and cybersecurity behaviours. This is problematic as older adults are at particular risk of becoming victims of cyber-crime. This study aimed to investigate which factors associated with the retirement transition were likely to increase vulnerability to cyber-attack in a sample of 12 United Kingdom based older adults, all of whom had retired within the past 5 years. Semi-structured, one to one interviews were conducted and subsequently analysed using thematic analysis. Six themes were identified referring to areas of loss in: social interaction, finances, day-today routine, feelings of competence, sense of purpose, and technology support structures. We discuss the implications of these losses for building cyber-resilience in retirees, with suggestions for future research.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Technological Change in the Retirement Transition and the Implications for Cybersecurity Vulnerability in Older Adults

2020

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“…One possible explanation is that the sample was recruited through MTurk, so all participants were likely fairly experienced users of technology and the internet, and so may have encountered previous fraudulent financial offers in the past. There is some evidence to suggest that accumulated experience over the course of the lifetime (wise reasoning) can counteract some of the effects of cognitive decline, which may reduce susceptibility to fraud in some cases (Grossmann et al 2013;Shao et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numerous studies have shown that older individuals are more likely to be targeted and lose money from financial fraud compared to their younger counterparts (Applied Research & Consulting LLC 2013;Dong 2015;James et al 2014;Shao et al 2019;Wood and Lichtenberg 2017). Being a victim of financial fraud can have devastating consequences for those involved, including not just financial losses but also negative physical and psychological health effects including depression, anxiety, shame, and sleep disturbances (Shao et al 2019). The annual financial loss by older adults in the United States due to financial fraud has been estimated at over $2.9 billion dollars, and may be increasing with time (Roberto and Teaster 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A personal financial risk assessment intervention decreases investment fraud susceptibility in older adults

Martin¹,

J²,

Krastev³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Older adults are more often the targets and victims of financial fraud, with Americans aged 65and older being 34% more likely to lose money due to fraud than those in their forties. This greater susceptibility to fraudulent offers may be due to a shift from more deliberative thinking to automatic thinking that occurs during normal ageing. This experiment tests an intervention that engages deliberative thinking about risk preferences (aPersonal Risk Assessment) as a means of decreasing susceptibility to an email with tell-tale signs of a fraudulent investment. The intervention was delivered to younger (aged < 60) and older (aged 60+) groups. Compared to age-matched controls, the intervention reduced susceptibility in the older group but not the younger one. This difference between the groups may be due to different underlying risk preferences, with the younger group having more risk tolerance. Prompting older adults to deliberately reflect on their risk-aversive preferences thus appears to counteract the effects of age on susceptibility to fraud. This experiment provides a new means of reducing susceptibility to fraud among older individuals. Future research should examine ways of decreasing susceptibility in younger populations and investigate underlying mechanisms of fraud susceptibility in both age groups.

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“…Overall, a prevalence rate of 5.6% fraud victimization per year was reported. Shao et al (2019) focused their review on what renders older adults vulnerable to fraud. While there is considerable debate about whether older adults are more susceptible to fraud than other age groups, Shao et al focused on six types of phenomena that were related to fraud in some studies or conceptualizations: cognitive functioning and cognitive decline ( James et al, 2014 ); emotional regulation and the positivity effect—the tendency of older adults to have reduced arousal response to negative circumstances surrounding a financial decision and to have positive expectations around decision making ( Spreng et al, 2016 ); the interplay between personal competencies and the environment ( Pinkser et al, 2009 ); social isolation ( Alves & Wilson, 2008 ); risk taking ( Samanez-Larkin et al, 2007 ); and psychological vulnerability ( Lichtenberg et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Fe As One Outcome Of Financial Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Health and Wealth Correlates of Perceived Financial Vulnerability: A Normative Study

Lichtenberg

Paulson

Han

2020

Innovation in Aging

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Background and Objectives Age-associated financial vulnerability was introduced because it was increasingly recognized that cognitively-intact older adults experienced changes that rendered them financially vulnerable. In this study we attempt to apply the construct of Age Associated Financial Vulnerability to a measure of Perceived Financial Vulnerability and whether this perceived vulnerability is predicted by risk factors from the four categorical domains used to define Age Associated Financial Vulnerability’s impact Research Design and Methods This study was part of the Health and Retirement survey in 2018. The survey contained 7 experimental module items of Perceived Financial Vulnerability (PFV). Thirteen hundred fourteen participants 1,314 completed the Perceived Financial Vulnerability measure (PFV). The sample was drawn from waves 13 and 14 of the HRS (2016 and 2018, respectively). The measurement of Perceived Financial Vulnerability was developed on the basis of seven questions assessing financial awareness and psychological vulnerability items regarding personal finance that were included in the 2018 HRS data collection. Predictors included measures of cognition, function/health, depression and wealth. Predictor measures from 2016 were regressed on 2018 Perceived Financial Vulnerability scores Results Six items of Perceived Financial Vulnerability had psychometric properties acceptable for a new measure. Responses revealed variability in Perceived Financial Vulnerability. Overall, 18% of variance was accounted for and measures from cognition, depression, assets and functional abilities were all unique and significant predictors Discussion and Implications This study represents both a conceptual and empirical contribution to our understanding of older adult’s perceptions of financial vulnerability. The high levels of Perceived Financial Vulnerability found in this normative sample underscore the importance of context in understanding people’s economic behaviors. For instance, over one half of the sample indicated that they wished they had someone to talk to about their finances. This desire to talk with others is normative and yet often under-appreciated Translational Significance The linkages between personal finances and health are becoming better understood as integral to well-being in older age. Perceived Financial Vulnerability, to date, understudied, is a useful brief assessment and can become a target for intervention. This study provides a set of questions to measure this aspect of personal finance

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Why are older adults victims of fraud? Current knowledge and prospects regarding older adults’ vulnerability to fraud

Cited by 82 publications

References 55 publications

Technological Change in the Retirement Transition and the Implications for Cybersecurity Vulnerability in Older Adults

Technological Change in the Retirement Transition and the Implications for Cybersecurity Vulnerability in Older Adults

A personal financial risk assessment intervention decreases investment fraud susceptibility in older adults

Examining Health and Wealth Correlates of Perceived Financial Vulnerability: A Normative Study

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