Scams to rob retirees of their savings are
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This attitude gets baked into our language, the study says. News headlines say targets were “bilked” or “swindled,” emphasizing the passive exploitation of the victims instead of the cruel actions of the criminal. Even family members sometimes use this language when they learn an elder has fallen victim, making the situation even worse.
“We blame the victim so much that families kind of fall apart when these things happen,” said Kathy Stokes, director of Fraud Prevention Programs at AARP. “Adult children are like, ‘Oh my God, how could you be so stupid?’”
This triggers a vicious circle, because the shame caused by this attitude can often discourage a victim from reporting the crime. That not only blocks the scammed person from getting the help they need, but leads to the underreporting of scams, which in turn means law enforcement devotes fewer resources to combating them.
Compounding that reluctance is a widespread lack of faith in the justice system. According to the study, 47% of Americans believe “reporting a scam is a lost cause.” Thirty-six percent said “police cannot help with such cases,” and 32% said “a lawyer would not be able to help press charges.”
According to Stokes, this disillusionment is not completely unfounded.
“Imagine losing $30,000 in a gift card scam,” she said, “and the police officer says, as many often do, ‘That’s not a crime. You gave them your money.’”
How to help
The key to breaking the cycle, Stokes said, is for an ally — a family member, a friend or even a financial advisor — to be “a partner, not a blamer.”
“Don't blame the victim,” Stokes said. “Don't say the victim was ‘duped.’ Say, ‘That criminal stole her money.’ Focus on the crime and on the criminal.”
Once that focus is shifted, allies can tap into their sympathy for the victim — which is actually not in short supply. In a review of scam-related posts on American social media, researchers found that nearly 95% of all dialogue showed compassion for fraud victims. And in AARP’s survey, 85% of Americans agreed that “fraud can happen to anyone, even those trying to protect themselves.”
In that spirit of compassion, advisors can do a lot to help. FINRA urges firms to ask clients for a
If, unfortunately, the client has already handed over money to the scammer, an advisor can help them understand and report the crime. By providing information on how the scam works, the advisor can make sure the victim is less vulnerable to fraud in the future. And with enough victims reporting scams, the study’s authors hope, the vicious cycle may begin to reverse itself.
“Decreasing victim shame can help give victims the confidence to report these crimes, and also help restore their faith in the ability of the system to help them,” said Gerri Walsh, senior vice president of investor education at FINRA. “Increased reporting of these crimes would strengthen public awareness and understanding, and may help prioritize supportive action across financial services, legal, criminal justice and government institutions.”
Moving beyond ageism
What would be even more effective, however, is educating clients before the scam happens — and that means breaking free of ageism. Stokes urged advisors to talk about fraud regularly with all investors, young and old, because fraud can happen to anyone.
“Keep that in their minds, that that is always something to always be mindful of,” she said, “because you do not have to have cognitive decline. You do not have to be of a certain age to fall victim to these crimes.”
AARP’s study sees ageist stereotypes as a major cause of victim blaming. Many Americans, the report says, believe “the elderly are not only more vulnerable but are more willing to engage in scams.”
In fact, data appears to indicate the opposite; the
Less blame, more enforcement
There is a limit, though, to how much can be accomplished by spreading awareness. In the future, Stokes hopes to see law enforcement devote more resources to battling fraud at the national level.
“We cannot educate our way out of this,” she said. “We need federal action. We need systems in place that can actually go after this.”Stokes pointed out that many scammers are based outside of the U.S. and appear to be organized. Far from a few isolated fraudsters, she said, these are “international crime rings” that should be prosecuted by the FBI.
“Aside from the in-person investor scams, a lot of this comes from foreign threat actors who have their lead lists that they've bought on the dark web,” she said. “And they're calling into the United States, and it's part of a larger criminal enterprise.”
But before they can effectively prosecute the criminals, Stokes said, Americans will first need to stop blaming the victims.
“We are so complacent about fraud, and part of it is because of the way we talk about it and think about it,” she said. “If we think about it as the crime it is, then lots of really positive things can happen.”
