As a senior, I am likely to be vulnerable to senior abuse. Senior abuse is a term given to the act of committing harm or distress towards seniors. An abuser can be a spouse, partner, relative, friend, neighbor, or any other individual. Investigations have shown that preying on seniors has doubled in the past five years. Seniors need to be watchful and take steps to protect themselves from unsavory characters. Seniors should be cautious when communicating with strangers or unfamiliar people that they do not physically see.
For example, I remember a time that my mother, who was a senior, was talking to someone on her phone. Abruptly, she hung it up. I asked her what happened and she said that the person on the other line wanted her social security number. She felt that she was being scammed. This was not the first time | had seen her experience such an incident. This made her feel angry and so did I. Scams over the phone are just one way that predators approach seniors. If strangers come to seniors’ homes, seniors should not let them in because they do not know their intentions.
There is no reason to expose myself to someone that I do not know. For instance, before I go to answer my door, I look out my window and can tell whether or not I know the person. There was one night that my neighbor, who is a senior and a minister, answered his door to a strange woman. She looked troubled, and he wanted to help her. He was going to let her in his home, but his wife shook her head, indicating no. After the woman left, the man’s wife told him that the stranger could have been a threat to him and their family.
Even though the stranger did not actually do anything harmful, there was a risk involved because the man did not know the stranger’s true intentions. He had not even thought about that because she was a woman in distress or at least that was what she told him. If this woman had come to my home that late, I would not have answered my door. There was a time that I probably would have turned on the porch light to see who it was, but not anymore. It is not safe to offer a stranger an invitation into one’s home, whether male or female, or day or night. Seniors should also protect their property.
Sometimes, people may think that seniors do not pay much attention to their possessions. For example, I have had a handyman for about two years, and recently I asked him to help me clean out my garage and part of my basement. After we finished, I noticed that two of my outdoor, electrical cords were missing. Occasionally, he uses my equipment when he does not have certain tools to perform some jobs, but I never noticed anything missing before. At first, he said that he did not have any of the cords. So, I asked him to look further because he tends to be forgetful. He is older than I am.
Later, he produced one of the cords and said that it got mixed up with his other equipment. However, he never found the other electrical cord. He said that although he did not take the cord, he offered to pay for it. However, I told him that we were the only ones in the garage, where the cords came up missing. All I wanted was my cord back. Therefore I told him that he could continue working for me if he wanted to, but that he would no longer have access to my garage and basement, and he agreed. When he worked, he used to use the basement bathroom, but now it’s off limits.
Even if seniors know someone that they rely on, a time may come when seniors may have to be more watchful of their possessions, as well as protective of them. Another way that seniors can be abused is through overcharging. For this reason, it is a good idea to have a repairperson put their services and costs of supplies in written contracts. For example, when I needed to have my house painted, I asked a friend for a recommendation. I requested that the handyman she suggested write me out a contract for the work. He performed the job satisfactorily. Then, I asked him to install a handrail.
We talked about his service and the cost of supplies, but I did not ask for a written contract because he had done work for me before and the new job was a small one. However, when he performed the work, the rail was not steady. I repeatedly asked him to correct the problem. Finally, he fixed it and he asked me for more money because he said that he lost money on the deal, but I refused to pay him anything else. He kept trying to get more money and I told him that he was trying to take advantage of me. I had to abruptly end the conversation and move on. Now, I cannot hire him for future work.
Perhaps if Thad asked him to write out a contract for the handrail, the outcome would have been better. Seniors are also confronted with other financial deceptions from institutions. For instance, I experienced financial slyness at my bank. I received a call from a banker about my debit card, but then he started talking more about the bank’s retirement programs. I was open to gaining information. When I went into the bank to talk to him further, he said that a financial advisor could provide additional information. The bank’s financial advisor told me about a retirement product.
I listened, but I did not buy in. Then, he said that if I were his aunt, he would encourage me to buy that particular product. He then asked me what church I attended and that it would be a good idea to pray before making a final decision. I thought that seemed odd, so I asked him to give me at least three options to choose from, but he never did. Therefore, I felt that he was trying to scam me. Then, I asked two other financial advisors for their advice, one from another branch and the other from a different bank. Neither of them thought the option that I was given would meet my needs.
The program that the original advisor offered would have been more suitable for me twenty years ago, and it was a fairly new product with little history. As a senior, I needed a program that I could tap into now. I thought it was also odd that we never got around to talking about my debit card, which was the original cited reason for even being contacted by the bank. As a result, I decided to go to another branch of the bank to further explore retirement programs, and I am satisfied. Interestingly, the original banker contacted me again to “followup. I told him that I found a financial product that was more suitable to my needs.
Thus, seniors need to be vigilant even when they have contact with established organizations. The nature and scope of senior abuse is a complex and disturbing problem. Seniors are easy targets to be preyed upon by persons of ill intentions. Older people need to be cautious: 1) when communicating with strangers or unfamiliar people that they do not see, 2) When strangers come to seniors’ homes, 3) And protect their property, 4) when confronted by financial abuse, and 5) When financial deceptions happen at institutions.
The abusers know that seniors may have a hard time saying “no” to their requests, and may have some physical, mental, and/or emotional limitations that may hinder their decisionmaking. But informed seniors—like any other person, can protect themselves by being better informed, speaking up for themselves, and seeking help from others when needed. Younger people can help by first recognizing the growing problem that seniors face and appreciating what their elders can continue to offer society. By doing so, seniors can avoid abuse and live the lives they’ve earned.