Protecting the Elderly and Vulnerable Adults from Financial Fraud and Exploitation

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming,United States
• Citation: Vol. 30 No. 6 Pg. 8
• Publication year: 2007
• Pages: 8
• Year: 2007
• topic: Family Law

Wyoming Bar Journal 2007.

Vol 30, No. 6, #8. Protecting the Elderly and Vulnerable Adults From Financial Fraud and Exploitation

Wyoming Bar Journal
Vol 30, No. 6, #8
Issue: December, 2007

Author: Dorothy Thomas

Protecting the Elderly and Vulnerable Adults From Financial Fraud and Exploitation

Under current Wyoming law, a vulnerable adult is defined as any "person eighteen years of age or older who is unable to manage and take care of himself or his money, assets or property without assistance, as a result of advanced age or physical or mental disability."

In a recent study it was noted that Adult Protective Service agencies substantiate more cases of financial abuse than physical abuse, and nationally, financial exploitation was identified as the fastest growing crime against vulnerable adults with minimal success in prosecution of the perpetrators. Criminals often exploit the victim's vulnerability, diminished judgment, frailty, and perhaps lack of family support. Previously it was felt to be a crime against the lonely and isolated, but is now evidenced to target the socially active and well educated, as these victims are far more "attractive" to the criminal element, and a far more profitable group of individuals to exploit.

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