“It’s a tough situation for people in financial services. However, these circumstances can pull the curtain back on elder financial abuse. That’s because banks and other financial institutions can sometimes spot potential problems early.”
A man who makes loans in a company, that is not quite a bank and not quite a payday lending company, remembers when a young man came in for a loan to buy a truck. According to wbhm.com’s report “Uncovering Elder Financial Abuse? It’s Tricky,” the 19-year-old did not have any credit history and had only been employed for a few weeks, so he brought his grandfather with him to co-sign the loan application.
The grandfather told him, “I don’t really want to, but they’re saying it’s the only way he can get it.” This raised a red flag for the man as a possible instance of elder financial abuse, but it presented a difficult situation. He wanted to make the loan and avoid negative reviews on social media. What should he do?
Some financial institutions are now training their employees for signs of exploitation, keeping an eye out for things that appear out of the ordinary. Examples are a customer at a branch accompanied by someone who isn’t known to the bank, who does all the talking or withdraws large sums of money from a senior’s account.
If a client is in their eighties and the bank account suddenly shows a lot of nightlife spending, it’s a sign that something’s wrong.
One bank has an internal hotline that employees can call. The bank then turns over the report to authorities. There are also government agencies that protect seniors from financial abuse. Alabama’s Department of Human Resources has an Adult Protective Services Division, where one employee says about half of the cases are straightforward and the other half are challenging.
One woman was sending money overseas, thinking she was in a relationship that would end in marriage. She had all her faculties and that’s the key. Since she understood what she was doing, even if she was making poor decisions, there wasn’t much the department could do.
Just because the Department of Human Resources can’t help, that does not mean a crime had not been committed.
Alabama assistant attorney general Diane Dunning says the state has recently passed laws to better combat elder financial exploitation. One such law allows brokers to delay a payout, if they suspect elder abuse.
The law also protects financial professionals from liability, if they make a good faith report of possible abuse.
What about the man who was asked to make a loan with the grandfather as co-signer? He was denied the loan for other reasons.
Resource: wbhm.com (Aug. 7, 2018) “Uncovering Elder Financial Abuse? It’s Tricky.”
“對金融服務人員來說，這是一個艱難的局面。但是，這些情況可以阻止老年人金融诈骗。因為銀行和其他金融機構有時可以及早發現潛在的問題。”
根據 wbhm.com 的報告，“Uncovering Elder Financial Abuse? It’s Tricky,”(揭露老年人金融诈骗？這很棘手) 一位19歲的年青人沒有任何信用記錄, 只被雇用了幾個星期, 所以他帶他的祖父和他一起簽署貸款申請。一個在公司裡面負責貸款的職員，那不是一家銀行，也不是一個發薪的貸款公司，職員記得當這個年青人來貸款買卡車的情景。
祖父告訴職員，"我真的不想這樣做，但他們說這是他孫子唯一能得到貸款的方法”。祖父這番話是一個警號，顯示出可能是老年人金融诈骗的可能事例，但它也是一個兩難的情況。職員想批出貸款, 避免社交媒體留下負面評論。他該怎麼辦？
一些金融機構現在正在培訓他們的員工，學習偵察诈骗的跡象，留意那些看似平凡的事情。例如，的客戶由銀行不知道的人陪同，這些人主導整個面談或從老人賬戶中提取大筆資金。
如果一個客戶已經80多歲了，銀行賬戶突然顯示了大量的夜生活消費，這就是一個警號。
一家銀行有一條內部熱線，員工可以撥打電話。然後銀行將報告交給當局。有政府機構會保護老人免受經濟诈骗。阿拉巴馬州人力資源部設有成人保護服務部門，其中一名員工表示，大約一半的案件很簡單，另一半則具有挑戰性。
一名婦女向海外匯錢，她認為她是在一段感情關係中並且將來會結婚。她很清楚自己在做什麼，這是關鍵。既然她明白自己在做什麼，即使她做出了錯誤的決定，這個部門也做不了什麼。
即使人力資源部無法處理，這並不意味著犯罪沒有發生。
阿拉巴馬州助理檢察長黛安·鄧寧說，該州最近通過了法律，以更好地打擊老人的金融诈骗。這項法律允許經紀人推遲支付，如果他們懷疑老人金融诈骗。
法律也保護金融專業人員免於承擔責任，如果他們舉報可能的濫用行為。
那個被要求與祖父作為共同簽名者貸款的人怎麼樣？由於其他原因，他被拒絕了貸款。
參考: wbhm.com (Aug. 7, 2018) “Uncovering Elder Financial Abuse? It’s Tricky.”
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