Seniors and Crime Prevention

The Trend

• People will live longer and remain active longer.
• There will be a larger population of older people - the baby boomers.
• People will be productive into older ages, whether traveling or with “hobby jobs.”
• Wealth will be concentrated in older age groups.
• Individual retirees, not employer pension funds, will be responsible for managing retirement assets.

Challenges

• Older people are less likely to stay in touch with innovations in technology.
• Older people are more vulnerable to electronic crime. They control their own retirement assets, yet may be less technologically savvy.
• A larger group will benefit from crime prevention strategies that take into account cognitive or physical impairments.

Recommendations

• Develop crime prevention strategies that make effective links between older persons' experiences and prevention strategies necessary in new technology and communications settings.
• Develop behavior and hardware strategies that interlink to help reduce vulnerabilities in general, with special attention to the needs of those with impairments.
• Because travel and activity are likely to be a part of older people's lifestyles, teach accordingly.

How NCPC Plans To Help Seniors

According to the Consumer Law Center, Inc. (CLC), Americans lose an estimated $40 billion each year to the fraudulent sale of goods and services over the telephone. The elderly are frequent targets of telemarketing frauds and sweepstakes scams. Studies conducted by CLC reveal that “fraudulent telemarketers direct anywhere from 56 percent to nearly 80 percent of their calls at older customers. One sweepstakes-related scam detailed on CBS's 60 Minutes reportedly bilked seniors in 24 states out of an estimated $5 billion.”

Recently, the National Crime Prevention Council received a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to design, implement, promote, and evaluate a strategic approach to prevent telemarketing fraud and related crimes against seniors by promoting awareness and action on preventive strategies by senior consumers, law enforcement, and other community resources.

NCPC plans to do the following:

• Conduct research on the attitudes and awareness of seniors about telemarketing fraud and scams to identify trends, opinions, and messages that will move seniors to take the action to reduce or avoid risks. The research will examine issues as older Americans see them, particularly their worries and fears and their issues with respect to preserving their financial health.

• Build on our and others current work on this issue by enhancing and updating prevention-focused materials for consumers, and supplementing materials NCPC and others provide to law enforcement and their partners working to protect seniors
• Devise public service advertising featuring McGruff the Crime Dog®
• Identify examples of prevention practices, resources, and successes from within the network of the Crime Prevention Coalition of America and other partner organizations
• Use NCPC's role as a clearinghouse of crime prevention resources to promote awareness and action among seniors about crime prevention
• Provide senior consumers with online telemarketing prevention resources and tips and the opportunity to request additional tips via a periodic e-bulletin
• Develop, implement, and promote training and related tools for law enforcement working with seniors
• Develop telemarketing fraud and scam prevention-focused partnerships with law enforcement organizations, federal agencies, and nonprofit groups serving seniors, building a network of linked prevention resources