Seniors and Identity Theft: Putting the Pieces Back Together When Family Trust is Shattered

July 2007
What surprised Elaine Korthals was how cruel families could be. When she started her job a year ago as the elder abuse specialist for Crisis Services, a nonprofit social service agency in Buffalo, New York, Korthals expected to help elderly people deal with poverty, predatory lenders and the occasional crooked contractor.
   
She had no idea that she’d spend most of her time protecting seniors from their own children.  “Every day I see an adult child turn around and put a knife in the back of an elder,” Korthals says.  “It’s just heart breaking, you know?”
   
One young man stole his mother’s food stamp card and maxed it out.  He also stole her life savings, which amounted to $500.  “That was everything she had,” says Korthals.  “For her that was a fortune.”
   
The most devastating cases of senior abuse come when the younger generation steals not just money, but elders’ identities, Korthals says.  One young man who was caring for his elderly mother convinced her to grant him power of attorney.  He used her excellent credit rating to open a number of credit card accounts.  To keep her from discovering that he wasn’t paying these or any other bills, he changed her mailing address to a post office box.  “People have no idea what power of attorney really means,” Korthals says.  “They can sell your house right out from under you.”

Aunt Mae

One of Korthals’ toughest cases involves a woman she calls Aunt Mae.  Aunt Mae was always a social butterfly.  Well into her 80s, she loved having long conversations with her neighbors and relatives.  About a year ago, Mae’s niece phoned.  She hadn’t seen Aunt Mae in years.  Why doesn’t she drive up to Mae’s home in Buffalo, the niece suggested, move in, and help take care of her elderly aunt?  All of Mae’s relatives in town thought it was a wonderful idea.
   
Soon after the niece moved in, Aunt Mae stopped calling her sisters, stopped taking long walks with people around the neighborhood.  No one noticed that Mae had dropped out of society—everyone had their own concerns to attend to.
   
Meanwhile, life inside Aunt Mae’s house was changing fast.  The niece had the locks on the house changed, so family members could no longer pop by for unannounced visits.  She took Mae to a doctor and complained that her aunt was being aggressive and argumentative.  The doctor proscribed Haldol, a drug that helps ease hyperactivity and combativeness.  But with prolonged use, the drug can force people, especially seniors, into a catatonic or vegetative state.
   
As Mae sank into a permanent blank stare, the niece won power of attorney.  She got control of all of Mae’s investment accounts and took ownership of the house.  As soon as she won Aunt Mae’s bank account, she started making big withdrawals.
   
The niece’s scheme was finally discovered on Mae’s birthday, when her sisters visited the house.  The niece refused to let them inside and a scuffle ensued.  When the relatives finally pushed their way inside, they found Mae barely conscious.  She had the rumbling cough that signifies the early stages of pneumonia.  “She was in captivity eight months before they found her,” Korthals says.
   
The process of regaining her health, removing her niece from her finances, and regaining control of her bank accounts took another eight months.

Stealing from his plate

In a case that’s still ongoing, a daughter who is supposed to be taking care of her elderly father actually is destroying his life, says Korthals.  She’s writing checks from his checkbook, copying his handwriting, and cashing them for herself.  She’s stealing entire roomfuls of family heirlooms and pawning them.  The father receives $220 a month for groceries from the county Protective Services for Adults.  But his daughter keeps eating all the food.  Were it not for Meals on Wheels, which delivers five dinners a week to his house, the man worries that he would starve.
   
Korthals has been talking to the man for six months.  She’s encouraged him to kick his daughter out of the house.  He refuses, saying that he’s afraid of her.  Korthals offered to drive him to the courthouse and request an order of protection against his daughter.  His response: “‘This is my kid and I have to take care of her,’ even though she’s 46,” Korthals says.
   
After six months of talking occasionally, the man started to choke back tears as he spoke to Korthals on the phone.  Korthals told him that it’s OK to cry.  “When I said that to him today, he just started bawling,” she said.  “I think he’s finally ready to get help.”

Children who refuse to grow up

Getting seniors to open up is the critical first step.  Many seniors still feel responsible for their adult children, Korthals says.  Plus there’s the shame many parents feel that their own children could be such disgraceful people as to victimize their own parents.  “It’s a very traumatic thing for the elderly to say out loud and admit that it’s their children doing this abusive stuff to them,” she says.  “The parent needs the adult child for health care, but the child needs the parent for money for drugs.  It becomes a co-dependent relationship.”
   
In her first year on the job, Korthals has helped ninety seniors who were being abused.  By building relationships with them over time, she’s able to take power away from abusive adult children and give it back to the seniors.  Sometimes it’s as simple as driving the senior citizen to the courthouse or putting them in touch with a lawyer.  Other times Korthals must arrange a physical intervention, with police and county social workers removing the abuser from the home, and sometimes moving the senior to an assisted living center.  “The fear of losing their independence often keeps people in situations where they’re truly in danger,” she says.

Heartbreak and victory

Her days working with seniors are often traumatic, Korthals says.  But she has many successes.  The man who fears his daughter recently decided to sell his house and move into a secure building, where his daughter will not be allowed.  Aunt Mae recovered fully from her months of drug-induced slavery, and is now back to taking long walks with her friends.
   
“It may take time,” Korthals says.  “But there is always help out there for seniors who need it.”

Senior citizens who fear that health or mobility problems may put them at risk for fraud can take proactive steps to avoid being abused:

• Fraudsters and abusers prey on people who are isolated. Keeping regular contact with many different relatives and friends can give you someone to call if you fear a relationship is becoming abusive.
• Closely guard your important financial documents, especially your Social Security card, but also your financial account statements, driver’s license and food stamp card.  There should be no reason why anyone providing day-to-day care should need these documents.
• If the abuser is your adult child, remember that all adults are responsible for their own actions.  Theft is theft.  Just because you love your child does not make you responsible for his or her behavior.
• Be cautious about giving away your power of attorney, or making someone else the payee on your Social Security account.  Do not entrust this power to an adult child if you think he or she has a substance abuse problem.
• If you become the victim of fraud and abuse, remember that you are not alone.  Many people have suffered the exact same problem.  No one will think less of you if you reach out for help.  In many communities, people can call 311 for access to community programs.  If your community has no such service, you can call 911.