Why is it important to report financial exploitation?
Reporting financial abuse can help to provide accurate statistics about the incidence and type of abuse. Reporting can also help the legal system and service providers understand how they can prevent financial abuse and assist those who have experienced it. Reporting can help older adults who have experienced financial abuse. It can open the door for action that addresses the abuse. It can also help the older adult to know that they are not alone and are not to blame. Reporting helps make financial abuse a ‘serious’ issue. The more we know about and understand it, the more can be done to prevent financial abuse and economic crime. For example, media stories on financial abuse and economic crime can help the public to understand the issue and take it seriously. In cases of economic crime, reporting can often bring new scams to the attention of police and they may issue public warnings to alert others to the scam.
