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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Study: Stress Makes Seniors More Vulnerable to Scam Artists

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Monday, November 8, 2021   

PHOENIX, Ariz. - Scams are never a good thing to be involved with, but new research shows that people undergoing stressful events in their lives are more vulnerable to con artists.

The AARP-sponsored report finds that seniors who are struggling with stress, from things like the pandemic, financial problems or the loss of a loved one, are more susceptible to falling for a fraud or a scam.

The report found that 90% of Americans experienced an attempted fraud last year, and 1 out of 7 lost money. Linda Vitale is an AARP Arizona volunteer specializing in anti-fraud education.

She said the crooks have scams down to a science.

"Scams are 90% emotion and 10% intellect," said Vitale. "So con artists are masters of persuasion. They excel at being able to manipulate you by exploiting your emotion."

Vitale works with AARP's Fraud Watch program and said scammers usually do their homework, profiling their potential victims to find emotional triggers or vulnerabilities they can exploit.

Seniors 50 years and older often are vulnerable because they are more trusting, more cooperative, and have a willingness to help others.

Vitale said scams have been on the increase during the pandemic, when people are at home and isolated from family members and others in their support system. They often are lonely and looking for someone to talk to.

The study found that life stressors can sometimes keep some people from thinking clearly.

"In this study, they said that coping with a stressful life event usually consumes cognitive capacity," said Vitale. "And of course, as you are older, you have less cognitive capacity."

The study found that, compared with others, fraud victims had experienced more than twice as many stressful events, such as a death in the family or a job loss, when the con artist invaded their lives.

The AARP Fraud Watch Network is at AARP.com/fraud.



Disclosure: AARP Arizona contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy & Priorities, Consumer Issues, Health Issues, Senior Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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