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Brains and Losses

Age of fraud: Are seniors more vulnerable to financial scams?

Changes to the brain make seniors prime targets for financial fraud.

From This Collection

New tool helps evaluate older adults' decision-making ability

May 25, 2022
The system is designed to gauge whether formal psychiatric assessment may be needed.
Geriatricians created the interview for decisional abilities to help social services workers determine whether further evaluation is required.
Stephane de Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images

How to protect yourself from scams ... according to a former scammer

Author Frank Abagnale, a former con man and subject of the 2002 Steven Spielberg movie "Catch Me If You Can," explains there are a few common red flags to help you determine if the person calling you is a scammer.
Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

Brains and Losses: Part VI

Scammers are not always a faceless voice on the phone.
Rose Conlon/Marketplace

Brains and Losses: Part V

Suspicious or unusual bank activity can often signal a scam; but should a teller be able to monitor a long-time account holder’s ledger activity to flag a possible scam?
Rose Conlon/Marketplace

Brains and Losses: Part IV

Financial scammers are part of coordinated efforts to target victims. The Federal Trade Commission took in more than a half a million complaints of imposter scams alone in 2018. But finding and convicting perpetrators is rare. Marketplace Morning Report’s David Brancaccio looks at what federal regulators are doing to target scammers.   Brains and Losses: […]
Rose Conlon/Marketplace

Brains and Losses: Part III

What changes to the brain might make a person more vulnerable to financial scams?
Rose Conlon/Marketplace

Brains and Losses: Part II

What happens when you're scammed out of almost $200,000?
Rose Conlon/Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

Brains and Losses: Part I

Experts say it’s time for a national conversation about protecting seniors from scams.
Rose Conlon/Marketplace

The top financial scams of 2018

May 16, 2019
Billions of dollars are lost every year. Here’s what to look out for.
Rose Conlon/Marketplace