Defrauding the Elderly

Fraud and bunco schemes cost individuals thousands of dollars. A bunco scheme is a scam in which an unsuspecting person is cheated out of something, usually money. Often, the victim is not certain a crime has been committed, or is too embarrassed to take action.

Con men and women often seek out older persons as victims, making nursing homes vulnerable.

These types of schemes can and do occur in nursing homes/long-term care facilities and assisted living facilities. they’re considered forms of abuse.

Recently, two women were arrested in Florida for attempting to defraud an elderly man of $5,000 cash. They told him one of them fell in his garage and was injured. They convinced him that if he didn’t pay they would sue him.

In a separate incident, three people used a 77-year-old man suffering from dementia to apply for credit cards. They rang up $30,800 worth of merchandise. They were eventually apprehended.

In Oregon, police arrested a woman on charges that she forged $11,000 in checks and defrauded an elderly woman living in a residential care facility.

State and federal law give you the right to manage your own money or to choose someone you trust to do this for you. Be very careful in managing your money or how you choose who manages your money. Make sure that you’re giving your life’s savings to someone you can trust.

Pitman, Kalkhoff, Sicula & Dentice, S.C. is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm with a devoted nursing home neglect practice. Our nursing home abuse and neglect trial team has successfully represented abused and neglected residents in almost every county.