NCJ Number
80678
Date Published
1978
Length
88 pages
Annotation
This report discusses factors in the victimization of the elderly through consumer fraud and abuse, aspects of the vulnerability of the aged to such fraud and abuse, and the impact of consumer fraud and abuse on the elderly.
Abstract
This is one of a series of research reports from the Battelle research project, 'Consumerism and the Aged: The Elderly as Victims of Fraud.' The research involved case studies of consumer protection agencies and the communities served in two metropolitan areas -- Flint-Genesee County, Mich., and Seattle-King County, Wash. In each site, a field presence in a public consumer protection agency was maintained for 6 months, tagging all cases of elderly complainants and selecting a matched number of younger complainants for comparison. A telephone survey of the aged in each community focused on consumer victimization, consumer knowledge, and consumer reporting. The sample consisted of 327 older consumers. The examination of factors influencing consumer victimization showed that the extent of marketplace activity and particular consumer transactions are often better predictors of potential abuse than the consumer's personal characteristics. The examination of the personal characteristics of the elderly suggests that age, educational attainment, sex, living and buying situation, or mobility limitations and illness have little effect on the nature or seriousness of consumer abuse; however some weak patterns of victimization based on these characteristics were observed, and these may be fruitful targets for future inquiry. The impact of consumer fraud and abuse was generally greater for the elderly than the younger consumers because of the elderly's general inability to sustain financial losses due to fixed income and their greater vulnerability to psychological shocks bearing upon feelings of insecurity and helplessness. Footnotes and tabular data are provided.