Changes in state legislation and the impacts on elder financial fraud and exploitation

The purpose of this paper is to summarize how state legislators are responding to the increasing incidence of elder financial fraud and exploitation (EFFE) and investigate the impact of new state legislation.

Our empirical model investigates the impact of recent changes in state legislation, after controlling for relevant state demographics, on the prevalence of EFFE claims reported in the Consumer Sentinel Network database. We use panel data in a fixed effects model with and without time dummy variables.

States with additional penalties targeting EFFE have a significantly lower percentage of complaints from elders, whereas the impact of mandatory and protected voluntary reporting laws is not significant in this sample.

State legislators have increased their awareness of and are acting to produce legislation protecting the elderly from EFFE. Increased information, training and data sharing across states can go a long way to detecting and prosecuting EFFE cases.