Fool Me Once: Fresh Perspectives on Financial Vulnerability and Financial Exploitation

Chair(s)

• 

  Julie Miller, PhD, MSW (she/her/hers)

  Director of Thought Leadership, Financial Resilience
  Thought Leadership
  AARP
  Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Discussant(s)

• 

  Julie Miller, PhD, MSW (she/her/hers)

  Director of Thought Leadership, Financial Resilience
  Thought Leadership
  AARP
  Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

• 

  Stacey Wood, PhD, ABPP (she/her/hers)

  Molly Mason Jones Professor of Psychology
  Psychology
  Scripps College
  Claremont, California, United States
• 

  Marguerite DeLiema, PhD (she/her/hers)

  Assistant Professor
  School of Social Work
  University of Minnesota Twin Cities
  St. Paul, Minnesota, United States
• 

  Duke Han, PhD, ABPP-CN (he/him/his)

  Professor
  Psychology
  University of Southern California
  Los Angeles, California, United States

Threats associated with fraud and financial exploitation of older adults have grown exponentially. To surface and scale the most meaningful approaches to preventing financial exploitation among older adults, we need innovative approaches that challenge our collective understandings of which factors are at play and what works, why, and how. This symposium will bring together leading scholars to share emerging understandings of mechanisms that fuel financial exploitation, as well as novel approaches with important implications for prevention. The first presentation in the symposium will share new perspectives on cognitive underpinnings of scam susceptibility by exploring individual's abilities to discern credibility of information and their susceptibility to pseudo-profound statements. The second presentation will describe a randomized control trial with older adult victims of mail fraud designed to evaluate the efficacy of a mailed intervention intended to prevent revictimization. The third and final presentation will highlight an intersectional model of financial exploitation vulnerability that combines interpersonal factors and brain mechanisms, ultimately underscoring the importance of considering multiple factors and different levels of analysis when considering financial exploitation vulnerability in older age. Together, the three presentations will demonstrate the importance of reframing professionals’ and non-professionals’ experiences with − and expectations about − financial vulnerability and financial exploitation.

Presentations:

• 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PST

  Abstract Thought Leads to Unparalleled Beauty: A Study on Bullshit Receptivity and Scam Susceptibility
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Stacey Wood, PhD, ABPP (she/her/hers) – Scripps College
• 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PST

  A Fraud Awareness Mail Campaign Significantly Reduces Rates of Revictimization Among Older Victims
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Marguerite DeLiema, PhD (she/her/hers) – University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PST

  Financial Exploitation Vulnerability in Older Age: Interpersonal and Brain Mechanisms
  

  Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Duke Han, PhD, ABPP-CN (he/him/his) – University of Southern California