Aligning With the New Interagency Guidelines: How Carefull supports FIs in combating elder fraud

By Carefull

Financial institutions are being encouraged to adopt a range of strategies to combat the growing threat of elder financial exploitation in response to the Interagency Statement on Elder Financial Exploitation.

In the statement issued Dec. 4, five federal financial regulatory agencies, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and state financial regulators provided examples of risk management and other practices that banks and credit unions can use to identify, prevent, and respond to elder financial exploitation. Older adults can be deprived of their life savings through elder financial exploitation, which the agencies define as the illegal use of an older adult’s funds or resources for the benefit of an unauthorized recipient.

In May 2024, FinCEN released an analysis of Bank Secrecy Act reports that found that more than $27 billion in reported suspicious activity was linked to elder financial exploitation during a one-year period ending in June 2023. A report from the Federal Trade Commission estimates that losses related to elder fraud in 2024 were up to $81.5 billion when accounting for underreporting of incidents – up from $61.5 billion the year prior.

With growing pressure on financial institutions to safeguard account holders from financial exploitation, they must seek collaborative solutions to enhance protection without bearing the full burden of implementation alone.

A Market-Ready Solution to Support Elder Fraud Prevention

Implementing these practices can take both time and money. However, partnering with a market-ready third-party solution can be an affordable and fast way to address the growing threat of elder financial exploitation.

Carefull partners with financial institutions to provide their older account holders with elder-specific monitoring, education, support, and a secure trusted contacts system. Carefull recently helped a customer at one of its bank partners – The Cooperative Bank (TCB) in Boston – catch a series of fraudulent checks, including one written for $40,000. Then, a Carefull Care Agent walked the customer through steps to take to avoid future check fraud. The American Bankers Association Foundation named TCB a 2023 Community Commitment Award winner for protecting its older customers with Carefull.

Carefull’s Safeguards Against Elder Financial Exploitation

Elder-specific monitoring: Carefull’s technology analyzes checking, savings, credit card, and investment accounts 24/7 and alerts to signs of fraud and a variety of issues that can impact older adults’ finances. Alerts provide action steps for dealing with issues that are being flagged, giving older adults agency to address fraud on their own and rely less on bank staff for help (freeing up bank resources for revenue generation).

Trusted contacts infrastructure: Financial institutions partnering with Carefull get a built-in option for users to add trusted contacts to their accounts, including an ability to grant varying levels of view-only permissions and share alerts when Carefull spots unusual transactions. This makes it easier for financial institutions to ensure that older adults’ trusted contacts are informed about any potential suspicious activity.

Integrated consumer education: Through its team of financial journalists and experts, Carefull provides timely articles and Scam Alerts to users in their Carefull dashboard, weekly activity summary emails, and monthly newsletters. This integrated approach to consumer education keeps older adults aware of the latest threats to help them avoid becoming victims.

Carefull also includes credit, identity, and home title monitoring to provide comprehensive fraud prevention and detection – all backed by $1 million in identity theft insurance.

Adopting the latest best practice recommendations to combat elder fraud can be easier by working with a trusted partner, such as Carefull that has a proven track record of helping financial institutions empower customers to protect themselves.

Connect with Carefull to learn more about how your financial institution can combat elder fraud.