Elder financial exploitation, or EFE, is a fast-growing and despicable form of abuse of seniors. It's also the most prevalent form of elder abuse. In general, elder financial abuse is any fraudulent act that uses the resources of an older individual for personal benefit, or an action that deprives an older individual of their belongings. Older adults lose more than $27.4 billion every year to scams, fraud, and exploitation. In this course, we'll discuss some examples of elder financial exploitation, go over why the elderly are targeted, and who they're typically targeted by.

Elder financial exploitation has been called the crime of the 21st century, and intervening, when possible, is critical. In this course, we'll focus specifically on what financial institutions can do to combat elder financial abuse. We'll discuss the red flags of financial abuse and go over some best practices to prevent abuse. We'll also talk about the laws surrounding elder financial abuse and the responsibilities of financial institutions in preventing and responding to it.

With the largest elderly population of nearly four million, California also leads the nation with the largest loss of assets due to elder financial abuse. Because of this, the State of California became one of the first states to enact a comprehensive law providing civil remedies for elderly victims of abuse. In this course, we'll discuss the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act.