When you think of the word abuse, you might imagine something physical. And while that’s sadly common, abuse can take many other forms: financial, verbal and emotional; self-abuse and neglect; identity theft and more, which can be much more difficult to identify.

IOA’s Elder Abuse Prevention Program sees cases such as:

• Robert, a 76 year old man who was contacted by an online scammer pretending to be a lottery official. The scammer told Robert that he simply needed to send money to cover the fees and taxes of the jackpot he’d won. Robert sent more than $1 Million to the scammer, who then disappeared.
• Cynthia, a 72 year old woman who lost her husband during the pandemic and was becoming increasingly depressed. Her daughter, who lived out of state, reported that her mother seemed to not be eating regular meals, was staying inside for most of her days, and was no longer returning friends’ phone calls.
• Benjamin, a 65 year old man who applied for a credit card and was rejected due to his poor credit score. When he checked his credit for the first time in years, he saw that someone had opened multiple accounts in his name with his information, running up thousands in fraudulent charges which negatively impacted his credit score.

In all of these cases – and many others – IOA’s Elder Abuse Prevention Program worked with community and state partners to address and resolve these instances of abuse. We also host multiple events to educate the community and abuse prevention partners on the warning signs of various forms of elder abuse. Ultimately, through these efforts, we develop support structures to lift people out of abusive situations and allow them to feel safe once again.

With your support, IOA helps people take care of themselves, and take care of each other.

Because abuse prevention is ageless.