Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Spotting Financial Exploitation - TPR's In Focus - June 16, 2026

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Spotting Financial Exploitation - TPR's In Focus - June 16, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park
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  on the main campus of Troy University,
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  featuring the International Arts Center,
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  the Fred Nall Hollis Museum,
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  and the Huo Bao Zhu gallery.
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  More information at troy.edu slash arts park.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is In Focus,
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  and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  On the Exchange today, Amanda Senn,
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  Director of the Alabama Securities Commission,
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  discusses elder abuse in the context
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  of financial exploitation.
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  She shares the red flags to look out for with loved ones.
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  Amanda, welcome back to the Exchange.
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  Thank you, Carolyn.
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  Always glad to be here.
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  This is a special month.
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  It's a special month for the entire world.
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  It is World Elder Abuse Awareness Month.
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  Every year in June, we celebrate our seniors,
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  but we also use it to raise awareness
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  to highlight one of the worst manifestations
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  of ageism and inequality in our society,
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  and that is elder abuse.
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  We have a growing community of baby boomers,
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  so we are facing as a society
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  the largest group of seniors that are coming up,
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  and we see it from a financial standpoint.
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  What are the trends that concern you?
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  Any new technology will bring about brand new scams.
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  If there's something in the headlines of the newspaper,
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  broadcasters will rip it off,
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  but we have seen an explosion
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  in the number of identity theft reports
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  and also new imposter scams.
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  Some of the reports that we've received recently,
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  one of them highlighted a book publisher imposter scam,
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  so we've been contacted by several that have said,
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  we thought we were hiring someone
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  to help publish a memoir or a novel
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  or a non-fictional piece of work,
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  and it turns out that it was an imposter
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  that set themselves up to steal money
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  from a potential author,
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  and we've had many scams recently
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  involving people who are impersonating the government,
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  mainly the Federal Trade Commission.
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  You've advised us in the past
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  that if the call is questionable,
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  just to hang up and call the legitimate phone number.
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  Yes, we have had so many new advancements in technology,
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  and so fraudsters have the capability to execute robocalls
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  at an unprecedented level and magnitude.
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  You'll pick up the phone, and it sounds silent,
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  and you can't hear somebody on the other line.
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  Those oftentimes are fraudsters
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  trying to get you to talk with them,
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  or there's a delay when you pick up the phone.
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  Just hang up the phone.
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  It's most likely a fraudster or a spam call of some type,
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  but if they call you and tell you,
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  hey, you've got a bill due,
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  or they send you a text message,
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  always pick up the phone
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  and call that person requesting the money directly.
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  If it's a traffic violation, call the municipal court.
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  If it's a bill from a medical provider, call them directly
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  because there have been so many scams
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  in the last month of those type things,
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  and people have turned over thousands of dollars
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  because they believed the phone call sounded so real,
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  but there's just a rash of scams,
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  but always pick up and verify independently.
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  On another topic,
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  if people are trying to get their documents organized,
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  what do you advise?
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  There are so many mechanisms
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  to help people plan for aging,
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  but starting that conversation can be incredibly difficult.
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  We have a script that an author,
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  she's a PhD expert in cognitive decline
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  and planning for aging, Dr. Beverly Thorne.
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  She actually came up with it,
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  and there was a panel of experts that reviewed it,
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  and it just gives you a script,
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  and you can literally follow it
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  for how to have those conversations
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  without going in directly and telling somebody,
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  hey, we need to talk about planning for death.
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  Well, that's not something that people want to talk about,
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  but there is a method
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  to have a thoughtful planning session,
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  so we'll have that resource available on our website,
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  but it is a conversation that we encourage people to have
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  because it helps protect you
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  if you should suffer cognitive decline
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  from becoming a victim of fraud and scams
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  or just being victimized by people
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  that you thought you trusted,
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  and also it helps your friends and family
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  should something come up,
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  and it honors your wishes as well.
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  What is some of the terminology
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  you're likely to see on these documents?
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  Yeah, so those are just a few of the legal vehicles
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  to help plan and protect your assets.
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  Trusted contact is one that we like to use
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  in the financial world,
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  and that is just someone that you trust.
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  It doesn't have to be a family member.
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  It can be your lawyer or an accountant,
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  a close friend that will not have access to your accounts.
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  A trusted contact is not someone
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  who has access to your financial accounts
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  or medical information,
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  but it's someone that the financial professional,
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  whether it's a bank or a credit union
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  or a financial planner or a hospital,
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  can contact if they suspect something is wrong,
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  whether you've been exploited or you're in danger,
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  just somebody that they trust
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  that they can call to check on you.
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  In contrast, a joint account holder
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  does have complete access to the account,
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  so if you have a joint account holder,
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  you wanna make sure that person you trust wholeheartedly
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  with their finances,
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  because they can make withdrawals just the same as you can.
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  And a power of attorney gives someone else
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  the authority to access accounts.
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  Power of attorney is useful because you can limit it
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  or you can make it as broad as you need to.
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  So a power of attorney could give you access
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  to all financial accounts and medical information
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  if you serve as a medical proxy or a power of attorney,
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  or you can limit it.
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  You can say, this person will be my attorney
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  for these reasons, if I am incapacitated
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  or only on financial accounts
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  or only as it relates to real estate.
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  So a power of attorney gives you the flexibility
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  to provide that protection under certain circumstances,
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  or you can give them a power of attorney over everything.
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  But carefully consider though,
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  which legal protections that you want to engage
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  and you should always understand the effect
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  that that legal instrument will have on you
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  and the person that is assigned to help you.
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  And where can you get advice on that?
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  They need to call an attorney to go through these.
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  We do advise if you are planning for estate purposes
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  or financial planning in general,
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  we have great financial planners in this state.
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  We have fantastic attorneys as well.
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  So a financial professional can help you with that.
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  An attorney for questions about trusted contacts.
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  We're certainly happy to talk with you
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  at the Alabama Securities Commission,
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  but talk with your medical provider.
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  Sometimes they have specific forms
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  that they can provide you for medical proxy
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  and power of attorney.
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  What are the latest problems you're seeing
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  with financial exploitation of seniors?
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  Because of the advancements in artificial intelligence
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  and the sophistication of these cyber crimes
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  and these cyber criminals,
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  oftentimes the person that will be in a position
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  to detect financial exploitation
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  are the financial institutions themselves.
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  Large or uncharacteristic withdrawals or a pattern.
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  Like if you have routine payments that come out
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  and then all of a sudden you have a several hundred thousand
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  dollar lump sum that comes out.
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  Those are often suspicious transactions.
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  Changes to legal documents or beneficiaries
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  that seem unusual.
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  If someone says, I just took my kids out of my will
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  and I added this new friend of mine,
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  of course that would be very suspicious.
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  Isolation from family members.
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  We've had so many cases that came to us
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  through family members and they said,
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  I just can't get my grandfather on the phone anymore.
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  He has a caretaker and the caretaker's
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  always answering the phone
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  and really strange and unusual circumstances like that
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  where there's isolation.
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  Unpaid bills.
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  If you're helping a family member out
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  and you notice bills sitting around
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  or phone calls from debt collectors.
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  Victims themselves shared with us,
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  they've received pressure to make quick financial decisions.
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  Oftentimes it was the urgency of the need
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  to make that transaction or provide those funds
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  that was the red flag.
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  And of course, if there are payments that are requested
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  to be made in cryptocurrency
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  or you're directed to get a gift card,
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  100% a fraud or scam.
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  So hang up the phone, ignore the text, delete them,
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  contact us if you need more information.
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  On your website, asc.alabama.gov,
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  there is a suggested conversation starter
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  with loved ones about finances.
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  Can you tell me more about that?
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  On the main page, they can click
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  and we'll provide information in a script
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  that will get them started with the conversation.
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  I know it's not one we want to have,
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  but it's absolutely necessary conversation.
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  Amanda, thank you so much for joining us
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  for Elder Abuse Awareness Month.
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  Thanks Carolyn.
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  That was Amanda Senn,
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  Director of the Alabama Securities Commission
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  and more information can be found at the website,
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  asc.alabama.gov.
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  Thanks for joining us today for the Exchange from In Focus,
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  which is a podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson
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  and this is listener supported Troy Public Radio.