Elder Financial Exploitation: The Signs a Tech Sees

Why this matters

Elder financial exploitation is the illegal or improper use of an older adult's money, property or assets by someone else. It is the most common form of elder abuse reported to adult protective services, and the person doing it is most often someone the older adult knows: a family member, a paid caregiver, or a new "friend" who appeared in the last few months. Banks see the withdrawals. Doctors see the patient. A tech sees the house, the paperwork on the counter, and who answers the door and who pays. Those are exactly the places exploitation shows, and they are places almost nobody else from outside the household gets to look. This card is about what those signs look like on a service call, which things look like exploitation and are not, what to write down, and when it is time to call.

What the tech is positioned to see

The signs fall into four places. A single sign is rarely enough. A cluster across two or more places, on the same visit or across visits, is the pattern.

Who handles the money.

• A new person, often recently arrived in the customer's life, now pays the bill, takes the invoice, or asks that it go to their name, address or email.
• A request for cash, or for payment to go to a personal account, where the customer has always paid by check or card before.
• A request to write the invoice or receipt for more than the job cost, or to bill a second job that was not done. This is the strongest single sign on this list: it is an attempt to create a paper trail for taking money, and the tech is being asked to help.
• Checks made out to an individual sitting in a checkbook on the counter, or a customer who says they "can't write checks anymore, he does it".

What the house says.

• A well-kept house with unpaid essentials: a utility shutoff notice on the counter, the gas or water already off for non-payment, bank statements unopened, a customer who suddenly cannot afford a minor repair they have paid for without blinking in past years.
• Missing things the customer mentions: "my good jewelry is gone", "the TV in the den disappeared".
• Gift cards in quantity, wire transfer receipts, or a phone the customer keeps glancing at. Those point more often to an outside scam (a government-impersonation call, a fake grandchild in trouble, a romance scam) than to someone in the house, but they are the same harm.

How the customer acts.

• Afraid to decide without a particular person: "I'd better wait for Rick", "he'll be upset if I spend money".
• Looks at a companion before answering simple questions about their own home, or is answered for every time.
• Cannot say where their money goes, or says something that does not fit the house ("I'm broke now" in a house with a new car in the drive that belongs to the companion).

What changes over time. If you service the same customer every year, the comparison is with last year: a different payer, a different payment method, a different person at the door, a repair suddenly unaffordable. Your job history is a record of how the customer ran their money before. Read it before the visit.

What is not a sign

This section matters as much as the list above, because a tech who sees exploitation everywhere insults families and stops being listened to.

• An adult child paying with their own card. That is a gift. Very common, and usually love.
• A family member who answers for a parent who is hard of hearing, or who explains what the parent wants because the parent asked them to. The test is whether the parent's own wishes are visible: do they nod, disagree, add something, get their way on a point?
• An agent under a power of attorney handling the payment. That is what the document is for. See related: Working With a Power of Attorney or Guardian.
• A frugal customer choosing the cheapest option, or declining a repair. That is a choice. Older adults are allowed to be careful with money.
• A paid caregiver letting you in and calling the family to approve the work. That is normal care, not control.

What separates these from the signs above is whose will is running the transaction. In every innocent case, the older adult's preferences are visible and win when they disagree. In exploitation, they are absent, overruled or afraid.

Worked example: the furnace, the friend and the receipt

Eleanor, 83, has had annual furnace maintenance from the same shop for five years. Every year she paid by check herself and chatted with the tech about her grandchildren. The job history shows it.

This March, a man in his fifties answers the door. He introduces himself as Rick, "a friend from church", and says he has been "handling Eleanor's affairs" since the fall. Eleanor is in the kitchen.

On the visit the tech notices, in order:

1. Rick asks that the invoice go to his email, not Eleanor's.
2. On the kitchen counter, under a fruit bowl, a gas utility notice marked FINAL NOTICE BEFORE DISCONNECTION. The house is spotless.
3. When the tech asks Eleanor whether the house has been comfortable, she looks at Rick before answering, and says "Rick says we have to keep it at 60 now."
4. At payment, Rick offers cash and asks the tech to write the receipt for "about double, so she has it for her records, for the taxes".

Run it against the four places. Who handles the money: a new person taking the invoice, a change from check to cash, and a request for an inflated receipt. What the house says: a disconnection notice in a well-kept house, on a gas-heated home in March. How the customer acts: deferring to Rick on her own thermostat. What changes over time: five years of Eleanor paying for herself, this year none.

Every place on the list has a sign. Then the negative space: is Eleanor's will visible anywhere? She did not disagree with anything, add anything, or ask a single question. Is Rick a POA agent? The tech asks, neutrally, "Do you have power of attorney for Eleanor? We note it on the account if so." Rick says "Nothing formal, I just help out."

What the tech does on site. Declines the inflated receipt without accusing anyone: "I can only write it for what the job was, that's our policy." Writes the invoice in Eleanor's name to her address on file, as every year. Takes the payment under the shop's usual policy. Does not confront Rick, does not question Eleanor about him, does not look in other rooms. Says to Eleanor, as he leaves, "Same time next year, Eleanor. Call the office if the furnace gives you any trouble," which leaves her a reason to call.

What the tech writes, that afternoon, in the restricted part of the job record:

JOB NOTE (restricted) - Mar 12, 2:30 pm
Customer: Eleanor (acct since 5 yrs)
Present: customer; adult male, introduced self
 as "Rick, friend from church," said handling
 her affairs "since the fall." No POA per Rick.
Seen: gas co. FINAL NOTICE BEFORE DISCONNECTION
 on counter. Thermostat set 60 F.
Said (customer): "Rick says we have to keep it
 at 60 now."
Said (Rick): asked invoice to his email; paid
 cash; asked receipt for "about double... for
 the taxes." Declined; receipt = job total.
Prior 5 yrs: customer paid by own check.
Action: APS called 3:10 pm, ref given.

Notice what is not in it: no "Rick is exploiting her", no guess about his motives. Times, quotes, objects, changes. Anyone reading it a year later can see exactly what the tech saw.

The call. The tech's shop is in a state where reporting is permissive for the trades. The pattern spans all four places and includes a direct request for an inflated document. That is enough for a report. It is not a 911 call, because no one is in immediate danger this hour, but the disconnection notice on a gas-heated home means the tech tells APS that part first, since a gas shutoff is a heating risk for an 83-year-old. For what to say on that call and how it is received, see related: Calling Adult Protective Services: What to Say. For when the duty is a legal requirement rather than a good reason, see related: What a Tech Can and Cannot Do About a Welfare Concern.

What would change the answer. If Rick had produced a durable financial power of attorney, the invoice-to-his-email request would be normal, but the inflated receipt would still be a sign, arguably a stronger one, since an agent owes the principal a duty to act in her interest. If the "friend" had been Eleanor's daughter, paying from her own card, with Eleanor telling the tech herself to keep the house warmer and the daughter laughing about it, there is nothing here. And in Texas, where any person who has cause to believe an older adult is being exploited must report, the tech's call is not optional.

Do not

• Do not write the inflated invoice or receipt, even to keep the peace. It makes the shop part of the paper trail.
• Do not warn the companion that you are concerned, or tell them you will be calling anyone.
• Do not lecture the customer about the person. If she trusts him, a stranger's warning tends to push her closer to him, and it can make your next visit the last one he allows.
• Do not change your normal service in a way that isolates the customer further, such as agreeing to deal only with the companion from now on. Keep the customer's own contact details on the account.

References

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and FinCEN advisories on elder financial exploitation (common perpetrators and warning signs)
• Senior Safe Act of 2018, 12 U.S.C. 3423, which protects trained financial-institution employees who report suspected exploitation, the channel a family can alert
• Texas Human Resources Code Chapter 48 (any-person reporting of exploitation of older adults)
• See related: Calling Adult Protective Services: What to Say
• See related: Spotting a Customer Being Scammed by Another Contractor