CFPB Spanish Guide for Preventing Elder Abuse

The Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) recently released a new Spanish version of its Guide for Preventing Elder Abuse. The English and Spanish versions of the Guide are both aimed at helping friends and family of people living in nursing homes and assisted living communities prevent and report elder financial abuse and walk through the four steps for fighting elder financial abuse:

Prevent – educate yourself, your loved ones, and your community

Recognize – spot the warning signs and take action

Record – document what you observe

Report – tell the appropriate authorities so they can investigate and help

The Guides also list red flags to watch for and shares some common scenarios, such as:

• Your loved one receives news about a lottery win or prize that requires them to pay fees or taxes before they get the money

• A caller asks your loved one for their bank account information or asks them to make a payment using a gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency

• A caller makes a financial decision seem urgent by pressuring your loved one to either (a) act now or risk losing an opportunity or (b) act now before something bad happens

• A caller claims to be from a government agency, bank, or other organization and asks for information that they should already have, such as a Social Security number or account number

• Your loved one receives a lot of mail or email about sweepstakes, contests, health supplements or products, or other scams, suggesting that he or she is being targeted by scammers

Additional tips for helping to prevent elder financial abuse include using technology to stay connected and informed; working with the assisted living community or nursing home, and building awareness to help others. However, the easiest and best way is to simply speak with your loved one regularly.

CFPB offers a variety of free resources to help prevent scams at consumerfinance.gov/olderamericans. Also, the guide provides a resource on how to report elder financial abuse, if it ever occurs. Order the new Spanish version or the English version of the guide for free.