U-M: Health plays a role in older adults’ vulnerability to scams, poll suggests

Three out of every four older adults say they have experienced a fraud attempt by phone, text, email, mail or online in the last two years, a new poll shows. Three in ten say they’ve been victims of at least one scam.

The poll reveals an especially strong link between an older adult’s health and their vulnerability to scams – both being able to spot one and becoming the victim of one.

Across the board, people aged 50 to 80 who reported being in fair or poor physical or mental health, those with disabilities, and those who rate their memory as fair or poor were more likely than others their age to say they’d experienced fraud.

Whether or not they’d actually experienced fraud, older adults with health issues were more likely to lack confidence in their ability to spot a scam.

The results from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging also suggest vulnerability among older adults who live alone or have lower incomes.

“Our findings of a strong connection between scam vulnerability and health adds important new data to ongoing efforts to reduce the devastating toll of scams on older adults’ finances and well-being,” said poll director Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H., M.S. “We also found that no matter what their health status, older adults feel strongly that government and businesses should do more to educate and protect against scams.”

The poll is based at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and supported by AARP and Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan’s academic medical center.

The poll team asked a national sample of adults age 50 to 80, and an additional group of adults in this age range in Michigan, about scam-related experiences in the last two years and about attitudes toward scam awareness and prevention. The Michigan-specific polling was supported by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund as a prelude to a Michigan Poll on Healthy Aging launching in spring 2024.

 

 

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