“Fellow nurses marry these isolated, vulnerable veterans for their war pay and benefits,” said Hodges. “While the elderly veteran is living in the nursing home, their newlywed younger R.N. wives are eating off their pensions, living in their homes and driving their cars.”
Retired military veterans are also vulnerable to being sold unsuitable or fraudulent investment products. One in three victims of financial fraud in America are military veterans, according to an AARP study.
For example, in Alabama, an 86-year-old retired U.S. Air Force pilot and a 91-year-old retired World War II U.S. Navy veteran lost several hundred thousand dollars in a bogus investment opportunity offered by a former North Alabama attorney. “An Alabama Securities Commission investigation revealed that both veterans were offered promissory notes in exchange for their money, which was to be invested in real estate and medical technology ventures with returns to be paid at a specified time,” said Borg. “The veterans were also promised returns from 8 to 12 percent on their investments.”
The defendant pled guilty to three counts of securities fraud, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and ordered to pay more than $4 million in restitution to multiple victims.
On the east and west coasts, scams targeting the elderly include promises of foreign currency returns and high-yield accounts that are allegedly connected to overseas banks such as Swiss, French or English “prime” accounts.
“These prime accounts don't exist, but victims don’t know that,” said Borg. “A prime high-yield bank account is a common term. With complicated and phony venture-type documents, it all sounds good, but one thing that folks in New York and other major urban centers know is that real estate is expensive and promising an elder that they will be in the same ball park as a multi-millionaire is a scam.”