Financial Advisor: Why is there an increased emphasis by state regulators on senior financial fraud?
Shaw: This is a growing problem because social isolation has increased. The types of communities we grew up in aren’t there. All our families used lived in close proximity. Now it is more common [that] children move away. In Fort Fairfield, a little town in northern Maine I grew up, 25 percent of residents are 65 and over and live alone. Sometimes the only contact they have is with neighbors and total strangers who are potential victimizers. E-mail and the Web are also allowing fraudsters to reach seniors more often than they could in the past.
Financial Advisor: What keeps you and your members up at night?
Shaw: Thing most troubling about our jobs is we are often called after the money has left and it is often difficult or impossible to get the money back.