Upcoming Events and Resources for Elder Justice Coordinators (November 2024)
Hi all. I hope this finds you all well. With so much happening at the Department, we wanted to highlight several elder justice activities. As you will read below, the Department just released the sixth annual Elder Justice Report to Congress detailing the Department’s elder justice activities. I want to personally express my gratitude for the work you do every day. I know it’s not easy, but there is a passion for elder justice, and it is reflected in the report.
Please don’t hesitate to call or email if you would like to discuss. The Elder Justice Initiative team is happy to help however we can. In this edition of the Update, I wanted to forecast some of our upcoming events.
Thanks so much for everything that you do!
Best,
Andy Mao
National Elder Justice Coordinator
Deputy Director, Commercial Litigation Branch
Andy.Mao@usdoj.gov
202-598-7694
Upcoming Events
November 14, 2024, 1pm EST
Register to attend EJI’s Utilizing Decision-Making Capacity Assessments in Criminal Cases. Dr. LoFaso, a geriatrician, will discuss and describe the concept of decision-making capacity and how it is assessed, followed by Page Ulrey, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in King County, WA, discussing how a victim’s diminished decision-making capacity is used in making charging decisions.
May 29-30, 2025, National Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Team Summit
EJI will be hosting the first national Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Summit. MDTs are comprised of members with varied by complimentary disciplines skills (e.g., adult protective services, law enforcement, physicians, psychologists) which typically work directly with victims and come together to investigate cases of elder abuse and provide support for older victims. The Summit will bring together MDTs members from across the country to share best practices with the explicit intent of growing MDTs.
Announcements
Annual Report to Congress on Department of Justice Activities to Combat Elder Fraud and Abuse
The Department released the sixth Annual Report to Congress, summarizing the Department’s elder justice activities. The report details the over 300 enforcement actions against more than 700 defendants charged with stealing nearly $700 million from approximately 225,000 victims. The Department also engaged in nearly 1000 public outreach events reaching over 320,000,000 Americans. The Report contains new tools and training for elder justice professionals, as well as information and tips for preventing elder fraud.
New Resource on State Temporary Hold Laws to Combat Elder Financial Abuse
There is a new resource focused on state temporary hold and delay laws for financial transactions in cases where elder abuse is suspected. These laws give financial institutions and broker-dealers and investment advisers the authority to temporarily delay transactions or hold funds when there is reasonable suspicion of financial exploitation, providing a critical safeguard to protect older adults from financial harm. This resource, developed by an advisory group to the FTC, provides a comprehensive overview of how temporary hold laws work to protect older adults from financial exploitation and key elements of these laws across various jurisdictions. State laws specific to financial institutions, including banks and credit unions, can be found here. State laws specific to broker-dealers and investment advisers can be found here.
IC3 2024 Elder Fraud Report
Released May 2, 2024, the latest Elder Fraud Report (using 2023 data) concluded that IC3 received just over 100,000 complaints from victims ages 60 and older, with losses totaling over $3 billion. The highest number of complaints (17, 696) were for Tech Support scams, and the highest dollar loss was for investment scams ($1,243,010,600). New trends include the use of couriers and financial transactions involving gold bars and other precious metals. Learn more about IC3’s Recovery Asset Team fraud kill chains in these two flyers: Domestic Financial Fraud Kill Chain Process and International Kill Chain Process.
DOJ Journal Articles on Understanding Elder Fraud Victims
September 2024, the Department released a special issue of the DOJ Journal titled Resources for Victim-Centered Prosecutions in Federal Practice. The EJI authored a paper titled Understanding Elder Fraud Victims (pp. 59-75), identifying two victim and two investigator factors that impact investigations, and advocates for adopting a trauma-informed lens when working with older fraud victims.
Agency Priority Goals and the Larger Law Enforcement Outreach Project
As part of the Department’s Agency Priority Goals (p. 35), the Elder Justice Initiative has been reaching out to 50 state Chiefs of Police associations and POST (Police Officer Standards and Training) boards to ask for their assistance in sharing the Department’s elder justice law enforcement resources (see the Law Enforcement webpage on the Elder Justice Website). Goals were met for FY 2024.
National Elder Justice Law Enforcement Summit
On February 7 – 8, 2024, EJI in cooperation with the COPS Office and the Office for Victims of Crime, hosted the first National Elder Justice Law Enforcement Summit in Washington, D.C. The law enforcement community has made tremendous strides in detecting and responding to elder abuse over the past decade and the Summit was designed to accelerate the momentum. Just over 250 attendees were in person, including law enforcement from each of the 50 states, and hundreds of online attendees convened to share best practices and available resources and training to identify and address elder abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, and fraud. Materials and recordings from the Summit are available on the Elder Justice Summit webpage.
Money Mule Initiative Update
DOJ and our partners completed the sixth Money Mule Initiative this May 10, 2024, announcing that law enforcement took action to stop over 3,000 money mules responsible for facilitating a range of fraud schemes. For example, participating agencies served approximately 2,970 letters warning individuals that their actions were facilitating fraud schemes, and more than 20 individuals were criminally charged for knowingly receiving and forwarding victim funds or otherwise laundering fraud proceeds. Learn more about the Consumer Protection Branch’s Money Mule Initiative.
Outreach Materials
Below are public outreach materials for various types of fraud and elder abuse to share with the public in your jurisdiction.
Rethinking Fraud in America
A newly released flyer produced by AARP, Rethinking Fraud in America, asserts that the way we talk about financial fraud is unintentionally damaging to people and impacts reporting. The flyer provides alternative language for communicating about fraud that avoids victim blaming.
Adaptable Ready-Made PowerPoint Presentations
Download adaptable, ready-made PowerPoint presentations for community outreach events. There is one on elder fraud, one on elder abuse and elder fraud, and one on the Department’s law enforcement tools and activities. If there is additional specific information you would like to include in your PowerPoint, reach out and we will assist you in finding that information.
Money Mules/Money Movers
Three resources include:
- What is a money mule? (CFPB Blog, November 29, 2021)
- Don’t be a money mule: A fraud prevention placemat and resource (CFPB order or download)
- Money Mules Fuel Fraud (CPB, USDOJ flyer)
EJI Elder Justice Flyers
EJI recently released 5 new public outreach flyers, covering different topics (see graphic). Each is available in 7 languages: Chinese, English, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
STEAP Initiative: Supports and Tools for Elder Abuse Prevention
The STEAP Initiative is a FREE and ready-to-use set of materials to engage and educate your community about the role everyone can play in preventing elder abuse.
DOJ National Elder Fraud Hotline
The National Elder Fraud Hotline is a free resource created by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office for Victims of Crime for people to report fraud against anyone age 60 or older. Flyer and Listen/View Webinar and View PowerPoint (PDF, 228 KB)
10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday, except some holidays
Previous Webinars
DOJ and EJI
Tools & Resources
EOUSA’s Legal Programs Elder Justice Fraud home page
Online Elder Abuse Law Enforcement Training Series
A series of 24 online training modules for law enforcement officers is available at elderabuseforlawenforcement.com. Registration is required to access the no-cost training. Developed by the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life with funding from the Office on Violence Against Women.
Prosecutor Video Training Series
This video series covers the many of the critical elements of investigating and prosecuting cases of elder abuse or neglect. While the information pertains to state cases, there is valuable information of use to federal prosecutor: Investigation and Charging; Who in the Community is Involved and How They Can Help; What Info Should I Have to Properly Handle These Cases?; How to Work with and Find Experts; Working with Older Victim; and Other.
Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Team Technical Assistance Center (MDT TAC)
Our mission is to provide the tools, resources, and individualized consultations needed to facilitate the expansion of the elder abuse case review multidisciplinary team model across the nation. Visit our page on the Elder Justice Website. For more information contact: Talitha J. Guinn-Shaver, MDT Technical Advisor, Elder Justice Initiative, U.S. Department of Justice, at Talitha.J.Guinn-Shaver@usdoj.gov
Elder Abuse Guide for Law Enforcement (EAGLE)
The Elder Justice Initiative has worked with organizations like the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and the National Center on Elder Abuse, to develop training and investigative resources to support the efforts of state and local prosecutors and law enforcement to prevent and combat elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. The EAGLE is a national web module designed to support officers in identifying, intervening, and resolving cases of elder abuse. The EAGLE contains checklists, state statutes, zip-code-based community resources locator, tips, educational materials, and much more. Click here to access EAGLE.
Suggestion Box
To provide feedback, suggestions, and updates on notable cases please
contact us.
The Elder Justice Initiative always welcomes attorneys, support staff, or others who would like to get involved or help. To the extent you’re interested, please do not hesitate to contact Andy Mao, at andy.mao@usdoj.gov
For internal law enforcement use only. This information may not be shared with anyone outside of the federal government.