Study urges more accurate estimates of financial fraud

A Stanford study describes the roadblocks to obtaining accurate financial fraud estimates - victims are often reluctant to speak up - and suggests ways to improve the national tracking of such incidents. If you're visiting your elderly mom or dad and see an excessive amount of junk mail or hear a lot of telemarketing calls, take note: Your elderly parent might be a prime target for fraud. But whether they would ever report being a victim is another question - and one that Stanford Center on Longevity researchers examined in their new study , which explores why measuring the incidence of fraud is so difficult. "Without accurate and reliable estimates of fraud," wrote Martha Deevy , director of the Financial Security Division at the Stanford Center on Longevity, "it is difficult to understand what works or does not work to protect victims from harm." - Fraud is 'vastly underestimated' . Financial fraud costs range in the billions, yet the true extent of the overall problem is unknown, making it hard for law enforcement, policymakers and researchers to effectively address the issue. Many victims are the elderly - one source pegged the financial exploitation of older adults at $2.9 billion in 2011. The problem is, Deevy said, that official measures from police reports or consumer protection files "vastly underestimate" the scope and costs of financial fraud.