WASHINGTON—The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has a Financial Trend Analysis that focuses on patterns and trends identified in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data linked to Elder Financial Exploitation (EFE), or, more specifically, illegal or improper use of an older adult’s funds, property, or assets.
FinCEN said it examined BSA reports filed between June 15, 2022 and June 15, 2023 that either used the key term referenced in FinCEN’s June 2022 EFE Advisory or checked “Elder Financial Exploitation” as a suspicious activity type.
According to FinCEN, this amounted to 155,415 filings over this period indicating roughly $27 billion in EFE-related suspicious activity.
Defining the Term
FinCEN reported financial institutions began filing BSA reports featuring the advisory’s key term on the same day that FinCEN published its 2022 advisory. FinCEN said it has continued to receive EFE BSA reports, averaging 15,993 per month between June 15, 2023 and January 15, 2024. Banks have submitted the vast majority of EFE-related BSA filings.
EFE typically consists of two subcategories: elder scams and elder theft, FinCEN said.
“Elder scams, identified in approximately 80% of the EFE BSA reports that FinCEN analyzed, involve the transfer of money to a stranger or imposter for a promised benefit that the older adult does not receive,” FinCEN stated. “In elder theft, identified in approximately 20% of the reports, an otherwise trusted person steals an older adult’s assets, funds, or income. Among other conclusions, FinCEN’s analysis revealed that most elder scam-related BSA filings referenced “account takeover” by a perpetrator unknown to the victim; that adult children were the most frequent elder theft-related perpetrators; and that illicit actors mostly relied on unsophisticated means to steal funds that minimize direct contact with financial institution employees.”
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