Alex Padalka
Jul 22, 2022
The industry’s self-regulator has teamed up with the senior citizens advocacy group to change perceptions of financial fraud involving older Americans.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says it has joined forces with AARP in a bid to address victim-blaming in cases of financial abuse. “As a society, we tend to use words that blame fraud victims for the crime they experienced,” Kathy Stokes, AARP director of fraud prevention programs, said in a statement. “Scam victims also blame themselves, and this combination serves to diminish the perception that these are crimes and that victims deserve justice.”
Finra and AARP say that words such as “swindled,” “bilked,” “duped” and “fell for it” put the focus — perhaps unintentionally — on the fraud victims. They have different connotation than saying that “a perpetrator stole a person’s life savings,” according to joint statement from the two groups.
Meanwhile, decreasing victim-shaming can lead to more victims having the confidence to report fraud and having faith in the system, Gerri Walsh, president of the Finra Investor Education Foundation, said in the statement.
Finra and AARP have also issued a joint report delving into other drivers of victim-blaming, among which is “a lack of standards and accepted lexicon for discussing financial fraud, including in state and federal legal codes,” according to the announcement.
The groups note that reducing victim-shaming can also lead to law enforcement personnel to “understand that fraud is a crime, rather than just a civil matter and take reports — even investigate.”
The report also highlights the lack of resources for fraud prevention and poor coordination between state and federal agencies and financial institutions.
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