SCARSSCARS SCARS - Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. A government registered crime victims' assistance & crime prevention nonprofit organization based in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. SCARS supports the victims of scams worldwide and through its partners in more than 60 countries around the world. Incorporated in 2015, its team has 30 years of continuous experience educating and supporting scam victims. Visit www.AgainstScams.org to learn more about SCARS.™ Special Report: According To New Science Financial ScamScam A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime - is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost. Victims Have Higher Risk Of Alzheimer’s
From Reuter’s Health
Older adults who are victims of financial scamsScams A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime - is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost. may be more likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease than elderly people who don’t get tricked by scammers, a small U.S. study suggests.
For the study, researchers gave scam awareness questionnaires to 935 older people who didn’t have dementia. Five questions assessed how open people were to sales pitches, how interested they were in potentially risky investments, and whether they understood that elderly people are more vulnerable to scams.
On average, participants scored 2.8 out of a possible five points, with higher scores indicating lower scam awareness.
After an average follow up of six years, 151 participants developed Alzheimer’s disease and 255 developed mild cognitive impairment.
Low scam awareness was associated with a 56 percent higher risk of Alzheimer’s and a 47 percent higher risk of mild cognitive impairment, researchers report in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
“Decreased scam awareness may be a very early sign of Alzheimer’s disease – one that is present well before cognitive symptoms are recognizable,” said lead study author Patricia Boyle of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.
“Evaluations of behaviors such as scam susceptibility may help to identify who is at greatest risk of developing cognitive impairment and who may benefit most from therapeutic intervention,” Boyle said by email.
Alzheimer’s, which gradually destroys memory and thinking skills, is the most common cause of dementia among older adults. Inside the brain, Alzheimer’s is associated with abnormal clumps known as amyloid plaques and tangled bundles of fibers, often called tau or tangles. Scientists suspect that the damage begins in the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in memory.
The only way to confirm an Alzheimer’s diagnosis is by doing a brain autopsy.
Researchers examined autopsy results for 264 people who died during the study. They found the brains of people with lower scam awareness had more damage associated with Alzheimer’s.
The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how scam awareness might directly influence the risk of developing Alzheimer’s or dementia.
One limitation of the study is that Alzheimer’s can take years to develop and the study may not have been long enough to detect all cases that might develop with more time, the study authors note. It’s also unclear whether people who had low scam awareness in questionnaires might actually become the victims of financial scams in real life.
“Memory loss is an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Jason Karlawish, co-director of the Penn Memory Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
“This study suggests that, perhaps, changes in social cognition are, too; meaning, changes in the ability to judge other people’s emotions and social cues may signal a person is at risk of cognitive decline,” Karlawish, author of an accompanying editorial, said by email.
Family members and caregivers of older adults should keep a close eye on how well they manage money, and find a way to monitor their financial transactions to try to head off scams, Karlawish advised. Ideally, older adults should give online view-only access to accounts and be cautious about who gets access to their financial records.
“Be aware that a power of attorney is a power to steal and that joint accounts are just that, joint,” Karlawish said. “The other holder can spend the money as he sees fit and spend it legally.”
SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, online April 15, 2019.
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TAGS: Research Study, Elderly Victims, Senior Citizens, Scam Victims, Victim Mental HealthMental health Mental health, defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), is "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community". According to WHO, mental health includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others". From the perspectives of positive psychology or of holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how one defines "mental health"., Alzheimer’s, Annals of Internal Medicine
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It is essential that law enforcement knows about scams & scammers, even though there is nothing (in most cases) that they can do.
Always report scams involving money lost or where you received money to:
- Local PoliceLocal Police The Local Police is your first responder in most countries. In most English-speaking countries and in Europe report to them first. In other countries look for your national cybercrime police units to report scams to. In the U.S., Canada, & Australia, you must report to the local police first. – ask them to take an “informational” police report – say you need it for your insurance
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SCARS, RSN, Romance Scams Now, SCARS|WORLDWIDE, SCARS|GLOBAL, SCARS, Society of Citizens Against Relationship ScamsSCARS SCARS - Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. A government registered crime victims' assistance & crime prevention nonprofit organization based in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. SCARS supports the victims of scams worldwide and through its partners in more than 60 countries around the world. Incorporated in 2015, its team has 30 years of continuous experience educating and supporting scam victims. Visit www.AgainstScams.org to learn more about SCARS., Society of Citizens Against Romance Scams, SCARS|ANYSCAM, Project Anyscam, Anyscam, SCARS|GOFCH, GOFCH, SCARS|CHINA, SCARS|CDN, SCARS|UK, SCARS Cybercriminal Data Network, Cobalt Alert, Scam Victims Support GroupSupport Group In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic, such as romance scams. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping strategies, to feel more empowered and for a sense of community. The help may take the form of providing and evaluating relevant information, relating personal experiences, listening to and accepting others' experiences, providing sympathetic understanding and establishing social networks. A support group may also work to inform the public or engage in advocacy. They can be supervised or not. SCARS support groups are moderated by the SCARS Team and or volunteers., are all trademarks of Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Incorporated.
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