Illinois Governor Pat Quinn Battles Financial Elder Abuse with New Law
Governor Pat Quinn signed into a law a bill designed to protect seniors from Illinois elder financial abuse. Under the new law, financial institutions must play a stronger part in identifying and reporting this type of fraud.
Per Senate Bill 3267, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and the Illinois Department on Aging must put together training standards for employees of financial institutions that directly interact with clients. Part of that training will teach them how to recognize signs of financial abuse and the steps they should take to report the exploitations.
Our Chicago elder financial abuse lawyers are here to fight for the compensation owed to our clients for their financial losses caused by elder abuse. It is important that you discuss your case with an experienced law firm that handles elder financial fraud and Chicago nursing home neglect and abuse.
During the fiscal year 2009, Illinois received over 6,200 reports of possible Illinois elder financial abuse cases. Yet financial institutions reported just 3% of these incidents. Nationally, according to a 2009 MetLife study, each year there may be up to 1 million victims of elder financial fraud in this country alone. Many victims are women in their 70’s and 80’s that may be isolated, cognitively impaired, or too trusting. Elder male seniors suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia are also at risk of becoming victims of elder financial fraud.
It is an act of elder abuse to take financial advantage of seniors by stealing money from them, investing their money in stocks and other financial instruments that are too high risk for them, or financially exploiting them in any other way.
Growing number of seniors are victims of financial abuse, Chicago Tribune, July 4, 2010
Related Web Resources:
Illinois Department on Aging
Financial Abuse, National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse
