CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Adult Protective Services (APS) was at the City of Corpus Christi's Lindale Senior Center on Wednesday morning to educate the elderly about a crime that targets people like them.
It's a crime that many people aren't familiar with, financial exploitation.
October is financial exploitation awareness month so that's why APS is taking time to warn potential victims.
Financial exploitation happens when an elderly or disabled person has their money stolen by a family member or someone they know.
"When we investigate financial exploitation we're looking at an individual has maybe been added to the account to help the elderly or disabled individual manage their money, pay their bills and instead of doing that, they take additional funds out," Jennifer Catalani, program administrator for APS, said. "Some start taking out loans in their names using their personal identifying information. That kind of thing (is) taking advantage of power of attorney."
But financial exploitation isn't just about losing money.
"A lot of times victims of exploitation end up in a state of neglect because their money is being spent on someone else their bills aren't getting paid," Catalani said.
APS said in many cases, the theft isn't discovered until the victim starts getting foreclosure or eviction notices or their electricity is turned off.
It is also a crime that often goes unreported.
Jennifer Catalani said out of every case of financial exploitation that is reported, 44 go unreported.
That's because oftentimes the victim does not want to get the person who stole from them in trouble.
If there might be evidence that someone is a victim of financial exploitation, abuse or neglect, call the APS hotline at 1-800-252-5400. All reports are confidential.
