Elder ID Theft: Should We be Concerned?

rAccording to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there are 4 types of ID theft: Financial ID Theft , Criminal ID Theft , Identity Cloning , Business or Commercial Identity Theft

In Tallahassee, a home health aide employed at an assisted living facility stole the identity of an 89-year-old resident...and diverted the woman's mail

The case was investigated by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The suspect was charged with exploitation of the elderly, criminal use of personal identification, forgery and grand theft.

The few existing programs on elder ID theft have focused on educating people about ways to protect their identifying information.But is it realistic to assume that frail elders can and will do so?

Clergy Against Senior Exploitation (CASE) Partnership, a program operated by the Denver District Attorney’s office, works with faith-based partners to develop and present training programs on elder financial exploitation (including identity theft)
Good starting points for learning more about identity theft, including ID theft of seniors, are the websites of the Office for Victims of Crime at the U.S.Department of Justice at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/help/it.htm and the Identity Theft Resource Center at http://www.idtheftcenter.org/index.shtml.