“Our standards department requires all cases of potential fraud be documented and submitted to our internal audit department,” Peters said. “From 2022 when our program was introduced to 2024, the number of reported incidents dropped by more than 50%. We are vigilant in tracking this data and are confident the drop is a direct result of training our staff to recognize signs of financial exploitation, which is more likely to occur with older members.”

As part of the program, MLCU invites all new members ages 50 and older to complete the IOG’s Financial Vulnerability Survey, a short questionnaire created by Wayne State University Distinguished University Service Professor of Psychology and Gerontology Peter Lichtenberg, Ph.D., who was past director of the Institute of Gerontology and founding director of the Wayne State University Lifespan Alliance. The survey is also sent to all MLCU members every April (Financial Literacy Month).

MLCU shared several anecdotes demonstrating how employees were able to better recognize and prevent attempted fraud against older members as a result of their training. For example:

• One member came into the credit union’s Pontiac, Mich., branch and said someone had called her and told her that her account had been compromised, and that she needed to withdraw $20,000. She also said they told her to purchase gift cards and then give them the numbers on the cards. She purchased four gift cards from the beauty retailer Sephora for $500 each, totaling $2,000. The MLCU team immediately recognized the scam and explained the situation to the member. She did not withdraw her money and did not give the scammers the gift card information.
• Another member came into the Warren, Mich., branch asking to withdraw all of her money. She said the police called and said her daughter was in jail and that she needed to pay $3,000 to bail her out. They told her that her daughter had been in an accident and broken her nose, and the member heard someone crying in the background of the call. After a MLCU employee asked additional questions, she informed the member that police would never call to collect money. The employee suggested the member call her daughter, but her daughter did not answer, so she then suggested calling her son-in-law. It turned out the member’s daughter was with her husband and not in jail, and the member did not withdraw any of her money.

Peters pointed out that one difficult aspect of mitigating elder fraud is convincing the member that they are being victimized.

“Fear and panic often take hold, as they have been deeply influenced by the perpetrator. In some cases, long-time members who have trusted us for decades suddenly become unwilling to listen to reason,” Peters said. “The training from the IOG has helped us better frame probing questions that get a response without making the member feel foolish.”

She also said she willingly offers all of MLCU’s training and marketing materials to other financial institutions interested in starting a similar program. The Financial Vulnerability Survey is also available to the public at OlderAdultNestEgg.com.

“Part of understanding financial literacy is recognizing that there are swindlers just waiting to take your money. Through this collaboration and specialized training provided by the Institute of Gerontology, our staff is better equipped to identify and prevent exploitation and fraud, especially targeting older adults,” Peters said. “We’ve seen the statistics play out with our members, showing that older individuals are more frequently affected by financial fraud. From imposters to personal care attendants urging ailing adults to withdraw large sums of money to romantic liaisons where money is the main attraction, our team is on heightened alert and trained to use every resource we have to avoid fraud from occurring.”