Senior "$CAMS" Detection Project Focuses On Identifying Nursing Home Residents With Past Due Accounts In Effort To Stamp Out Elder Financial Abuse

From the Office of the Michigan Attorney General:

• Attorney General Mike Cox [...] announced criminal charges against six individuals accused of financially exploiting senior citizens. The charges are a result of Project $CAMS (Stop Crimes Against Michigan Seniors), an initiative to protect nursing home residents from scams, misappropriated resources and embezzlement. Operated by the Attorney General's office, along with the Office of Inspector General for the Social Security Administration, Project $CAMS uncovers potential financial exploitation by identifying nursing home residents with past due accounts. Since the project was announced in May of 2008, 43 criminal cases have been filed.

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• [N]ursing home residents are the most vulnerable and the least likely to be able to detect or report it. It is estimated that only one in 100 instances of victimization is typically reported.

• Servicing 39 counties when launched in 2008, Project $CAMS currently protects seniors in over 250 nursing homes across 75 counties. The nursing home facilities participate by identifying residents who are behind in their payments and providing the Attorney General's office with relevant documentation. Nursing home arrearages as a result of thefts have been as high as $75,000. In the majority of the cases, the perpetrator was a relative.

For the entire Michigan AG press release, see Cox Charges Six for Scamming Seniors. FinancialAbuseOfElderlyAlpha