Earlier this month, a 74-year-old woman from Hyderabad lost INR 37.9 lakh — her retirement savings — to cybercrime scammers, who told her her account was linked to a money laundering case. Just a day later, a 63-year-old man, also from Hyderabad fell victim to a stock trading scam orchestrated via WhatsApp and, lured by the promise of substantial profits, lost INR 50 lakh.

These are not isolated incidents: they are part of a growing number of sophisticated cybercrimes in India, and worryingly, they seem to be on the rise. targeting the elderly population.

Are pensioners/pensioners more vulnerable to financial fraud? And does this have anything to do with cognitive decline? A research paper published earlier this year in Journal of Political Economylooks at whether or not older people are aware of their cognitive decline and whether misperceptions about it affect their financial decision-making.

The paper, by Fabrizio Mazzonna and Franco Peracchi, used US population data and documents that older people tend to underestimate their cognitive decline and then finds that those who experienced severe cognitive decline but were unaware of it , were more likely to experience wealth losses compared to those who were aware of or did not experience a severe decline.

In India, where 3.8 million people are living with dementia (expected to reach 11.4 million by 2050) and where financial resources may be scarce or hard-earned for millions of seniors, cognitive decline and poor financial decisions are likely areas that need attention.

Senior citizens who were previously high performers may continue to operate in the same way they used to, often without realizing that their cognitive abilities are not what they used to be, says Ennapadam S. Krishnamoorthy, neuropsychiatrist and founder, Buddhi Clinic, Chennai. . “The ability to ‘set change’, as it’s called, starts to decline, meaning there’s a loss of cognitive flexibility, making it harder for them to adapt to new situations and assess risks. This, combined with an increase in impulsivity, could lead to errors or poor judgment calls in finance,” he says. While this weakening of frontal executive function is a normal part of aging, it can be accelerated in someone with a neurodegenerative disorder, he adds.

What can make these situations worse is that many senior citizens may not be aware of a gradual decline in their cognitive functioning. “Most older people consider it an integral part of aging. Often it is their caregivers/children who bring it to the doctor’s attention,” says VS Natarajan, a geriatrician based in Chennai. This can make them easy targets even in small financial transactions, where their forgetfulness can be used against them, he explains.

Studies have shown, Dr Krishnamoorthy says, that suffering and disability from dementia is lower in countries like India – possibly because many older people continue to live with families, which in turn often leads to decline cognitive exposed much later. than they would be if they lived alone. However, this situation, he notes, is now changing with an aging population and an increasing number of senior citizens living alone.

When it comes to falling victim to financial scams, social factors play a role in how and why older people are targeted.

“Scammers tend to target those elderly people who live alone, those whose children probably live in another city or country. They are threatened with all kinds of consequences to transfer their money – a kind of emotional blackmail. Fraudsters also exploit their loneliness,” says Sandeep Mittal, Additional Director General of Police, Cyber ​​Crime Wing, Tamil Nadu. The other scam, of stock trading, uses their desire to make quick and easy money to lure them in for months sometimes, until in the end, a large amount of money is lost,” he says.

While cyber and other scams are one area where senior citizens are vulnerable, many are very often targeted by their own families for financial gain, points out Anupama Datta, Head, Research and Policy Advocacy, HelpAge India, a non-profit organization which works. for disadvantaged elderly residents. “They are persuaded to withdraw their authority over a bank account, for example, or their rights over a property, even if they are not cognitively challenged. If their cognition is declining, it makes them more vulnerable to financial abuse. This is very common, especially in cases where a partner is gone and the elderly person is alone,” she says.

Not even all of these cases are reported, she says. For many, especially those who live alone, they don’t know how to report fraud, and if it’s domestic abuse, it makes it difficult.

What can be done? While digital literacy campaigns are driven by the police in several states and notably by Prime Minister Modi in Mann Ki Baat earlier this year urged the citizens to be cautious about cyber frauds, more needs to be done in terms of educating citizens on exactly what to do, what government helplines are available, for a link between helplines and the police and and strengthening the system response when such incidents are reported, says Ms Datta. Doctors say seniors may come in for checkups if they think their memory or skills are slowing down, and caregivers need to be aware of these signs and seek help early, where needed.