Elder Fraud

Elder fraud is big concern for those 50 and over. If fact this is the age group that most often purchases an identity theft protection plan. However, their risk of identity theft is the lowest among various age groups.

Those with the highest risk range from age 18-35. Young people are more careless with their finances and often have many more avenues an identity thieft can use to steal their identity.

For example, many young people are obsessed with social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Recently, the use of these websites has triggered an increase in identity theft among its users. Don't worry, I'm not saying your identity will get stolen if you use these sites, but it definitely gives you more exposure to identity thieves.

Older people and identity theft, on the other hand tends to be less prevelant due to increased financial responsibility and awareness to predators. Older people tend to spend less money, use credit cards less, shred documents on a regular basis, and purchase credit monitoring or identity theft prevention services.

Young people should learn from their predecessors that it pays to keep a close eye on your spending habits, banking accounts, credit statements, and credit score.

For more information on this topic I included a great article on age and identity theft in my "articles" link on the navigation bar to the left.

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