How can I find out if someone has taken advantage of other elderly in financial areas?

Did either suffer from Dementia or Alzheimers that was documented. If so, POAs cannot be changed if the person is not competent to assign someone. You can attest the Wills and nothing can be distributed until you get to the bottom of this. Ask for an accounting while they were POAs.

I would talk to a private investigator. They can get information that is not readily available for the average person.

Good luck getting this sorted out and hopefully getting these people prosecuted for exploiting vulnerable seniors.

My nephew is going through this right now. His father lives very remote in Montana and is battling Alzheimers. His father has met a woman who constantly gets inbetween my nephew and dad. When my nephew tries to call his dad on his cell phone, is goes directly to voicemail. He contacts this woman and she tells my nephew that his father no longer wants anything to do with him. My nephew was given a copy of his dad's will in the attorney's office, with his dad sitting there. Now he suspects or got wind that she took his dad to a different attorney and had another will made up leaving his property and belongings to some organization her kids are involved in. How does one find out if another will has actually been written or if the one he has in his possesion has been revoked? He is in the military, so it is not easy for him to just drop in and check on his dad or deal with any of this as he lives in Virginia. The orginal attorney is now a judge, but I did instruct him to at least call the office where that will was written and see what his legal rights are. He is deeply concerned about his father, his health and what is happening to him. He has no siblings to help him deal with this.

I’m so sorry to hear that you’re going through this. Something similar to this happened to me also where my brother took my mom with dementia to a lawyer & had an unlimited DPOA set up & had her trust amended to his benefit only. He has also not let me see or speak to my mom for over 2 years.

I’ve tried everything to get help .........from APS & other state agencies. No one would do anything! They all told me to hire a lawyer which I can’t afford.

This is so prevalent in our country today from what I’m reading from different organizations. I’ve been told that our whole system is corrupt even as far as lawyers, judges & court systems.

From what I’m told it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight them. Laws need to change to better protect our elderly from these predators!

I wish you luck in your pursuit for justice.

I’m so sorry this has happened to you. My stepsister changed my stepmom’s will .She blew through most of the money , but not all of the funds .We spent a fortune talking her to court , we ended up getting about 20 ,000.00 plus all the cash we had paired out , and it took about 18 months .We paid out more than we received, just glad we recouped our money .Crime does pay , for some .My sister blew 30,000.00 on online gambling .

You will need to work through an elder law attorney who is experience in financial abuse. This is not the domain of the police. You may need to hire a private investigator to gather more evidence but you should see what the attorney says first. My cousin's family was the victim of similar predators. Yes, they know exactly what they're doing and how to get away with it and your dad and grampa were probably not their first victims. I wish you success!

1.  How did you learn about the bad reputation?   Word of mouth, or law enforcement or a similarly reliable source?

2.   You need to find someone to do investigations, including legal background, on these people.   This might be available through an attorney who handles elder fraud, so you could try that method.   Have you contacted or retained an attorney yet?  If so, what does she/he advise?

3.    Have you contacted law enforcement?   If so, what was their position?    If you think they've done this elsewhere, federal law enforcement should be involved, but the local prosecuting attorney and/or police can handle this aspect better as they'll know who to contact and what information would be needed.

4.    What about elder law agencies within the applicable states?   I would probably start there, as they may have more resources available than you could find by yourself.

Be prepared to provide names of the potential fraudsters, history, and any other data you can find to make it easier for anyone who does background research.

5.  You write that almost the entirety of the estates were left to these people.   Were they actually by any chance acting as caregivers?    How did you learn about them and what background information you know?  Was this when the wills were probated?  

6.   How were they introduced to your family, and by whom?  Or what method of contact did they initiate?