Elder Justice Summit Emphasizes Education, Prevention for Senior Citizens Facing Scams and Fraud
The summit serves as part of a broader push from the attorney general to bring a spotlight to the issues senior citizens face in Montana. His office has hosted similar events statewide aimed at scam and fraud prevention.
By Mariah Thomas
Montana is a graying state, Attorney General Austin Knudsen told a crowd of around 70 in Kalispell at an “Elder Justice Summit,” hosted Wednesday morning at Logan Health.
Along with a rising elderly population come challenges unique to aging citizens, whose risk of being victims of abuse, financial exploitation, neglect and manipulation are high. Often, that can come in the form of scams. Nationally, people aged 60 and over are the most-commonly defrauded age group, and some forms of scams are on the rise.
The summit, organized by the Montana Department of Justice, consisted of presentations from several experts — like state auditor James Brown, AARP community engagement director Marcus Meyer and members of the state’s Elder Justice Unit — who spoke about how senior citizens can become better aware of warning signs and how to spot scams. Warning signs include pressure to act quickly and asking for payment in an unusual way, like via gift cards, among other signs.
“A ton of what we try to do is get out and educate folks, and it is prevention, right?” Knudsen said. “We’re talking about prevention, making sure folks know, ‘here’s some red flags, here’s what to look for.’”
The AG’s office has hosted similar events around the state. The events have served as part of a broader effort to draw attention to the legal issues elderly Montanans face. Since Knudsen took office, the Montana Department of Justice has started and expanded the state’s Elder Justice Unit, housed in the Division of Criminal Investigation. For the first time in 2023, that department secured funding from the state legislature to bring on a dedicated prosecutor, who specifically investigates crimes impacting the state’s aging population.
That includes the cases of Montanans like Anaconda resident and retired nurse Susan Bivins. Bivins in 2022 lost her life’s savings to a sophisticated scam. Since then, she has become an advocate for understanding the warning signs of scams and to speak up about them. She has given several presentations across the state about her experience.
“The main thing is for people to speak up, to question, to not be ashamed or don’t be embarrassed, because they’re so sophisticated that they’re able to just grab you anytime,” Bivins said in an interview with the Beacon. “But mostly just to know that there are signs that you should be aware of.”
Mark Fanning, who served as the Elder Justice Unit’s first prosecutor, agreed. As Bivins shared her story with the crowd, Fanning emphasized that scams largely go underreported, meaning the impacts are likely farther reaching than they appear.
In the immediate aftermath of her experience, Bivins was unaware of what resources existed to help those in her shoes. It wasn’t until she spoke at a 2023 event in Helena for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day that she connected with the attorney general’s and state auditor’s offices. But when she did, she said she found support from both. Through Montana’s restitution assistance fund, which they helped her connect with, she recouped $50,000 of the $240,000 she lost. And then-state auditor Troy Downing’s office was able to trace where she sent her money to through the scam — though ultimately, Bivins said there wasn’t enough evidence to press charges or get it back.
After losing her savings to the scam, Bivins sold her Victorian home in Anaconda and bought a smaller home instead.
“My granddaughter loved my old house,” Bivins said. “It was a big house, and I had lots of dinner parties, and we did Christmas and Thanksgiving, and I had a nice fireplace with a mantel, and we had decorated it all … She remembers all of that, and to try to do dinners or decorate or Christmas or anything at my little house is really a different type of thing.”
She said she still faces PTSD from her experience. But she has also found purpose in helping to inform others and in spending time with her granddaughter, who is turning 11 in August. Bivins said she hopes more attention and funding goes to efforts to help investigate and prosecute crimes against senior citizens in Montana in the future.
“I think that’s where they don’t think of these financial scams as being important enough,” Bivins said. “I mean, they’re investigating homicides, and you know, rapes and all of that big stuff. But they need to realize that what this does to us, I mean emotionally, it’s just devastating to have this happen to you, and they need to have the funding and be able to really go and investigate these types of crimes.”