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In a Nov. 4 Being Patient article, physician Catherine Madison describes how memory loss may increase vulnerability to financial scams and shares examples from her work and personal experience. She recommends discussing financial safeguards early, monitoring accounts with consent and limiting calls from unknown numbers; the article does not report new research or a newly announced policy.
Physician Catherine Madison used a Nov. 4 article for Being Patient to describe how financial scams can affect older adults, including people living with memory loss or dementia, and to suggest safeguards families can discuss. The piece is a physician’s perspective and account of reported cases, not a new study or government finding.
Madison, medical director of Seniors At Home and Rhoda Goldman Plaza and founding director of the CPMC Ray Dolby Brain Health Center, writes that memory loss and mild cognitive impairment have been associated with greater vulnerability to scams and financial exploitation. She also points to anosognosia—being unaware of one’s own impairments—as a possible factor that may make it harder for someone to recognize risk. The article does not present original data measuring these effects.
Her examples include a man she calls Joe, who, she writes, lost several hundred thousand dollars over a year to a person he met online. The person built trust over time before asking for increasingly large sums, and the situation came to light when Joe’s daughter visited. Madison also recounts a friend’s report that $70,000 disappeared from an account; she says the bank had not identified how it happened after more than a week of investigation. These are personal accounts, not independently documented case findings.
Madison describes common approaches cited in the article, including impersonation of government officials or relatives, romance and tech-support schemes, and fraudulent investment offers. She says artificial-intelligence tools can be used to make convincing audio or visual impersonations. Her suggested steps include raising financial planning and scam prevention early, agreeing to review accounts and credit reports, using phones that block unknown callers, holding family discussions about financial roles, and considering a limited power of attorney for financial matters.
How Scams Can Threaten Retirement Savings
The article draws attention to the potential consequences when financial exploitation overlaps with cognitive impairment. A person who loses savings late in life may have less time and fewer opportunities to recover than someone with decades of earnings ahead. Madison’s account of Joe illustrates that concern, though it does not establish how common such losses are among people with dementia.
The practical issue for families is how to discuss protection without removing a person’s independence unnecessarily. Madison advises approaching financial safety as a shared planning topic, rather than confronting someone about mistakes. Early conversations and agreed safeguards may make it easier to monitor suspicious activity and decide who should be contacted when an unusual request arrives. Any legal or financial arrangement should be considered with appropriate professional guidance and the person’s wishes in view.
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The Article’s Reported Scam Patterns
Madison cites a Wall Street Journal report by Lori Ioannou that she says documented $2.4 billion in losses in 2024 from scams targeting seniors. That figure is attributed through Madison’s article to the Journal; the Being Patient piece does not supply the underlying data or explain its calculation. It should not be read as a specific estimate for people with dementia.
The article also says seniors lose $3 billion annually to fraud, but does not identify the source, measurement period, or whether that estimate covers the same categories as the 2024 figure. The two amounts have different descriptions, and the article does not reconcile them. Madison’s point is that scammers may exploit trust, social isolation and access to accumulated wealth; the scale and specific risk for people with memory loss remain unquantified in this piece.
Being Patient identifies this as Part 1 of a series on protecting against scams affecting older adults. The publication says a following installment is planned to tell a personal story about stopping robocalls targeting a mother with Alzheimer’s.
“Memory loss and mild cognitive impairment have been associated with a higher susceptibility to scams and financial exploitation vulnerability.”
— Catherine Madison, physician and Being Patient contributor
What the Article Does Not Establish
The article does not provide new research, a systematic count of scam cases involving dementia, or an estimate of how much more likely people with cognitive impairment are to be targeted or lose money. Its examples are Madison’s accounts, and the details have not been independently verified in the article.
The cited loss totals also lack enough sourcing in the piece to compare them directly. It remains unclear how the $2.4 billion figure attributed to the Wall Street Journal relates to the separate $3 billion annual estimate. Madison says a bank had not identified the source of a $70,000 account loss after more than a week of investigation, but the article gives no later update or outcome.
The Next Story in the Series
Being Patient says Part 2 is planned for the following Wednesday and will feature Mark Niu’s personal account, titled “How I Stopped the Robocalls Targeting My Mother With Alzheimer’s.” The publication’s notice does not provide further details about the story or confirm whether its schedule has changed.
For families, Madison’s article points to early conversations and agreed account safeguards as steps to discuss before a crisis. It does not prescribe one arrangement for every household; decisions about monitoring, legal authority and access to finances depend on individual circumstances.
Key Questions
What is the news in this article?
Being Patient published physician Catherine Madison’s account of scams affecting older adults and the additional concerns she sees for people with memory loss. It is a perspective piece, not a new research announcement.
Does the article prove that dementia causes people to be scammed?
No. Madison says memory loss and mild cognitive impairment have been associated with greater scam vulnerability, but the article provides no original study or quantified risk. It does not establish that dementia causes fraud or that every person with cognitive impairment is vulnerable.
What safeguards does Madison suggest?
She suggests discussing financial safety early, reviewing accounts and credit reports by agreement, limiting calls from unknown numbers, and holding family meetings about responsibilities. She also suggests considering a limited power of attorney for financial matters.
What scam-loss figures does the article cite?
Madison refers to a Wall Street Journal report describing $2.4 billion in losses in 2024 from scams targeting seniors. The article also states seniors lose $3 billion annually to fraud, but does not give a source or methodology for that estimate or explain how the figures relate.
What comes next in the series?
Being Patient says the next installment is planned for the following Wednesday and will tell Mark Niu’s account of stopping robocalls targeting his mother, who has Alzheimer’s. The article does not give additional scheduling details.
Source: beingpatient.com
