Bridget Lee testifies for Weinberg Center for Elder Justice on Intro 1083
Bridget Lee testifies on behalf of the Weinberg Center for Elder Justice, which serves older adults experiencing mistreatment and financial exploitation. She supports Intro 1083 and says financial security is an elder justice issue. She urges the council to strengthen the bill by requiring advisor training in elder abuse, financial exploitation, scam intervention, and consultation with elder justice providers.
Good afternoon.
My name is Bridget Lee, and I'm here on behalf of the Weinberg Center for Elder Justice.
We are a multidisciplinary team of attorneys, social workers, medical professionals, and public health specialists who have spent more than two decades serving older adults experiencing mistreatment, including financial exploitation.
In addition to operating the nation's first elder abuse shelter, we provide comprehensive direct services and conduct extensive outreach and training, much of it focused on scam prevention, financial security, and preventing exploitation.
We thank the council and the committees for their attention to the financial well-being of older New Yorkers, and we support Intro 1083.
Financial security is not only an economic issue, but an elder justice issue.
More than one in five older New Yorkers live in poverty, and many more live on fixed incomes with no room to absorb a loss.
In NYCHA, 45% of all households are headed by someone 62 or older.
For these residents, a single scam or an exploitative family member can mean losing their housing, their medication, or their next meal.
Financial exploitation is the most common form of elder abuse in New York State, occurring at a rate of 41 per 1,000 older adults, yet only 1 in 24 cases of elder abuse is ever reported to a government agency or committee.
community-based service provider.
A New York State study of verified financial exploitation cases found that 67% of perpetrators were family members, most often adult children.
The people most likely to take an older adult's money are often the very people they trust and depend on.
Scams are a distinct but equally urgent threat.
In 2025, Americans
Ages 60 and over reported almost $8 billion in losses to the FBI, a nearly 60% increase from the year before, with an average loss of $38K per person.
While scams differ from abuse by family members or caregivers, they often rely on the same emotional manipulation.
Scammers fabricate relationships posing as a romantic partner, a grandchild in trouble, or a trusted official, and they prey on social isolation and so many older adults'experience.
They prey on the social isolation so many older adults experience.
In our work, we see that financial instability is frequently the first visible sign of abuse.
An unpaid bill, a sudden change to a bank account, or a new name on a power of attorney can signal that something is wrong.
A financial literacy advisor sitting with an older adult to review a budget or plan for end of life may be the first person to notice and the first person the older adult trusts enough to tell.
That is why we urge the council to strengthen Intro 1083 in four ways.
First, require that the advisor training program include elder abuse and financial exploitation, which include the red flags, the dynamics of exploitation by family members and caregivers, and how to respond safely when an older adult discloses harm.
Okay, can you wrap that up?
Or you can submit to the written testimony.
Yes.
Second, we would just require that advisors be trained in scam intervention strategies.
Third, we would name elder abuse service providers among the contacts advisors share to older adults.
And fourth, we would direct DIFTA to consult with elder justice providers in developing advisor qualifications in training.