Coalition aims to protect Wisconsin seniors from abuse, financial exploitation

WISCONSIN — Hundreds of thousands of dollars are headed to Wisconsin to help curtail issues tied to elder abuse, as the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay works with the Wisconsin Department of Justice and other agencies to strengthen the Elder Justice Coalition in Wisconsin.

“[We’re] working to protect older adults from financial exploitation and from abuse and neglect,” said Laura Nolan, the executive manager for business and government outreach at UW-Green Bay. “There’s a variety of programs that we are utilizing our resources for to really help strengthen what we have here in Wisconsin, bringing together the people who care about helping older adults — law enforcement, banking entities, our state resources — and really trying to tackle a problem that has a huge impact on our older adults.”

According to UW-Green Bay, data from the U.S. Census Bureau revealed nearly 26% of Wisconsin’s population will be 60 and older by 2030, and scammers aim to pounce.

“The scammers are really good,” Nolan said. “We shouldn’t feel embarrassed if we fell for a scam. The most important thing to do is to actually get that help right away: Report it to the police, talk to your financial institution [and] the FBI has a hotline where you can report it and get extra help — so there are a lot of resources and help out there.

Watch the full interview above.