To help protect Oregon’s seniors and their finances, the Oregon Bankers Association has teamed up with the Oregon Department of Human Services to give banks throughout the state updated tools to prevent financial abuse.

A toolkit, “Preventing Elder Financial Exploitation: How Banks Can Help,” is being released to banks this week. It includes a training manual and DVD with example scenarios to help bankers learn the signs of financial abuse, such as false signatures on checks, large repeated withdrawals from ATMs and recent changes in a will or trust. In addition, the Oregon Bankers Association will hold education sessions throughout the state, including in Bend.

Financial exploitation and abuse is the No. 1 form of adult abuse in Oregon and makes up more than 40 percent of the Department of Human Services’ substantiated community abuse claims, those involving seniors living in their own homes, Marie Cervantes, director of the Department of Human Services’ Office of Adult Abuse Prevention and Investigations, said in a news release.

The office investigated 2,469 allegations of financial abuse in 2011, the latest year available, according to its annual report. It substantiated 672.

Of those claims, family members comprise 55 percent of the perpetrators. Friends and acquaintances make up 19 percent, according to the news release.

“Bankers are key gatekeepers, the first line of defense and have a great impact on the ability to curb this problem,” Cervantes said in the news release.

James Weber, district manager for Wells Fargo in Central Oregon, said Wells Fargo employees get certified every year on how to spot, handle and report financial elder abuse, but he plans to go through the toolkit to see if there are any new ideas for prevention.

“More is always better when it comes to protecting our customers.” Weber said. “You think of our elders and they sometimes can be the most vulnerable.”

Updated toolkits and training sessions result in an increase of reports from bankers for suspected elder financial abuse, according to statistics from the Department of Human Services.

For more information

To view the “Preventing Elder Financial Exploitation: How Banks Can Help” toolkit, visit www.oregonbankers.com/community/elder-exploitation-prevention/

Elder abuse

Oregon adult protective services abuse cases by category, in 2011:

Financial exploitation672Neglect253Verbal abuse418Physical abuse243Abandonment28Other26Sexual abuse17

Source: 2011 “Adult Protective Services Community and Facility Annual Report,” Oregon Department of Human Services