Baby trick: Anyone who falls for this should consult a neurologist

2024-09-09 08:20:26

US researchers have examined which adults are especially vulnerable to fraud. They then took high-resolution images of the brains of these “financially vulnerable” adults – with surprising results.

As if it wasn’t devastating enough to have bought into a phone scam and emptied your accounts: Now researchers are also saying that the elderly who fall for such financial fraud are likely to suffer an early form of neurodegenerative disease .

Weil effortsThe concept of defrauding the elderly of their money is so widespread, an entire branch of research is now devoted to it. Psychologists have developed standardized tests to measure people’s susceptibility to making poor financial decisions. Experts talk about the “Perceived Financial Fraud Risk Index”, a measure for vulnerability to financial fraud.

Attacking mental images

Now, for the first time, brain researchers at the University of Southern California have combined this testing tool with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), their standard tool when high-resolution images of brain architecture are needed.

A group of Duke Han, a professor of psychology and family medicine, took 97 research participants between the ages of 52 and 83. Scientists found that the elderly are susceptible to financial fraud in the test are also more likely to have noticeable changes in their brain.

The scientists focused on a region of the brain that acts as a switch between the hippocampus – the controller of memories – and the so-called central prefrontal cortex. Cognitive functions are controlled here, but emotions are also regulated. It is one of the areas of the cerebral cortex that begins to change early in Alzheimer’s and becomes thinner as the disease progresses.

What researchers have found in “financially weak” patients are clear warning signs that Alzheimer’s may develop soon: the area of ​​nerve cells is narrower than in the test subjects, which are not easily affected. through bright ideas appear in financial understanding. .

None of the study participants showed previously recognized clinical signs of cognitive impairment at the time they achieved incorrect results in the psychological test. Researchers now suspect that financial stress may be an early, early warning sign of impending dementia.

“If financial impairment is tested in older adults, the early stages of dementia can be identified,” Han said in a university press release. However, financial impairment alone is not a significant indicator of Alzheimer’s or other cognitive impairment, “but this assessment can become part of a broader risk profile.”

In any case, it would be good if more people knew that such psychological tests exist. This means: It will be possible to find out which seniors need to be especially protected from fraudsters, for example by telling them about their scams at an early stage – or by asking banks for special security precautions they.

In Germany, around one in five frauds is now harmful to older people, which is called “grandchild fraud” with a surprise call from the accused grandchild. There are also fraudulent SMS messages or fake merchants. Police have registered 3,700 cases of fraud against senior citizens, and the trend is rising.

On advice pages on the Internet warn Police refrained from releasing details about the family and financial circumstances. And he recommends, for example, to be generally suspicious if callers don’t answer the phone with their name. And the “baby trick” is described as an even trickier type of trick.