Elder Exploitation

Elder Exploitation

From Easy Prey by Chris Parker

May 6, 2026 · 40 min · Episode 322

About this episode

Charles Wallace shares his personal experience with elder financial abuse and offers practical advice for families hiring caregivers.

Aging parents often rely on the people closest to them for help, but what happens when that help becomes a way to take control? For Charles Wallace, the warning signs started small. His mother's fridge was suddenly overfilled. A caregiver refused to provide receipts. Spending patterns began to shift in ways that did not make sense. At the time, each concern could be explained away. Looking back, they were part of something much larger. Charles spent 15 years in banking and finance, and after his mother's death, he used that experience to reconstruct more than 3,000 transactions. What he found was a devastating pattern of elder financial abuse involving a professional caregiver, nearly a million dollars in losses, missing belongings, questionable legal changes, and systems that failed to respond when the red flags were already there. This conversation is both personal and practical. Charles shares the story behind his book, The Caregiver's Game, while also explaining what families can do differently when hiring caregivers, monitoring finances, protecting valuables, and watching for subtle signs of manipulation. It is a difficult story, but an important one for anyone with aging…

People in this episode

Host: Chris Parker

Guest: Charles Wallace

Topics covered

  • elder financial abuse
  • caregiver manipulation
  • aging parents
  • financial monitoring
  • vulnerable relatives

Keywords

  • elder exploitation
  • financial abuse
  • caregiver
  • aging parents
  • manipulation
  • financial monitoring
  • trust

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Caregiver's Game

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