The weakness of older people in scams can be a warning sign of dementia.

WASHINGTON – Is a friend or family member having trouble hanging up telemarketers? Or be excited about voicemail "You've won a prize"? New research suggests that older people who are not on their guard against scams might also be at risk of possibly developing Alzheimer's disease.

Elderly fraud is a huge problem, and Monday's study does not mean that victims of scammers are victims of some form of dementia.

But scientists know that long before Alzheimer's memory problems become evident, people experience more subtle changes in their thinking and judgment. Patricia Boyle, a neuropsychologist at Rush University's Alzheimer's Treatment Center, wondered if any of the early warning signs could be the type of misjudgment that can leave a person vulnerable to scams .

"When a crook approaches an elderly person, he looks for a social vulnerability – someone who is open to conversation with a stranger," Boyle said. Then the older person has to interpret the intentions and emotions of this stranger, without much going on, to decide whether or not to believe in what she is peddling, she explained.

Boyle has consulted data from the Financial Sector Regulatory Authority, which operates a "fraud risk indicator," to determine behaviors that may signal a vulnerability, such as answering the phone when you do not recognize the risk. number, listen to telemarketers, find it difficult to end unsolicited calls, being open to potentially risky investments and not realizing that older people often face financial abuse.

Boyle studied 935 seniors, mostly aged 70 to 80, with no known brain problems, and enrolled in a long-term project on memory and aging in Chicago. They took a scam awareness questionnaire and then had annual brain tests for an average of six years.

During the study, 151 elderly people were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and 255 others with mild cognitive impairment, sometimes a precursor to Alzheimer's disease. At the beginning of the study, participants who knew what Boyle called low scam awareness were more likely to have developed each of these conditions than older people who were more aware of the vulnerability of the scam.

To take a closer look, the 264 participants who died during the study underwent an autopsy of the brain. Of course, the earlier the scam at the start of the study was, the more people had a sticky plaque buildup in their brain, characteristic of Alzheimer's, Boyle said in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study can not establish a link between low awareness of the scam and an imminent decline in thought and memory, warned Dr. Jason Karlawish of the University of Pennsylvania in an accompanying editorial.

Karlawish described one of his own patients who confessed to his grandson, "I think I was victimized" by a lottery scam that persuaded him to pay taxes in advance so that he can receive his so-called gains. It was too difficult to hang up on the polite caller. Three years later, this patient shows no signs of cognitive impairment, said Karlawish, who said he was confused by the way smart crooks managed to steal this man.

Nevertheless, the results of the study "should be a call for action for health care systems, the financial services sector and their regulators," wrote Karlawish, urging further research on what he called "remarkable results".

The possible fraudulent link is not surprising, said Beth Kallmyer, vice president of the Alzheimer's Association, who also said she needed more research. In fact, she said older people may be reluctant to report fraud, lest their family members may think that they have been sucked in because of health problems.

Dementia or not, she simply advises seniors not to respond to unsolicited calls or e-mails from people they do not recognize, making it more difficult to target them.

Previous research has suggested that seniors can begin to struggle with managing their finances, even with the normal cognitive slowing of aging.

And the increase in old age fraud has reached such a level that investment firms are now expected to ask clients for a 'trusted person' contact information that they can alert if they suspect a business case. financial. Just last week, federal agents dismantled a Medicare scam that sold useless orthopedic braces to hundreds of thousands of seniors. And every tax season, the government warns people not to let themselves be made by the imposters of the IRS because this agency does not call for payment.

"As seniors begin to make mistakes in finances, health care and other types of complex decisions, we need to raise awareness and ask," Do they need help? Boyle said, "This does not necessarily mean that someone will develop a dementia, but we should become more aware.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.