Fraud Against Older Consumers: Conversations with Decision-Makers and Caregivers

FTC Communication Support Vendor - Applied Research & Consulting
Senior Fraud Education In-depth Interview (Telephone or In-Person) Script
March 2013
(Total time of interview call: 55 minutes)
I. Introduction: (5 minutes)
Moderator outlines interview process and gives assurance of confidentiality and
anonymity:
“Hello, my name is ___________ and I’m with Applied Research and Consulting, an
independent research firm in New York. My firm is conducting a national study on
education initiatives for senior populations. Because of your relevant experience and
expertise, we would like to hear your thoughts on this subject. Before we begin, I
want to assure you that all of your responses will be kept entirely confidential and
that we greatly appreciate your time.”
Ask respondent to describe the nature of their work with senior/elder
populations and the kind of a facility or institution where they work (e.g., Senior
Residence/Assisted-living facility/nursing home? Local community
center/church/school where seniors attend classes and activities?)
How would you describe the senior populations you generally work with?
What age ranges do you interact with?
II. Social Context: Understanding shared patterns of anxiety and ambition among
seniors. (5 minutes)
What are some of the most common areas of concern and anxiety among
the senior citizens you work with?
About what subjects do they feel most vulnerable, most concerned or
anxious?
What are the most common areas of personal ambition and personal
satisfaction?
When do the seniors you work with feel most accomplished? Most
competent? When do they feel best about themselves?
III. Category Issues - Education: An exploration of successful and unsuccessful
senior education-relevant experiences. (30 minutes)

Under what conditions do seniors seem to learn best? When do they learn
best in groups? When do they learn best in an individual setting?
How do you generally account for success or lack of success when trying to
educate seniors?
What role do factors like technological sophistication, time-of-day, attentionspan play in the success of education programs?
What specific examples can you give about successful educational efforts
with seniors? [Probe: Best/most successful education programs or classes
they have seen.]
Why do you feel these particular efforts were so successful? What made
them work? [Probe: Methods of communication used, videos or other
media, in-person instruction, personal instruction, ancillary
materials/activities, frequency and amount of follow-up, etc.]
What factors generally drive resistance to learning? Are there specific
subject matter areas that seniors want to avoid?
Are there approaches that just do not seem to work? What educational
approaches or methods may actually inhibit learning and participation?
What are the least successful/least satisfying attempts you’ve seen at
attempting to educate seniors?
Why do you feel these particular efforts were so unsuccessful? [Probe:
subject matter, methods of communication, videos/media, in-person factors,
ancillary materials/activities, lack of follow-up, etc.]
At your place of work, what are the main evaluative criteria used in deciding
which subjects seniors might want to learn about and which programs are
actually adopted by community centers/assisted-living residences, etc.?
What are you looking for/hoping for when selecting or adopting new
educational programs for your senior populations?
What ultimately counts as success? What counts as failure?
IV. Category Issues: Frauds and Scams [Note to moderator: While the FTC already
has a great deal of existing expertise about senior-directed fraud, research will
include some attention to professional perspectives on seniors’ attitudes, behaviors,
biases and expectations regarding frauds and scams as a transition to stimulusresponse testing of concepts and messages.] (15 minutes)
How aware are most of the seniors you work with that there are frauds
and scams that specifically target senior/aging populations?

What is the general level of knowledge/confusion about specific types of
frauds and scams, including identity theft scams, fake charities, email
scams, phishing, telephone scams, direct mail scams, sweepstakes/prize
scams, healthcare fraud, investment and securities fraud, etc.?
How vulnerable do the seniors you work with feel they are to these various
types of criminal and deceptive practices?
How many seniors do you know who are fearful that they may be targeted
by scammers? How many want to learn how to protect themselves?
How many of your clientele seem to not worry at all about being targeted
by frauds or scams and feel that these frauds only happen to other
people?
From your perspective, what factors drive different levels of concern or
fear about scams and frauds?
o Probe for demographic and psychographic factors: Education levels?
Household income? Ethnicity? Age? Cognitive abilities? Nature of
relationship with grown children and other relatives?
Identification of barriers to learning about frauds and scams – is this too
unpleasant a subject for some seniors? What can be done to overcome
these barriers? What are some of the areas of resistance?
o Attention-span?
o Lack of interest?
o This is an anxiety-provoking subject?
In conclusion, what do you think might be the best way to educate the
seniors you work with about protecting themselves from scams and
frauds?
o If it were up to you, how would you go about this? What methods
would you use?
o How much follow-up/repetition/additional information should there
be with seniors on a subject like this?

Thank you very much for your time!