He was calling from the police station and he was crying. We had a bad connection, but it sounded as if he were in some awful trouble up in Canada. He didn’t want me to tell his parents, just wire the bail money right away so he could get out of those handcuffs. I don’t know if that’s right, but he’s my grandson.

The caller, of course, is not the victim’s grandson, but crisis and a plea for immediate action can short-circuit second thoughts. This Canadian Bail Money Scam is one of an infinite variety of scripted calls and bogus letters that target the elderly. Recently, the health and safety of Vineyard elders were the focus of a Vineyard Gazette story based on statistics gathered by the Rural Scholars Study through medical students at the University of Massachusetts.

Through the study, we see that Dukes County already has the third largest elderly population of any Massachusetts county. Further, although the projected growth of the state’s overall elder population is 50 per cent between 2000 and 2020, the Vineyard rates are considerably higher. Among the issues to be addressed are the physical distances that separate many elderly people from health care services. These gaps are compounded when elders are far from familiar social and emotional supports, and unaware of community services. Moreover, these physical, emotional and informational gaps create the ideal environment for financial crimes that target the elderly.

Stranger scams and fraud are universal. Every one of us is at risk for financial crimes each day. Our e-mail accounts are littered with depositor information requests from financial institutions where we do not have accounts, with bargains too good to be true, and with mannered requests for help from international royalty who are fleeing their homelands and need us to shelter their prodigious fortunes in our bank accounts. The key difference between younger and elder victims is that the latter have fewer years to recover their losses. Their income and savings will not be built back over time. The funds, more likely, are needed for current basic daily survival, so the victim’s independence can be stolen along with the dollars.

Perpetrators target vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, people with limited English language skills, people with communication impairments and memory loss. These scammers count on limited resistance, limited skepticism, fear of whistle-blowing and victims being silenced by their own embarrassment. Note, however, that memory loss and impaired judgment are not prerequisites to being scammed. Dementia increases vulnerability, but the kingpins of record-setting contemporary Ponzi schemes have defrauded a lot of people who are, presumably, cognitively intact and wise in business.

In 2009, the MetLife Mature Market Institute released a landmark study of the dollars older Americans lose to financial exploitation. The study of cases reported in the prior year yielded an estimate of $2.6 billion lost annually in elders’ funds as well as in the associated costs of health care, social services, legal fees and prosecution. Projecting an increased risk in an economic downturn, Dr. Sandra Timmerman, director of the institute, called financial exploitation of the elderly “the crime of the 21st century.”

Two years later, an expanded MetLife study pegged the estimated loss at $2.9 billion annually. The findings rang true to law enforcement and adult protective services workers who have been working to stem the trend and aid the victims. Women were more likely to be victimized than men, and there were “spikes” of exploitation at the December holidays. They found that deceit, threats and emotional manipulation were, in some cases, accompanied by physical and sexual violence. Categorically, the study termed these cases crimes of occasion (opportunity), desperation (economic crisis), and predation (broken trust).

The AARP National Fraud Victim Study released in March 2011 profiled the general population, with emphasis on investment fraud, business opportunity fraud, lottery fraud, prescription drug and identity theft, as well as advance fee loan victims. Key findings for victims over age 55 were that these individuals were less likely to acknowledge victimization and less likely to report the crime.

The isolation that permits these crimes to occur is accompanied by secrecy. Victims’ fear, confusion, and embarrassment preempt protection, restitution, and prosecution.

Scams prey on our desire to save money. A telemarketer calls with unbelievable savings. Someone comes by with low-cost long-term magazine subscriptions. Home improvement or storm repairs can be had for pennies on the dollar. The miracle cure is available only on TV.

Nothing boosts our spirits like a lucky day; however, foreign lottery prizes, unclaimed property and chain letters are not silver linings. Scammers flatter and cajole to make victims feel unique and individually selected for investments, business opportunities, and guaranteed returns. They prey on our generosity with charities whose names sound bona fide, with hard-luck stories, responses to worldwide disasters and special commemorations of Sept. 11.

They prey on worries about the cost of health care with promises of new Medicare cards, additional drug coverage and improved government insurance. They prey on our fears of memory loss by saying that they are just following up on something they say we should remember. They say they are calling from the bank or the insurance company, make reference to earlier purchase orders, and in a particularly hideous example, approach mourners for the unpaid balances on products allegedly purchased shortly before their loved one died.

A new scam is rolled out every minute, but the underlying phenomenon is longstanding. There have been chiselers, grifters, swindlers, card sharks and con artists throughout recorded history. Nevertheless, this message is a critical reminder for Vineyard elders and elders everywhere. Staying healthy, safe and independent in our later years means we have to resist attempts to pressure us for money, whether there is a stranger on the phone or official-looking documents in the mail, or someone we know who keeps falling on hard times and needs another loan.

Iris C. Freeman is the associate director of the Elder Justice and Policy Center at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., and a member of the board at Martha’s Vineyard Community Services. She is a seasonal resident of Edgartown. This is the first of a three-part commentary she is writing for the Gazette about scams and exploitation of the elderly.

A victim or anyone who witnesses or suspects a crime should make an immediate report to their local police department. The Cape and Islands district attorney’s office has a program for senior victims in Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket counties. The telephone number is 508-362-8113. Anyone who experiences, witnesses or suspects elder abuse, neglect or exploitation should contact Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands at 1-800-244-4630 during business hours, or at their hotline number, 1-800-922-2275.