• Unpaid bills, eviction notices, utility shutoff warnings.

• Unexplained bank withdrawals, transfers or automatic teller activity.

• Bank statements or checks no longer come to the elder's home.

• New "best friends."

• Elder doesn't understand legal documents, such as power of attorney, real-estate transfer or will.

• Inflated costs for caregiving.

• A caregiver's excessive interest in the elder's finances.

• Missing belongings or property.

• Suspicious signatures on checks or documents.

• No documentation for financial arrangements, such as repair work.

• Pre-signed checks or withdrawal slips.

• Elder becomes secretive or isolated.

• Elder becomes timid, health deteriorates, or has untreated medical conditions.

SIGNS OF A SCAM

• It sounds too good to be true.

• You must pay to play.

• You must send money to get a prize.

• Caller wants private information, such as a Social Security number.

• Caller insists on cash or money order, not a check.

• Caller is trying to excite you about a great opportunity.

• Caller claims to be a tax official, banker or someone with authority to ask for personal information.

• A stranger behaves like your buddy.

• A warning to act immediately or miss an offer.

• Mail or e-mail with too-good-to-be-true offers.

• Frequent calls from unfamiliar charities.

• A request to wire money.

SOURCES: Area Agency on Aging, North American Securities Administrators Association, Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups; State of Wisconsin; the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse