Attorney Susan B. Geffen Launches Video Series to Combat Elder Abuse

The campaign, distributed across major social media platforms, draws on Geffen’s four decades of practice to highlight the dangerous intersection of social isolation and financial vulnerability. According to the gerontologist, abusers frequently target seniors by severing their ties to trusted family members and advisors. Once an older adult is cut off from their support network, they become significantly easier to manipulate or isolate from those who might otherwise notice suspicious financial activity.

While California law offers legal remedies, such as anti-isolation restraining orders, Geffen argues that proactive awareness is a far more effective tool for protection. The videos outline red flags, including sudden shifts in communication, unexplained financial withdrawals, or the appearance of new individuals who seek to control an elder’s daily life. Rather than encouraging constant suspicion, the series aims to foster regular, meaningful engagement between family members. Geffen notes that if these resources prompt a relative to make a simple phone call or ask a necessary question about a transaction, the initiative will have served its primary purpose of prevention.