# Uncovering and Surveilling Financial Deception Risk in Aging

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · 2021 · $78,373

## Abstract

Project Summary. Among older adults, sudden and unexpected financial losses as a result of fraud can have
devastating consequences. A rapidly aging population, combined with age-related changes in decision-making
processes, means that fraudulent activities targeting older adults is a growing public health problem that
requires surveillance, education, and intervention. Motivated by theories of cognitive, socioemotional, and
neurobiological aging, this proposal investigates behavioral and neural decision-making mechanisms
associated with fraud risk in older adulthood. In a more globally connected and computerized world, older
adults may constitute particular at-risk targets for highly effective forms of online financial fraud, such as
through social engineering in the form of emails containing malicious links or attachments (phishing).
Susceptibility to financial deception in aging has been investigated primarily in the context of age-related
cognitive decline, while socioemotional and neurophysiological parameters have been largely understudied.
Further, there are few effective approaches to characterize, monitor and detect, and eventually prevent,
financial deception. The objectives of the proposed research are threefold: Aim 1 will determine financial
deception risk across the adult life span. This aim will seek to confirm that age is associated with greater
susceptibility to financial deception, online and in person. Aim 2 will characterize cognitive, socioemotional,
and neurophysiological mechanisms associated with deception risk. Specifically, this aim will uncover the
extent to which cognitive and socioemotional dysfunction, age-related dampening in neurophysiological
reactivity, and structural and functional brain changes contribute to increased susceptibility in aging. Aim 3
involves the development and psychometric validation of a novel risk assessment interview and the
development of an automated deception warning tool to alert older adults about potential online fraud. Our
research design will span three data collection phases comprising healthy young, middle-aged, young-old, and
old-old individuals. Leveraging infrastructure developed in our lab, a behavioral field experiment will determine
real-life susceptibility to financial fraud via simulated phishing email attacks (Phase I). A comprehensive in-lab
assessment of cognitive/socioemotional and neurophysiological mechanisms will follow (Phase II and III,
respectively). A data-analytic Phase IV will integrate data collected across Phases I-III using statistical and
machine-learning methods. This multidisciplinary approach, encompassing psychology, neuroscience,
computer science, and engineering will lay the foundation for building an integrated approach to risk detection
and the provision of financial decision-making supports in older adulthood. Findings and methodologies
developed as part of this project have the potential to inform real-life decision-supportive interventions that
ad...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10440656
- **Project number:** 3R01AG057764-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** Natalie C Ebner
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $78,373
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10440656

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10440656, Uncovering and Surveilling Financial Deception Risk in Aging (3R01AG057764-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10440656. Licensed CC0.

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