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Estimates suggest that up to 16% of American adults--approximately 40 million people--fall victim to mass marketing scams each year. Mass marketing scams include any attempts to fraudulently solicit money from consumers through mass communication methods, such as the internet, telephone, and mail. Complaints to consumer protection agencies have risen 240% in the past 10 years (Federal Trade Commission [FTC], 2013, 2023). According to conservative estimates from the most recent Consumer Sentinel Network Report (FTC, 2023), Americans reported more than $2.7 billion in direct losses from fraud in 2022. In addition to financial costs, consequences to victims include feelings of shame and embarrassment, loss of trust, depression, and, in the most severe cases, suicidal ideation. These consequences of fraud are particularly impactful for older adults who suffer higher losses per incident, on average (FTC, 2022) and face greater challenges recovering from losses after retirement. Research on elder mistreatment in general has shown that older victims consume 30% more mental health and substance abuse services and are hospitalized more often than non-victims.

These scams convince susceptible targets that they have won bogus sweepstakes, merchandise, free vacations, or lotteries, but they first need to pay money to claim their winnings. Based on data from one major investigation from 2011 to 2016, the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) found that Americans sent $558 million in checks, credit card payments, and money orders through the mail in response to such scams (USPIS internal data). Overall, the USPIS estimates that 3% of U.S. adults--7.5 million Americans--have mailed a payment in response to mass marketing fraud and that 60%-70% of these individuals are revictimized by a similar solicitation or an entirely different offer. Given these figures, reducing the incidence of mass marketing fraud could save millions of dollars annually.

Although the FTC, the National Council on Aging, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Better Business Bureau, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), and other agencies and organizations routinely disseminate fraud education and awareness materials, it is unclear how much of these materials reach the most vulnerable populations. Much of the content is available online, yet according to the Pew Research Center, only 75% of adults older than age 65 use the internet, and only 64% have home broadband. Printed materials are also disseminated at senior centers, libraries, legal service offices, and outreach events, but older adults who are socially isolated and most susceptible to fraud are unlikely to be reached through these venues.

To address gaps in intervention research, Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International and the University of Minnesota conducted the Mass Marketing Elder Fraud Intervention (MMEFI) Study with collaboration and support from the USPIS. This multiphase research project included a secondary analysis of USPIS administrative data on prior scams and a randomized controlled trial test of the efficacy of two variations of a mailed intervention for preventing revictimization by mail fraud. The overall objective was to provide specific policy recommendations to the USPIS and other consumer protection agencies regarding the effectiveness of a mailed intervention. The MMEFI Study had the following specific goals:

• Enhance knowledge and understanding of repeat victimization among older victims of mass marketing scams.
• Engage in rigorous testing of the efficacy of two versions of a fraud intervention strategy geared toward preventing repeat victimization among older victims of mass marketing scams.
• Assess victims' perceptions of the intervention and collect self-report data on experiences with other types of fraud by surveying individuals in the intervention study.

In recent decades, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) have spearheaded efforts to build, grow, and professionalize the victim services field. As a result, the United States service infrastructure for persons impacted by crime has advanced. Despite advancement, efforts to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of victim services have lagged. Grantee and subgrantee data collected by OVC and OVW demonstrated how hard programs are working, both in terms of the number of victims being served and the range of services offered, but to continue to advance the field, a new platform and survey instrument was developed for victim service providers (VSPs) to move from measuring outputs to outcomes and from anecdote to evidence in demonstrating the effects of these programs on victims' lives. The Measures for Providers Responding to Victimization Experiences (iMPRoVE) platform and survey instrument was the result.

The iMPRoVE platform and survey instrument built on the existing efforts of VSPs to develop a validated, trauma-informed, low-burden outcome measurement instrument that can be completed by victims and survivors. It was designed to provide a victim outcome and service quality survey intended for assessing the effectiveness and quality of services, for supporting the use of best practices, for justifying funding allocations and demonstrating responsible stewardship of funds, and for advocating for additional resources as necessary. Many VSPs previously administered outcome and/or satisfaction surveys to clients with considerable variability in the type, quality, and timing of questions asked and the methodology used to ask them. The iMPRoVE survey instrument was designed to address this issue by providing a standardized client survey instrument and methodology, allowing VSPs to benchmark their findings against other similar programs.