The concept of financial exploitation has gained much interest in the field of elder abuse. The purpose of this study is to review the conceptualisation of elder financial exploitation as a first step towards exploring how financial abuse is interpreted differently by different groups. The search strategy includes the use of the SCOPUS database, including PubMed, MEDLINE, and open access for articles published between 1997 and January 2019. This study includes prevalence studies regarding the analysis of perceptions and conceptualisation of financial exploitation. This study excluded studies published in languages other than English with no relevance regarding the focus of the study. Twenty-six studies met the inclusion criteria with four categories (older people, professional, public, and family members) and a range of settings across studies. Three overarching themes emerged in this review. The sub-themes include values, expectations, cultural considerations, characteristics of older people, relationship dynamics, situational factors, knowledge, and attitudes. Current evidence supports the on-going discussion on the lack of uniformity in definitions and conceptualisations of the financial exploitation of older people. The lack of consideration from the views of older people and community members may add to the complexity of defining financial exploitation, which can result in problems in detection, disclosure, and underreporting incidences.

The underreporting incidents of financial exploitation of older persons committed by family members in Malaysia is a genuine concern. This study explores older adults’ experience of financial abuse by family members, the dynamics of their relationship, and how older people respond to this experience in Malaysia. The study was conducted using a phenomenology study design via in-depth interviews of eight older adults who were purposively sampled using snowball sampling. NVivo 12 analysis software was used to perform the thematic analysis. Seven main themes were identified: cultural expectation and tolerance of abuse, negative well-being, family comes first, helplessness, coping strategies, positive reappraisal, and self-reflection. The themes demonstrate the interactions among the components of experiences of older adults coping with financial abuse by family members and how they chose to respond. The results reveal the inadequacy of protections available to older adults in Malaysia in the reporting process, laws, and policy. These results suggest for authorities to consider dilemmas faced by older victims of financial abuse, especially with regard to underreporting. A clearer understanding of social realities will help improve social and legal protection frameworks for victims of financial abuse involving family members in Malaysia.