Karen Roberto, Virginia Tech (IMAGE) Virginia Tech Caption Karen Roberto, director of the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech, offers 10 tips for avoiding financial abuse for seniors to consider now and throughout the year. Her research identified family, friends, and neighbors in 45 percent of cases of financial abuse and the overall dollar losses at the hands of family and friends were higher than from any other category of perpetrators. Credit Virginia Tech Photo Usage Restrictions The photo of Dr. Roberto may be used with any discussion or report of her research regarding elder financial abuse, or her other gerontology research. License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.