Old People and Identity Theft

What is it about older people that makes them so vulnerable to identity theft [1] and other types of scams? Is it that they come from a gentler time when people didn't take advantage of each other, and thus they are programmed to be more trusting? Is there something that changes as we age that makes us more susceptible to scams? Or is it that this is just a more visible group of victims because they seem to have more to lose?

Whatever the cause, it's clear that the older members of our society are being targeted, so what can we do about this? We can continue to expose scams and try to educate potential victims through news stories. We can work on educating our elders about ways in which they can protect themselves. As tax and financial advisors to older people, do we owe it to those who raised us to spend a bit more time with these clients, teaching them ways to protect their assets?