A Maine official will testify Wednesday in Washington, D.C., at a hearing on the growing epidemic of financial exploitation of older Americans.

Judith Shaw, administrator of Maine’s Office of Securities, is scheduled to appear before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, according to a news release.

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Shaw was invited to appear by the committee’s longtime member and new chairwoman, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who plans to continue the panel’s fight against fraud and financial schemes targeting seniors.

Shaw, who is president-elect of the North American Securities Administrators Association, will discuss Senior$afe, a first-of-its-kind collaborative effort by Maine regulators, financial institutions and legal organizations. The year-old program educates bank and credit union employees on how to identify and help stop financial exploitation of older adults. Senior$afe also has published a brochure of useful tips for seniors.

The 2:30 p.m. hearing can be viewed at www.c-span.org or www.aging.senate.gov.

Financial exploitation cost older Americans nearly $3 billion in 2010, according to Collins. Vulnerability to financial exploitation increases with age, and Maine’s senior population is growing quickly. Maine has the oldest population by median age in the nation, and by 2030 more than a quarter of the state’s population is expected to be 65 or older.

Physical, emotional and financial abuse and neglect of elders is already a significant problem in Maine, where about 14,000 cases are reported each year. Ninety percent of the time, the victimizer is a family member, friend or other trusted adviser.

Awareness of aging issues is growing at the federal level. President Obama’s 2016 budget proposal includes $25 million for Elder Justice Act programs authorized under the Affordable Care Act, including grants to states that pilot a new elder abuse reporting system and funding for a coordinated federal research portfolio to better understand and prevent elder abuse.

The title of Wednesday’s hearing is “Broken Trust: Combating Financial Exploitation of Vulnerable Seniors.” Also scheduled to testify is Philip Marshall, grandson of the late Brooke Astor, a New York philanthropist and socialite whose son, Anthony Marshall, mistreated her and mismanaged her funds while she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Astor summered in Maine for many years.

Other scheduled witnesses include Kathleen Quinn, executive director of the National Adult Protective Services Association, and Page Ulrey, senior deputy prosecuting attorney for elder abuse in King County, Washington.