The association between experiences of being defrauded and depressive symptoms of middle-aged and elderly people: a cross-sectional study in China

This study assessed the correlation between middle-aged and elderly fraud victimhood's experiences of being defrauded (EOBD) and depressive symptoms.This was a prospective study.Data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2018 (N = 15,322, mean age = 60.80 years) were used. Logistic regression models were used to identify the association between EOBD and depressive symptoms. Independent analyses were used to examine the association between different types of the fraud and depressive symptoms.Among the middle-aged and elderly people, 9.37% of them have EOBD, and it was significantly associated with depressive symptoms. Among those with EOBD, fundraising fraud (3.72%) and fraudulent pyramid scheme and sales fraud (22.4%) were significantly associated with depressive symptoms, whereas telecommunication fraud (73.88%) had a limited role in inducing depressive symptoms in victimhood.This study suggested that the government should make further efforts to prevent fraud, pay more attention to the mental health of the middle-aged and elderly victimhood, and provide timely psychological assistance to reduce the secondary harm caused by fraud.