AUGUSTA (AP) — An investigator with Maine’s government accountability office says it’s nearly impossible to measure how much of a problem elder financial abuse has become due to incomplete data.

The Portland Press Herald reports members of the U.S. Senate Aging Committee received a new report from the Maine office about elder financial abuse.

Kathryn Larin, acting director of the office’s Forensic Audit and Investigative Service Team, says state courts are usually responsible for tracking such abuses.

Larin says some states don’t know how many seniors are under guardianship and most don’t have systems to track abuse and aren’t sufficiently monitoring guardians.

The report suggests state court systems regularly examine whether seniors need guardianships. It recommends that states screen guardians for criminal backgrounds and educate them on their duties.