Schemes targeting seniors include fraudulent investment plans, prizes and sweepstakes, internet fraud, charity scams, predatory home loans, telemarketing and mail fraud and Ponzi schemes
The Seniors Fraud Prevention Act would help fight scams designed to strip seniors of their assets by helping educate seniors about fraud schemes and improving monitoring and response to fraud complaints
WASHINGTON, DC – Today U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Susan Collins (R-ME) announced that their bipartisan legislation to crack down on fraud targeted at seniors has passed the Senate. Schemes targeting seniors include fraudulent investment plans, prizes, and sweepstakes, internet fraud, charity scams, predatory home lenders, telemarketing and mail fraud, and Ponzi schemes. The Seniors Fraud Prevention Act would help fight scams designed to strip seniors of their assets by helping educate seniors about fraud schemes and improving monitoring and response to fraud complaints.
“A new fraud scheme designed to target seniors appears almost daily, and in many cases, seniors watch their entire life savings disappear in scams that are specifically designed to target their assets,” said Klobuchar. “This bipartisan legislation will improve efforts to combat fraud targeting seniors so we can help ensure all Americans have safety and dignity in their senior years.”
“One of my top priorities as Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee is to combat scams that target seniors. My Committee has held multiple hearings exposing and examining a number of these scams and maintains a Fraud Hotline staffed by experienced investigators to assist seniors, yet much more remains to be done,” said Collins. “I am pleased that the Senate unanimously supported our legislation, which will enhance fraud monitoring, increase consumer education, and strengthen the complaint tracking system to help prevent seniors from being robbed of their hard-earned savings through threatening and manipulative scams.”
The Seniors Fraud Prevention Act would help protect seniors from fraud schemes by strengthening the reporting system to ensure complaints of fraud are handled quickly by the appropriate law enforcement agencies. The bill would also require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the agency responsible for handling consumer complaints, to coordinate with other agencies to monitor the market for fraud schemes targeting seniors. In addition, the bill would require the FTC to distribute information to seniors, their families, and their caregivers that explain how to recognize fraud schemes and how to contact law enforcement authorities in the event that a senior is targeted. Klobuchar and Collins have introduced this bill in the two previous Congresses. In 2016, the legislation passed the Senate Commerce Committee without opposition.
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