Collins bill aims to tackle fraud against America’s senior citizens

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has introduced the bipartisan Seniors Fraud Prevention Act of 2021, which would educate America’s senior citizens about fraud schemes and improve federal monitoring and response to fraud complaints.

“Raising awareness — particularly among older Americans who are more likely to be targeted by financial scams — is key to protecting seniors’ hard-earned savings,” Sen. Collins said on Monday. “The Seniors Fraud Prevention Act would 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.”

Sen. Collins on Feb. 22 introduced S. 349, with bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), which would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish an office within the Bureau of Consumer Protection to advise the FTC on preventing fraud targeting seniors and to assist the FTC in monitoring the market for mail, television, internet, telemarketing, and recorded message telephone call (robocall) fraud targeting seniors, according to the congressional record bill summary.

Under S. 349, the office must disseminate information to seniors, their families and caregivers about the most common fraud schemes, including methods of reporting complaints either to the FTC’s national toll-free telephone number or to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network; provide, in response to a specific request about a particular entity or individual, publicly available information regarding the FTC’s enforcement action; and maintain a website as a resource for information on fraud targeting seniors, the summary says.

U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Ted Deutch (D-FL) on Feb. 11 introduced the identical bill, H.R. 982, in their chamber.

AARP sent a Feb 24 letter to Sens. Collins and Klobuchar to endorse the bill on behalf of its 38 million members.

“The Seniors Fraud Prevention Act would strengthen and coordinate partnerships among enforcement agencies to protect seniors from fraud and scams that undermine their financial security and independence,” wrote Bill Sweeney, AARP’s senior vice president of government affairs. “We support your efforts to create an office within the Bureau of Consumer Protection to assist the Federal Trade Commission identify and eliminate fraud that targets older Americans.”