Noting that America’s senior citizens lose an estimated $2.9 billion each year through fraud, U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) in her weekly column on April 2 highlighted recent legislative efforts to protect seniors from scams and to crack down on swindlers.
“Too often, seniors do not know who to turn to for help, “ said Sen. Fischer, a member of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. “Too often, they feel embarrassed to admit that they were tricked, and sometimes, they do not even realize they’ve been victimized.”
Such exploitation must end, the senator said, adding that the Senate Special Committee on Aging is focused on combating such cons against older Americans. She also pointed to two pending proposals aimed at helping reform such situations, the Senior Safe Act of 2017, H.R. 3758, and the Spoofing Prevention Act of 2017, S. 134.
H.R. 3758 would provide immunity to financial services providers that report suspected exploitation of senior citizens to law enforcement or regulatory agencies. Provisions of the bill were approved on March 14 by the U.S. Senate as part of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, S. 2155, said Fischer, who supported the bill. H.R. 3758 also is companion legislation to the Senior$afe Act of 2017, S. 223, introduced on Jan. 24, 2017 by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). H.R. 3758 awaits a House floor vote after being approved last year by the U.S. House Financial Services Committee.
Meanwhile, Sen. Fischer said the Spoofing Prevention Act was signed into law on March 23. The measure closes loopholes that allow scammers to use false caller ID display information on calls originating outside the United States to defraud victims out of money or personal information, said the senator, who cosponsored the bipartisan bill with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL).
“The modernization of telephone technologies unintentionally has made it easier for predators to falsify their calling origins in order to gain sensitive information from millions of unsuspecting Americans, particularly the elderly,” the senator said. “Whether it’s calls that deceptively appear to be coming from real institutions or people — a charity, a bank, the IRS or a family member — older Americans make up a disproportionate number of victims targeted by telephone scams.”
Sen. Fischer concluded her weekly address by saying that senior citizens deserve to be treated with respect and dignity — not “deceived and made helpless” by criminals and scam artists. She pledged to work with policymakers and law enforcers to ensure their safety, to raise awareness and to communicate more on these issues.