II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 547 

To prevent mail, telemarketing, and Internet fraud targeting seniors in the 

United States, to promote efforts to increase public awareness of the 

enormous impact that mail, telemarketing, and Internet fraud have on 

seniors, to educate the public, seniors, their families, and their caregivers 

about how to identify and combat fraudulent activity, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 7, 2017 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To prevent mail, telemarketing, and Internet fraud targeting 

seniors in the United States, to promote efforts to increase public awareness of the enormous impact that 

mail, telemarketing, and Internet fraud have on seniors, 

to educate the public, seniors, their families, and their 

caregivers about how to identify and combat fraudulent 

activity, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senior Financial Em3 powerment Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) The proportion of the population of the 

7 United States that is 60 years of age or older will 

8 drastically increase in the next 30 years as more 

9 than 76,000,000 baby boomers approach retirement 

10 and old age. 

11 (2) Each year, anywhere between 500,000 and 

12 5,000,000 seniors in the United States are abused, 

13 neglected, or exploited. 

14 (3) Senior abuse, neglect, and exploitation have 

15 no boundaries and cross all racial, social class, gen16 der, and geographic lines. 

17 (4) Millions of individuals in the United States 

18 are victims of financial exploitation, including mail, 

19 telemarketing, and Internet fraud, each year and 

20 many of the individuals who fall prey to these crimes 

21 are seniors. 

22 (5) It is difficult to estimate the prevalence of 

23 fraud targeting seniors because cases are severely 

24 underreported and national statistics on senior fraud 

25 do not exist. 


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1 (6) The Federal Bureau of Investigation notes 

2 that a senior may be less likely to report fraud be3 cause the senior— 

4 (A) does not know to whom to report the 

5 fraud; 

6 (B) is ashamed to have been a victim of 

7 fraud; 

8 (C) does not know that the senior has been 

9 a victim of fraud; or 

10 (D) in some cases, is concerned that rel11 atives may come to the conclusion that the sen12 ior no longer has the mental capacity to take 

13 care of the financial affairs of the senior. 

14 (7) According to a 2011 report by the MetLife 

15 Mature Market Institute, the annual financial loss 

16 by victims of senior financial abuse is estimated to 

17 be at least $2,900,000,000. 

18 (8) As victims of senior financial abuse, many 

19 seniors have been robbed of their hard-earned life 

20 savings, and even their homes, and can suffer severe 

21 emotional and health-related consequences. 

22 (9) Perpetrators of fraud targeting seniors 

23 often operate outside the United States, reaching 

24 their victims through the mail, telephone lines, and 

25 the Internet. 


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1 (10) The Deceptive Mail Prevention and En2 forcement Act (Public Law 106–168; 113 Stat. 

3 1806) increased the power of the United States 

4 Postal Service to protect consumers against persons 

5 who use deceptive mailings, such as those featuring 

6 games of chance, sweepstakes, skill contests, and 

7 facsimile checks. 

8 (11) During fiscal year 2007, analysts prepared 

9 more than 27,000 letters and informative postcards 

10 in response to mail fraud complaints. During that 

11 same fiscal year, postal inspectors investigated 2,909 

12 mail fraud cases in the United States and arrested 

13 1,236 mail fraud suspects, of whom 1,118 were con14 victed. Postal inspectors also reported 162 tele15 marketing fraud investigations with 83 arrests and 

16 61 convictions resulting from the investigations. 

17 (12) In 2000, the Special Committee on Aging 

18 of the Senate reported that, each year, consumers 

19 lose approximately $40,000,000,000 to tele20 marketing fraud and estimated that approximately 

21 10 percent of the 14,000 telemarketing firms in the 

22 United States were fraudulent. 

23 (13) Some researchers estimate that only one in 

24 10,000 fraud victims reports the crime to the au25 thorities. 


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1 (14) A 2003 report by AARP, Inc., found that 

2 the crime of telemarketing fraud is grossly under3 reported among senior victims, but that individuals 

4 who are properly counseled by trained peer volun5 teers are less likely to fall victim to fraudulent prac6 tices. 

7 (15) The Federal Bureau of Investigation re8 ports that the threat of fraud to seniors is growing 

9 and changing. Many younger baby boomers have 

10 considerable computer skills and criminals are modi11 fying their targeting techniques by using not only 

12 traditional telephone calls and mass mailings, but 

13 also online scams like phishing and e-mail spam14 ming. 

15 (16) The Internet Crime Complaint Center is a 

16 partnership between the National White Collar 

17 Crime Center and the Federal Bureau of Investiga18 tion that serves as a vehicle to receive, develop, and 

19 refer criminal complaints regarding cybercrime. The 

20 Internet Crime Complaint Center processed more 

21 than 219,553 complaints of Internet crime in 2007 

22 and, from these submissions, the center referred 

23 90,008 complaints of Internet crime, representing a 

24 total dollar loss of $239,090,000, to Federal, State, 


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1 and local law enforcement agencies in the United 

2 States for further consideration. 

3 (17) Consumer awareness is the best protection 

4 from fraud. 

5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

8 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

9 (2) SENIOR CITIZEN.—The term ‘‘senior cit10 izen’’ means an individual who is not younger than 

11 65 years of age. 

12 SEC. 4. INFORMATION AND CONSUMER EDUCATION ON 

13 MAIL, TELEMARKETING, AND INTERNET 

14 FRAUD TARGETING SENIOR CITIZENS. 

15 (a) CENTRALIZED SERVICE.— 

16 (1) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The 

17 Commission, after consultation with the Attorney 

18 General, the Secretary of Health and Human Serv19 ices, the Postmaster General, the Chief Postal In20 spector for the United States Postal Inspection 

21 Service, and the Internet Crime Complaint Center, 

22 shall— 

23 (A) disseminate to senior citizens and the 

24 families and caregivers of the senior citizens in25 formation— 


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1 (i) regarding mail, telemarketing, and 

2 Internet fraud that targets senior citizens, 

3 including descriptions of the most common 

4 fraud schemes; and 

5 (ii) which shall be— 

6 (I) disseminated in a way that is 

7 easily accessible and user-friendly to 

8 senior citizens; and 

9 (II) proactive so as to teach sen10 ior citizens about scam and fraud pre11 vention through safe and smart finan12 cial practices; and 

13 (B) with respect to the information de14 scribed in subparagraph (A)(ii)(II)— 

15 (i) update the information regularly to 

16 keep pace with the changing nature of 

17 criminal activity; and 

18 (ii) include— 

19 (I) instructions on how to refer a 

20 complaint to the appropriate law en21 forcement agency; and 

22 (II) a national toll-free telephone 

23 number, to be established by the Com24 mission, which shall— 


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1 (aa) have a live individual, 

2 rather than an automated serv3 ice, available to answer calls from 

4 senior citizens who are calling— 

5 (AA) to seek advice on 

6 where and how to report in7 stances of fraud; or 

8 (BB) to ask questions 

9 about issues relating to 

10 scams or fraud of senior 

11 citizens; and 

12 (bb) be similar to the Fraud 

13 Hotline established by the Spe14 cial Committee on Aging of the 

15 Senate. 

16 (2) SHARING OF INFORMATION.—The Commis17 sion shall— 

18 (A) maintain an Internet website that 

19 serves as a source of information for senior citi20 zens and the families and caregivers of senior 

21 citizens regarding the types of fraud described 

22 in paragraph (1)(A)(i); 

23 (B) work with State enforcement agencies 

24 to create a national database that tracks inVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Mar 10, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S547.IS S547

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1 stances of fraud committed against senior citi2 zens; and 

3 (C) in response to a specific request about 

4 a particular person, provide publically available 

5 information on any record of a civil or criminal 

6 law enforcement action taken against the per7 son for fraud that targeted senior citizens. 

8 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 1 year after 

9 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission 

10 shall establish and implement procedures to carry out the 

11 requirements of this section. 

12 SEC. 5. EDUCATION TO CERTAIN ENTITIES REGARDING FI13 NANCIAL EXPLOITATION OF SENIOR CITI14 ZENS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall, in con16 sultation with the appropriate Federal financial institu17 tions (as defined in section 8(e)(7)(D) of the Federal De18 posit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1818(e)(7)(D))), regu19 latory agencies, State agencies, and local agencies, con20 vene and provide education to the entities described in 

21 subsection (b) regarding the legal obligations of those enti22 ties and industry best practices for those entities with re23 spect to financial exploitation and neglect of senior citi24 zens. 


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1 (b) COVERED ENTITIES.—An entity described in this 

2 subsection is— 

3 (1) a depository institution (as defined in sec4 tion 3(c) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 

5 U.S.C. 1813(c))); 

6 (2) a credit office; 

7 (3) a remittance transfer provider (as defined 

8 in section 920(g) of the Electronic Fund Transfer 

9 Act (15 U.S.C. 1693o–1(g))); 

10 (4) a person who distributes general-use pre11 paid cards (as defined in section 915(a)(2) of the 

12 Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. 1693l– 

13 1(a)(2))); and 

14 (5) any individual who— 

15 (A) is employed by a financial institution; 

16 (B) has access to the financial records of 

17 senior citizens; and 

18 (C) may be able to identify instances of 

19 elder financial abuse because of discrepancies in 

20 those financial records. 

21 (c) REQUIRED TRAINING.—A State agency may not 

22 receive Federal funds under this Act unless the agency 

23 ensures that the entities described in subsection (b) in that 

24 State receive appropriate training that improves— 


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1 (1) the ability of the entities to recognize evi2 dence of financial exploitation and neglect of senior 

3 citizens; and 

4 (2) the understanding of the entities of the re5 porting requirements in that State with respect to fi6 nancial exploitation and neglect of senior citizens. 

7 (d) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 1 year after 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission 

9 shall establish and implement procedures to carry out the 

10 requirements of this section. 

11 SEC. 6. GRANT PROGRAM TO PREVENT MAIL, TELE12 MARKETING, AND INTERNET FRAUD AND FOR 

13 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON SENIOR CITIZENS’ 

14 INCREASED VULNERABILITY TO SCAMS. 

15 (a) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

16 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General 

17 may award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible 

18 entities to carry out fraud prevention activities de19 signed to protect senior citizens. 

20 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—For purposes of the 

21 grant program, an eligible entity is any State attor22 ney general, State or local law enforcement agency, 

23 senior center, or other State or local nonprofit orga24 nization that provides assistance to senior citizens. 


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1 (3) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 

2 subsection, the Attorney General shall give priority 

3 to an eligible entity that has established a public-pri4 vate partnership with a computer or software com5 pany that is focused on developing tools to enhance 

6 Internet scam prevention. 

7 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

8 There are authorized to be appropriated to the At9 torney General to carry out this subsection 

10 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 

11 2022. 

12 (b) RESEARCH.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

14 Institutes of Health shall conduct scientific research 

15 related to the increased vulnerability of senior citi16 zens to scams and fraud due to age-related health 

17 and neurological conditions. 

18 (2) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—No additional 

19 amounts are authorized to be appropriated to carry 

20 out this subsection. Amounts to carry out this sub21 section shall be derived from amounts not specifi22 cally appropriated to carry out this subsection. 

23 SEC. 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON NATIONAL SENIOR FRAUD 

24 AWARENESS WEEK. 

25 It is the sense of Congress that— 


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1 (1) there is a need to increase awareness of 

2 fraud targeting senior citizens; 

3 (2) a week in March of each year should be des4 ignated as ‘‘National Senior Fraud Awareness 

5 Week’’ to coincide with the end of winter, which— 

6 (A) is commonly a period of increased iso7 lation; and 

8 (B) precedes tax season; 

9 (3) the people of the United States should ob10 serve National Senior Fraud Awareness Week with 

11 relevant educational activities; and 

12 (4) the President should issue a proclamation 

13 supporting increased awareness of senior fraud. 

Æ 


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