I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4846 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 26, 2012 

Ms. BALDWIN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and 

Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

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 2012’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds as follows: 

6 (1) The proportion of the population of the 

7 United States age 60 years or older is predicted to 

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) It is estimated that between 500,000 and 

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

13 neglected, or exploited each year. 

14 (3) Abuse, neglect, and exploitation of seniors 

15 crosses racial, social class, gender, and geographic 

16 lines. 

17 (4) Each year millions of individuals in the 

18 United States are victims of financial exploitation, 

19 including mail, telemarketing, and Internet fraud. 

20 Many of those who fall prey to such exploitation are 

21 seniors. 

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

23 fraud that targets 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 seniors in the United States are less likely to 

3 report fraud because they do not know to whom to 

4 report, they are ashamed to have been a victim of 

5 fraud, or they do not know that they have been a 

6 victim of fraud. In some cases, a senior who has 

7 been a victim of fraud may not report the crime be8 cause he or she is concerned that relatives may con9 clude that the senior no longer has the mental ca10 pacity to take care of his or her own financial af11 fairs. 

12 (7) According to a 2009 report by the MetLife 

13 Mature Market Institute, the annual financial loss 

14 by victims of senior financial abuse is estimated to 

15 be at least $2,600,000,000. 

16 (8) Perpetrators of mail, telemarketing, and 

17 Internet fraud frequently target seniors because sen18 iors are often vulnerable and trusting people. 

19 (9) As victims of such fraudulent schemes, 

20 many seniors pay a financial cost, having been 

21 robbed of their hard-earned life savings, and fre22 quently pay an emotional cost, losing their self-re23 spect and dignity. 

24 (10) Perpetrators of fraud targeting seniors 

25 often operate outside the United States, reaching 

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1 their victims through the mail, telephone lines, and 

2 the Internet. 

3 (11) The Deceptive Mail Prevention and En4 forcement Act increased the power of the United 

5 States Postal Service to protect consumers against 

6 persons who use deceptive mailings, such as those 

7 featuring games of chance, sweepstakes, skill con8 tests, and facsimile checks. 

9 (12) During fiscal year 2007, Postal Inspection 

10 Service analysts prepared more than 27,000 letters 

11 and informative postcards in response to mail fraud 

12 complaints. During that same year, postal inspectors 

13 investigated 2,909 mail fraud cases in the United 

14 States and arrested 1,236 mail fraud suspects, of 

15 whom 1,118 were convicted. Postal inspectors also 

16 reported 162 telemarketing fraud investigations, 

17 with 83 arrests and 61 convictions resulting from 

18 such investigations. 

19 (13) In 2000, the United States Senate Special 

20 Committee on Aging reported that consumers lose 

21 approximately $40,000,000,000 each year to tele22 marketing fraud, and estimated that approximately 

23 10 percent of the Nation’s 14,000 telemarketing 

24 firms were fraudulent. Some researchers estimate 

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1 that only one in 10,000 fraud victims reports the 

2 crime to the authorities. 

3 (14) A 2003 report by AARP found that, 

4 though the crime of telemarketing fraud is grossly 

5 underreported among seniors who have been victims 

6 of such fraud, seniors who are properly counseled by 

7 trained peer volunteers are less likely to fall victim 

8 to fraudulent practices. 

9 (15) The Federal Bureau of Investigation re10 ports that the threat of fraud to seniors is growing 

11 and changing. This is largely due to the fact that 

12 many younger Baby Boomers have considerable 

13 computer skills and criminals have responded by tar14 geting seniors through online scams like phishing 

15 and email spamming, in addition to traditional tele16 phone calls and mass mailings. 

17 (16) The Internet Crime Complaint Center 

18 (hereinafter referred to in this paragraph as ‘‘IC3’’) 

19 is a partnership between the National White Collar 

20 Crime Center and the Federal Bureau of Investiga21 tion that serves as a vehicle to receive, develop, and 

22 refer criminal complaints regarding cybercrime. The 

23 IC3 processed more than 219,553 complaints of 

24 Internet crime in 2007. From these submissions, the 

25 IC3 referred 90,008 complaints of Internet crime, 

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1 representing a total dollar loss of $239,090,000, to 

2 Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies 

3 in the United States for further consideration. 

4 (17) Consumer awareness is the best protection 

5 from fraud. 

6 SEC. 3. CENTRALIZED SERVICE FOR CONSUMER EDU7 CATION ON MAIL, TELEMARKETING, AND 

8 INTERNET FRAUD TARGETING SENIORS. 

9 (a) CENTRALIZED SERVICE.— 

10 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Federal Trade Com11 mission, after consultation with the Attorney Gen12 eral, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 

13 the Postmaster General, the Chief Postal Inspector 

14 for the United States Postal Inspection Service, and 

15 the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial 

16 Protection, shall— 

17 (A) periodically disseminate to seniors, and 

18 families and caregivers of seniors, general infor19 mation on mail, telemarketing, and Internet 

20 fraud targeting seniors, including descriptions 

21 of the most common fraud schemes; 

22 (B) periodically disseminate to seniors, and 

23 families and caregivers of seniors, information 

24 on methods available to report fraud targeting 

25 seniors, such as— 

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1 (i) referring complaints to law en2 forcement agencies, including the Director 

3 of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and 

4 State attorneys general; and 

5 (ii) calling a national toll-free tele6 phone number established by the Federal 

7 Trade Commission for reporting mail, tele8 marketing, and Internet fraud; 

9 (C) in response to a specific request by a 

10 party to the Federal Trade Commission inquir11 ing about any history of fraud committed by a 

12 particular entity or individual, provide to such 

13 party any publically available information on 

14 any record of law enforcement action for fraud 

15 against such entity or individual— 

16 (i) by the Federal Trade Commission; 

17 and 

18 (ii) by any other agency that reports 

19 such actions to the Federal Trade Commis20 sion; and 

21 (D) maintain a Web site to serve as a re22 source for information for seniors, and families 

23 and caregivers of seniors, regarding mail, tele24 marketing, and Internet fraud targeting sen25 iors. 

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1 (2) PROCEDURES AND COMMENCEMENT.—The 

2 Federal Trade Commission shall establish and im3 plement procedures to carry out the requirements of 

4 paragraph (1), including procedures— 

5 (A) with respect to the frequency and 

6 mode of dissemination of information under 

7 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of such paragraph; 

8 and 

9 (B) that provide for the implementation of 

10 the requirements of such paragraph not later 

11 than one year after the date of the enactment 

12 of this Act. 

13 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

14 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

15 $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2013 through 

16 2017. 

17 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO PREVENT MAIL, TELEMARKETING, AND 

18 INTERNET FRAUD. 

19 (a) GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—Subject to the 

20 availability of funds authorized to be appropriated under 

21 this section, the Attorney General, after consultation with 

22 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Post23 master General, the Chief Postal Inspector for the United 

24 States Postal Inspection Service, and the Director of the 

25 Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, shall establish 

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1 and administer a competitive grant program to award 

2 grants to eligible organizations to carry out mail, tele3 marketing, and Internet fraud prevention education pro4 grams for seniors. 

5 (b) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.—The Attorney Gen6 eral may award grants under this section to State Attor7 neys General, State and local law enforcement agencies 

8 and groups, senior centers, and other local nonprofit orga9 nizations that provide assistance to seniors, as determined 

10 by the Attorney General. 

11 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

13 $20,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2013 through 

14 2017. 

15 SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS RELATED TO NATIONAL 

16 SENIOR FRAUD AWARENESS WEEK. 

17 It is the sense of the Congress that— 

18 (1) there is a need to increase public awareness 

19 of the enormous impact that mail, telemarketing, 

20 and Internet fraud have on senior citizens in the 

21 United States; 

22 (2) a week should be designated as ‘‘National 

23 Senior Fraud Awareness Week’’; 

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1 (3) the people of the United States should ob2 serve National Senior Fraud Awareness Week with 

3 appropriate educational activities; and 

4 (4) the President is encouraged to issue a proc5 lamation supporting increased public awareness of 

6 the impact of, and the need to prevent, fraud com7 mitted against seniors. 

Æ 

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