II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3025

To combat telemarketing and mass marketing fraud.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 11, 2000

Mr. BAYH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To combat telemarketing and mass marketing fraud.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Fraud

5 Against Seniors Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. CENTRALIZED COMPLAINT AND CONSUMER EDU7 CATION SERVICE FOR VICTIMS OF TELE8 MARKETING FRAUD.

9 (a) CENTRALIZED SERVICE.—

10 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Federal Trade Com11 mission shall, after consultation with the Attorney

12 General, establish procedures to—
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1 (A) log and acknowledge the receipt of

2 complaints by individuals who certify that they

3 have a reasonable belief that they have been the

4 victim of fraud in connection with the conduct

5 of telemarketing (as that term is defined in sec6 tion 2325 of title 18, United States Code, as

7 amended by subsection (d) of this section);

8 (B) provide to individuals described in sub9 paragraph (A), and to any other persons, infor10 mation on telemarketing fraud, including—

11 (i) general information on tele12 marketing fraud, including descriptions of

13 the most common telemarketing fraud

14 schemes;

15 (ii) information on means of referring

16 complaints on telemarketing fraud to ap17 propriate law enforcement agencies, includ18 ing the Director of the Federal Bureau of

19 Investigation and the Attorney General;

20 and

21 (iii) information, if available, on the

22 number of complaints of telemarketing

23 fraud against particular companies and

24 any record of convictions for telemarketing
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1 fraud by particular companies for which a

2 specific request has been made; and

3 (C) refer complaints described in subpara4 graph (A) to appropriate entities, including

5 State consumer protection agencies or entities

6 and appropriate law enforcement agencies, for

7 potential law enforcement action.

8 (2) CENTRAL LOCATION.—The service under

9 the procedures under paragraph (1) shall be pro10 vided at and through a single site selected by the

11 Commission for that purpose.

12 (3) COMMENCEMENT.—The Commission shall

13 commence carrying out the service not later than 1

14 year after the date of enactment of this Act.

15 (b) CREATION OF FRAUD CONVICTION DATABASE.—

16 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Attorney General

17 shall establish and maintain a computer database

18 containing information on the corporations and com19 panies convicted of offenses for telemarketing fraud

20 under Federal and State law. The database shall in21 clude a description of the type and method of the

22 fraud scheme for which each corporation or company

23 covered by the database was convicted.

24 (2) USE OF DATABASE.—The Attorney General

25 shall make information in the database available to
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1 the Federal Trade Commission for purposes of pro2 viding information as part of the service under sub3 section (a).

4 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

5 authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec6 essary to carry out this section.

7 (d) EXPANSION OF SCOPE OF TELEMARKETING

8 FRAUD SUBJECT TO ENHANCED CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—

9 Section 2325(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amend10 ed by striking ‘‘telephone calls’’ and inserting ‘‘wire com11 munications utilizing a telephone service’’.

12 SEC. 3. ENHANCED CRIMINAL PENALTIES IN CONNECTION

13 WITH MASS MARKETING.

14 Section 2326 of title 18, United States Code, is

15 amended—

16 (1) by striking ‘‘A person’’ and inserting the

17 following:

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A person’’;

19 (2) by inserting ‘‘or mass marketing’’ after

20 ‘‘telemarketing’’; and

21 (3) by adding at the end the following:

22 ‘‘(b) MASS MARKETING DEFINED.—In this section,

23 the term ‘mass marketing’ means a plan, program, pro24 motion, or campaign that is conducted through solicitation
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1 by telephone, mail, the Internet, or other means to induce

2 a large number of persons to—

3 ‘‘(1) purchase goods or services:

4 ‘‘(2) participate in a contest or sweepstakes; or

5 ‘‘(3) invest for financial profit.’’.

6 SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO COMBAT FRAUD.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro8 priated to the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the Fed9 eral Trade Commission $20,000,000 for each fiscal year

10 to combat telemarketing and mass marketing fraud, of

11 which not less than $5,000,000 shall be used in each fiscal

12 year to combat telemarketing and mass marketing fraud

13 against the elderly.

14 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section—

15 (1) the term ‘‘mass marketing’’ has the mean16 ing given the term in section 2326 of title 18,

17 United States Code, as amended by this Act; and

18 (2) the term ‘‘telemarketing’’ has the meaning

19 given the term in section 2325 of title 18, United

20 States Code, as amended by this Act.

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