II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1215 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 19, 2021 

Received 

AN ACT 

To establish an office within the Federal Trade Commission 

and an outside advisory group to prevent fraud targeting 

seniors and to direct the Commission to include additional information in an annual report to Congress on 

fraud targeting seniors, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘Fraud and Scam Reduction Act’’. 

4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

5 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—PREVENTING CONSUMER SCAMS DIRECTED AT SENIORS 

Sec. 101. Short title. 

Sec. 102. Senior Scams Prevention Advisory Group. 

TITLE II—SENIOR FRAUD ADVISORY OFFICE 

Sec. 201. Short title. 

Sec. 202. Office for the Prevention of Fraud Targeting Seniors. 

TITLE III—BUDGETARY EFFECTS 

Sec. 301. Budgetary effects. 

6 TITLE I—PREVENTING CON7 SUMER SCAMS DIRECTED AT 

8 SENIORS 

9 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 

10 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Senior Scams 

11 Act’’. 

12 SEC. 102. SENIOR SCAMS PREVENTION ADVISORY GROUP. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Senior 

14 Scams Prevention Advisory Group (referred to in this title 

15 as the ‘‘Advisory Group’’). 

16 (b) MEMBERS.—The Advisory Group shall be com17 posed of stakeholders such as the following individuals or 

18 the designees of those individuals: 


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1 (1) The Chairman of the Federal Trade Com2 mission. 

3 (2) The Secretary of the Treasury. 

4 (3) The Attorney General. 

5 (4) The Director of the Bureau of Consumer 

6 Financial Protection. 

7 (5) Representatives from each of the following 

8 sectors, including trade associations, to be selected 

9 by the Federal Trade Commission: 

10 (A) Retail. 

11 (B) Gift cards. 

12 (C) Telecommunications. 

13 (D) Wire-transfer services. 

14 (E) Senior peer advocates. 

15 (F) Consumer advocacy organizations with 

16 efforts focused on preventing seniors from be17 coming the victims of scams. 

18 (G) Financial services, including institu19 tions that engage in digital currency. 

20 (H) Prepaid cards. 

21 (6) A member of the Board of Governors of the 

22 Federal Reserve System. 

23 (7) A prudential regulator, as defined in section 

24 1002 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 

25 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5481). 


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1 (8) The Director of the Financial Crimes En2 forcement Network. 

3 (9) Any other Federal, State, or local agency, 

4 industry representative, consumer advocate, or enti5 ty, as determined by the Federal Trade Commission. 

6 (c) NO COMPENSATION FOR MEMBERS.—A member 

7 of the Advisory Group shall serve without compensation 

8 in addition to any compensation received for the service 

9 of the member as an officer or employee of the United 

10 States, if applicable. 

11 (d) DUTIES.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Advisory Group shall— 

13 (A) collect information on the existence, 

14 use, and success of educational materials and 

15 programs for retailers, financial services, and 

16 wire-transfer companies, which— 

17 (i) may be used as a guide to educate 

18 employees on how to identify and prevent 

19 scams that affect seniors; and 

20 (ii) include— 

21 (I) useful information for retail22 ers, financial services, and wire trans23 fer companies for the purpose de24 scribed in clause (i); 


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1 (II) training for employees on 

2 ways to identify and prevent senior 

3 scams; 

4 (III) best practices for keeping 

5 employees up to date on current 

6 scams; 

7 (IV) the most effective signage 

8 and placement in retail locations to 

9 warn seniors about scammers’ use of 

10 gift cards, prepaid cards, and wire 

11 transfer services; 

12 (V) suggestions on effective col13 laborative community education cam14 paigns; 

15 (VI) available technology to as16 sist in identifying possible scams at 

17 the point of sale; and 

18 (VII) other information that 

19 would be helpful to retailers, wire 

20 transfer companies, financial institu21 tions, and their employees as they 

22 work to prevent fraud affecting sen23 iors; and 

24 (B) based on the findings in subparagraph 

25 (A)— 


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1 (i) identify inadequacies, omissions, or 

2 deficiencies in those educational materials 

3 and programs for the categories listed in 

4 subparagraph (A) and their execution in 

5 reaching employees to protect older adults; 

6 and 

7 (ii) create model materials, best prac8 tices guidance, or recommendations to fill 

9 those inadequacies, omissions, or defi10 ciencies that may be used by industry and 

11 others to help protect older adults from 

12 scams. 

13 (2) ENCOURAGED USE.—The Chairman of the 

14 Federal Trade Commission shall— 

15 (A) make the materials or guidance cre16 ated by the Federal Trade Commission de17 scribed in paragraph (1) publicly available; and 

18 (B) encourage the use and distribution of 

19 the materials created under this subsection to 

20 prevent scams affecting seniors by govern21 mental agencies and the private sector. 

22 (e) REPORTS.—Section 101(c)(2) of the Elder Abuse 

23 Prevention and Prosecution Act (34 U.S.C. 21711(c)(2)) 

24 is amended— 


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1 (1) in subparagraph (A)(iv), by striking the pe2 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

3 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 

4 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

6 ‘‘(C) with respect to the report by the Fed7 eral Trade Commission, in relevant years, in8 cluding information on— 

9 ‘‘(i) the newly created materials, guid10 ance, or recommendations of the Senior 

11 Scams Prevention Advisory Group estab12 lished under section 102 of the Stop Senior 

13 Scams Act and any relevant views or con14 siderations made by members of the Advi15 sory Group that were not included in the 

16 Advisory Group’s model materials or con17 sidered an official recommendation by the 

18 Advisory Group; 

19 ‘‘(ii) the Senior Scams Prevention Ad20 visory Group’s findings about senior scams 

21 and industry educational materials and 

22 programs; and 

23 ‘‘(iii) any recommendations on ways 

24 stakeholders can continue to work together 

25 to reduce scams affecting seniors.’’. 


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1 (f) TERMINATION.—This title, and the amendments 

2 made by this title, ceases to be effective on the date that 

3 is 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 

4 TITLE II—SENIOR FRAUD 

5 ADVISORY OFFICE 

6 SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 

7 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Seniors Fraud Preven8 tion Act of 2021’’. 

9 SEC. 202. OFFICE FOR THE PREVENTION OF FRAUD TAR10 GETING SENIORS. 

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF ADVISORY OFFICE.—The 

12 Federal Trade Commission shall establish an office within 

13 the Bureau of Consumer Protection for the purpose of ad14 vising the Commission on the prevention of fraud tar15 geting seniors and to assist the Commission with the fol16 lowing: 

17 (1) OVERSIGHT.—The advisory office shall 

18 monitor the market for mail, television, internet, 

19 telemarketing, and recorded message telephone call 

20 (hereinafter referred to as ‘‘robocall’’) fraud tar21 geting seniors and shall coordinate with other rel22 evant agencies regarding the requirements of this 

23 section. 

24 (2) CONSUMER EDUCATION.—The Commission 

25 through the advisory office shall, in consultation 


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1 with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health 

2 and Human Services, the Postmaster General, the 

3 Chief Postal Inspector for the United States Postal 

4 Inspection Service, and other relevant agencies— 

5 (A) disseminate to seniors and families and 

6 caregivers of seniors general information on 

7 mail, television, internet, telemarketing, and 

8 robocall fraud targeting seniors, including de9 scriptions of the most common fraud schemes; 

10 (B) disseminate to seniors and families 

11 and caregivers of seniors information on report12 ing complaints of fraud targeting seniors either 

13 to the national toll-free telephone number estab14 lished by the Commission for reporting such 

15 complaints, or to the Consumer Sentinel Net16 work, operated by the Commission, where such 

17 complaints will become immediately available to 

18 appropriate law enforcement agencies, including 

19 the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the at20 torneys general of the States; 

21 (C) in response to a specific request about 

22 a particular entity or individual, provide pub23 lically available information of enforcement ac24 tion taken by the Commission for mail, teleVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Feb 08, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RDS H1215

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1 vision, internet, telemarketing, and robocall 

2 fraud against such entity; and 

3 (D) maintain a website to serve as a re4 source for information for seniors and families 

5 and caregivers of seniors regarding mail, tele6 vision, internet, telemarketing, robocall, and 

7 other identified fraud targeting seniors. 

8 (3) COMPLAINTS.—The Commission through 

9 the advisory office shall, in consultation with the At10 torney General, establish procedures to— 

11 (A) log and acknowledge the receipt of 

12 complaints by individuals who believe they have 

13 been a victim of mail, television, internet, tele14 marketing, and robocall fraud in the Consumer 

15 Sentinel Network, and shall make those com16 plaints immediately available to Federal, State, 

17 and local law enforcement authorities; and 

18 (B) provide to individuals described in sub19 paragraph (A), and to any other persons, spe20 cific and general information on mail, television, 

21 internet, telemarketing, and robocall fraud, in22 cluding descriptions of the most common 

23 schemes using such methods of communication. 

24 (b) COMMENCEMENT.—The Commission shall com25 mence carrying out the requirements of this section not 


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1 later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 

2 Act. 

3 TITLE III—BUDGETARY EFFECTS 

4 SEC. 301. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

5 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

6 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

7 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

8 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

9 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

10 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro11 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

12 vote on passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 15, 2021. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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