I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1215 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 23, 2021 

Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER (for herself, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. 

BUCHANAN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. RUSH, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, 

Mr. O’HALLERAN, Mr. CASE, Mr. CARSON, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. 

CA ́RDENAS, and Ms. OMAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

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

5 ‘‘Fraud and Scam Reduction Act’’. 


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

2 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. 

3 TITLE I—PREVENTING CON4 SUMER SCAMS DIRECTED AT 

5 SENIORS 

6 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 

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

8 Act’’. 

9 SEC. 102. SENIOR SCAMS PREVENTION ADVISORY GROUP. 

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

11 Scams Prevention Advisory Group (referred to in this title 

12 as the ‘‘Advisory Group’’). 

13 (b) MEMBERS.—The Advisory Group shall be com14 posed of stakeholders such as the following individuals or 

15 the designees of those individuals: 

16 (1) The Chairman of the Federal Trade Com17 mission. 

18 (2) The Secretary of the Treasury. 

19 (3) The Attorney General. 


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1 (4) The Director of the Bureau of Consumer 

2 Financial Protection. 

3 (5) Representatives from each of the following 

4 sectors, including trade associations, to be selected 

5 by the Federal Trade Commission: 

6 (A) Retail. 

7 (B) Gift cards. 

8 (C) Telecommunications. 

9 (D) Wire-transfer services. 

10 (E) Senior peer advocates. 

11 (F) Consumer advocacy organizations with 

12 efforts focused on preventing seniors from be13 coming the victims of scams. 

14 (G) Financial services, including institu15 tions that engage in digital currency. 

16 (H) Prepaid cards. 

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

18 Federal Reserve System. 

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

20 1002 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 

21 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5481). 

22 (8) The Director of the Financial Crimes En23 forcement Network. 


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

2 industry representative, consumer advocate, or enti3 ty, as determined by the Federal Trade Commission. 

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

5 of the Advisory Group shall serve without compensation 

6 in addition to any compensation received for the service 

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

8 States, if applicable. 

9 (d) DUTIES.— 

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

11 (A) collect information on the existence, 

12 use, and success of educational materials and 

13 programs for retailers, financial services, and 

14 wire-transfer companies, which— 

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

16 employees on how to identify and prevent 

17 scams that affect seniors; and 

18 (ii) include— 

19 (I) useful information for retail20 ers, financial services, and wire trans21 fer companies for the purpose de22 scribed in clause (i); 

23 (II) training for employees on 

24 ways to identify and prevent senior 

25 scams; 


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1 (III) best practices for keeping 

2 employees up to date on current 

3 scams; 

4 (IV) the most effective signage 

5 and placement in retail locations to 

6 warn seniors about scammers’ use of 

7 gift cards, prepaid cards, and wire 

8 transfer services; 

9 (V) suggestions on effective col10 laborative community education cam11 paigns; 

12 (VI) available technology to as13 sist in identifying possible scams at 

14 the point of sale; and 

15 (VII) other information that 

16 would be helpful to retailers, wire 

17 transfer companies, financial institu18 tions, and their employees as they 

19 work to prevent fraud affecting sen20 iors; and 

21 (B) based on the findings in subparagraph 

22 (A)— 

23 (i) identify inadequacies, omissions, or 

24 deficiencies in those educational materials 

25 and programs for the categories listed in 


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1 subparagraph (A) and their execution in 

2 reaching employees to protect older adults; 

3 and 

4 (ii) create model materials, best prac5 tices guidance, or recommendations to fill 

6 those inadequacies, omissions, or defi7 ciencies that may be used by industry and 

8 others to help protect older adults from 

9 scams. 

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

11 Federal Trade Commission shall— 

12 (A) make the materials or guidance cre13 ated by the Federal Trade Commission de14 scribed in paragraph (1) publicly available; and 

15 (B) encourage the use and distribution of 

16 the materials created under this subsection to 

17 prevent scams affecting seniors by govern18 mental agencies and the private sector. 

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

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

21 is amended— 

22 (1) in subparagraph (A)(iv), by striking the pe23 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

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

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


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

2 ‘‘(C) with respect to the report by the Fed3 eral Trade Commission, in relevant years, in4 cluding information on— 

5 ‘‘(i) the newly created materials, guid6 ance, or recommendations of the Senior 

7 Scams Prevention Advisory Group estab8 lished under section 102 of the Stop Senior 

9 Scams Act and any relevant views or con10 siderations made by members of the Advi11 sory Group that were not included in the 

12 Advisory Group’s model materials or con13 sidered an official recommendation by the 

14 Advisory Group; 

15 ‘‘(ii) the Senior Scams Prevention Ad16 visory Group’s findings about senior scams 

17 and industry educational materials and 

18 programs; and 

19 ‘‘(iii) any recommendations on ways 

20 stakeholders can continue to work together 

21 to reduce scams affecting seniors.’’. 

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

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

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


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1 TITLE II—SENIOR FRAUD 

2 ADVISORY OFFICE 

3 SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Seniors Fraud Preven5 tion Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 202. OFFICE FOR THE PREVENTION OF FRAUD TAR7 GETING SENIORS. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF ADVISORY OFFICE.—The 

9 Federal Trade Commission shall establish an office within 

10 the Bureau of Consumer Protection for the purpose of ad11 vising the Commission on the prevention of fraud tar12 geting seniors and to assist the Commission with the fol13 lowing: 

14 (1) OVERSIGHT.—The advisory office shall 

15 monitor the market for mail, television, internet, 

16 telemarketing, and recorded message telephone call 

17 (hereinafter referred to as ‘‘robocall’’) fraud tar18 geting seniors and shall coordinate with other rel19 evant agencies regarding the requirements of this 

20 section. 

21 (2) CONSUMER EDUCATION.—The Commission 

22 through the advisory office shall, in consultation 

23 with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health 

24 and Human Services, the Postmaster General, the 


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1 Chief Postal Inspector for the United States Postal 

2 Inspection Service, and other relevant agencies— 

3 (A) disseminate to seniors and families and 

4 caregivers of seniors general information on 

5 mail, television, internet, telemarketing, and 

6 robocall fraud targeting seniors, including de7 scriptions of the most common fraud schemes; 

8 (B) disseminate to seniors and families 

9 and caregivers of seniors information on report10 ing complaints of fraud targeting seniors either 

11 to the national toll-free telephone number estab12 lished by the Commission for reporting such 

13 complaints, or to the Consumer Sentinel Net14 work, operated by the Commission, where such 

15 complaints will become immediately available to 

16 appropriate law enforcement agencies, including 

17 the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the at18 torneys general of the States; 

19 (C) in response to a specific request about 

20 a particular entity or individual, provide pub21 lically available information of enforcement ac22 tion taken by the Commission for mail, tele23 vision, internet, telemarketing, and robocall 

24 fraud against such entity; and 


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1 (D) maintain a website to serve as a re2 source for information for seniors and families 

3 and caregivers of seniors regarding mail, tele4 vision, internet, telemarketing, robocall, and 

5 other identified fraud targeting seniors. 

6 (3) COMPLAINTS.—The Commission through 

7 the advisory office shall, in consultation with the At8 torney General, establish procedures to— 

9 (A) log and acknowledge the receipt of 

10 complaints by individuals who believe they have 

11 been a victim of mail, television, internet, tele12 marketing, and robocall fraud in the Consumer 

13 Sentinel Network, and shall make those com14 plaints immediately available to Federal, State, 

15 and local law enforcement authorities; and 

16 (B) provide to individuals described in sub17 paragraph (A), and to any other persons, spe18 cific and general information on mail, television, 

19 internet, telemarketing, and robocall fraud, in20 cluding descriptions of the most common 

21 schemes using such methods of communication. 

22 (b) COMMENCEMENT.—The Commission shall com23 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. 

Æ 


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