IIB 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3040 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 30, 2010 

Received 

AUGUST 5, 2010 

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

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. 


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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 ‘‘Senior Financial Em5 powerment Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) The proportion of the population of the 

9 United States age 60 years or older is predicted to 

10 drastically increase in the next 30 years as more 

11 than 76,000,000 Baby Boomers approach retirement 

12 and old age. 

13 (2) It is estimated that between 500,000 and 

14 5,000,000 seniors in the United States are abused, 

15 neglected, or exploited each year. 

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

17 crosses racial, social class, gender, and geographic 

18 lines. 

19 (4) Each year millions of individuals in the 

20 United States are victims of financial exploitation, 

21 including mail, telemarketing, and Internet fraud. 

22 Many of those who fall prey to such exploitation are 

23 seniors. 

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

25 fraud that targets seniors because cases are severely 


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1 underreported and national statistics on senior fraud 

2 do not exist. 

3 (6) The Federal Bureau of Investigation notes 

4 that seniors in the United States are less likely to 

5 report fraud because they do not know to whom to 

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

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

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

9 been a victim of fraud may not report the crime be10 cause he or she is concerned that relatives may con11 clude that the senior no longer has the mental ca12 pacity to take care of his or her own financial af13 fairs. 

14 (7) According to a 2009 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 $2,600,000,000. 

18 (8) Perpetrators of mail, telemarketing, and 

19 Internet fraud frequently target seniors because sen20 iors are often vulnerable and trusting people. 

21 (9) As victims of such fraudulent schemes, 

22 many seniors pay a financial cost, having been 

23 robbed of their hard-earned life savings, and fre24 quently pay an emotional cost, losing their self-re25 spect and dignity. 


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1 (10) Perpetrators of fraud targeting seniors 

2 often operate outside the United States, reaching 

3 their victims through the mail, telephone lines, and 

4 the Internet. 

5 (11) The Deceptive Mail Prevention and En6 forcement Act increased the power of the United 

7 States Postal Service to protect consumers against 

8 persons who use deceptive mailings, such as those 

9 featuring games of chance, sweepstakes, skill con10 tests, and facsimile checks. 

11 (12) During fiscal year 2007, Postal Inspection 

12 Service analysts prepared more than 27,000 letters 

13 and informative postcards in response to mail fraud 

14 complaints. During that same year, postal inspectors 

15 investigated 2,909 mail fraud cases in the United 

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

17 whom 1,118 were convicted. Postal inspectors also 

18 reported 162 telemarketing fraud investigations, 

19 with 83 arrests and 61 convictions resulting from 

20 such investigations. 

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

22 Committee on Aging reported that consumers lose 

23 approximately $40,000,000,000 each year to tele24 marketing fraud, and estimated that approximately 

25 10 percent of the Nation’s 14,000 telemarketing 


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1 firms were fraudulent. Some researchers estimate 

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

3 crime to the authorities. 

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

5 though the crime of telemarketing fraud is grossly 

6 underreported among seniors who have been victims 

7 of such fraud, seniors who are properly counseled by 

8 trained peer volunteers are less likely to fall victim 

9 to fraudulent practices. 

10 (15) The Federal Bureau of Investigation re11 ports that the threat of fraud to seniors is growing 

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

13 many younger Baby Boomers have considerable 

14 computer skills and criminals have responded by tar15 geting seniors through online scams like phishing 

16 and email spamming, in addition to traditional tele17 phone calls and mass mailings. 

18 (16) The Internet Crime Complaint Center 

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

20 is a partnership between the National White Collar 

21 Crime Center and the Federal Bureau of Investiga22 tion that serves as a vehicle to receive, develop, and 

23 refer criminal complaints regarding cybercrime. The 

24 IC3 processed more than 219,553 complaints of 

25 Internet crime in 2007. From these submissions, the 


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1 IC3 referred 90,008 complaints of Internet crime, 

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

3 Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies 

4 in the United States for further consideration. 

5 (17) Consumer awareness is the best protection 

6 from fraud. 

7 SEC. 3. CENTRALIZED SERVICE FOR CONSUMER EDU8 CATION ON MAIL, TELEMARKETING, AND 

9 INTERNET FRAUD TARGETING SENIORS. 

10 (a) CENTRALIZED SERVICE.— 

11 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Federal Trade Com12 mission, after consultation with the Attorney Gen13 eral, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 

14 the Postmaster General, the Chief Postal Inspector 

15 for the United States Postal Inspection Service, and 

16 the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial 

17 Protection, shall— 

18 (A) periodically disseminate to seniors, and 

19 families and caregivers of seniors, general infor20 mation on mail, telemarketing, and Internet 

21 fraud targeting seniors, including descriptions 

22 of the most common fraud schemes; 

23 (B) periodically disseminate to seniors, and 

24 families and caregivers of seniors, information 


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1 on methods available to report fraud targeting 

2 seniors, such as— 

3 (i) referring complaints to law en4 forcement agencies, including the Director 

5 of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and 

6 State attorneys general; and 

7 (ii) calling a national toll-free tele8 phone number established by the Federal 

9 Trade Commission for reporting mail, tele10 marketing, and Internet fraud; 

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

12 party to the Federal Trade Commission inquir13 ing about any history of fraud committed by a 

14 particular entity or individual, provide to such 

15 party any publically available information on 

16 any record of law enforcement action for fraud 

17 against such entity or individual— 

18 (i) by the Federal Trade Commission; 

19 and 

20 (ii) by any other agency that reports 

21 such actions to the Federal Trade Commis22 sion; and 

23 (D) maintain a website to serve as a re24 source for information for seniors, and families 

25 and caregivers of seniors, regarding mail, teleVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:22 Aug 06, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3040.RFS H3040

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1 marketing, and Internet fraud targeting sen2 iors. 

3 (2) PROCEDURES AND COMMENCEMENT.—The 

4 Federal Trade Commission shall establish and im5 plement procedures to carry out the requirements of 

6 paragraph (1), including procedures— 

7 (A) with respect to the frequency and 

8 mode of dissemination of information under 

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

10 and 

11 (B) that provide for the implementation of 

12 the requirements of such paragraph not later 

13 than one year after the date of the enactment 

14 of this Act. 

15 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

16 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

17 $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 

18 2015. 

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

20 INTERNET FRAUD. 

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

22 availability of funds authorized to be appropriated under 

23 this section, the Attorney General, after consultation with 

24 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Post25 master General, the Chief Postal Inspector for the United 


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1 States Postal Inspection Service, and the Director of the 

2 Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, shall establish 

3 and administer a competitive grant program to award 

4 grants to eligible organizations to carry out mail, tele5 marketing, and Internet fraud prevention education pro6 grams for seniors. 

7 (b) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.—The Attorney Gen8 eral may award grants under this section to State Attor9 neys General, State and local law enforcement agencies 

10 and groups, senior centers, and other local nonprofit orga11 nizations that provide assistance to seniors, as determined 

12 by the Attorney General. 

13 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

14 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

15 $20,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 

16 2015. 

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

18 SENIOR FRAUD AWARENESS WEEK. 

19 It is the sense of the Congress that— 

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

21 of the enormous impact that mail, telemarketing, 

22 and Internet fraud have on senior citizens in the 

23 United States; 


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1 (2) a week in the month of May should be des2 ignated as ‘‘National Senior Fraud Awareness 

3 Week’’; 

4 (3) the people of the United States should ob5 serve National Senior Fraud Awareness Week with 

6 appropriate educational activities; and 

7 (4) the President is encouraged to issue a proc8 lamation supporting increased public awareness of 

9 the impact of, and the need to prevent, fraud com10 mitted against seniors. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 29, 2010. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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