I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3040 

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 

JUNE 25, 2009 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself, Mr. COBLE, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. SMITH of Texas, 

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, and Mr. GOHMERT) 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 2009’’. 

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 will drastically 

8 increase in the next 30 years as more than 

9 76,000,000 Baby Boomers approach retirement and 

10 old age. 

11 (2) Each year, anywhere between 500,000 and 

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

13 neglected, or exploited. 

14 (3) Senior abuse, neglect, and exploitation have 

15 no boundaries, and cross all racial, social class, gen16 der, and geographic lines. 

17 (4) Millions of individuals in the United States 

18 are victims of financial exploitation, including mail, 

19 telemarketing, and Internet fraud, each year. Many 

20 of those who fall prey to these crimes are seniors. 

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

22 fraud targeting seniors because cases are severely 

23 underreported and national statistics on senior fraud 

24 do not exist. 

25 (6) The Federal Bureau of Investigation notes 

26 that senior Americans are less likely to report fraud 


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1 because they do not know to whom to report, they 

2 are ashamed to have been a victim of fraud, or they 

3 do not know that they have been a victim of fraud. 

4 In some cases, a senior victim of fraud may not re5 port the crime because he or she is concerned that 

6 relatives may come to the conclusion that the victim 

7 no longer has the mental capacity to take care of his 

8 or her own financial affairs. 

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

10 Mature Market Institute, the annual financial loss 

11 by victims of senior financial abuse is estimated to 

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

13 (8) Perpetrators of mail, telemarketing, and 

14 Internet fraud frequently target seniors because sen15 iors are often vulnerable and trusting people. 

16 (9) As victims of such fraudulent schemes, 

17 many seniors have been robbed of their hard-earned 

18 life savings and frequently pay an emotional cost, 

19 losing not only their money, but also their self-re20 spect and dignity. 

21 (10) Perpetrators of fraud targeting seniors 

22 often operate outside the United States, reaching 

23 their victims through the mail, telephone lines, and 

24 the Internet. 


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1 (11) The Deceptive Mail Prevention and En2 forcement Act increased the power of the United 

3 States Postal Service to protect consumers against 

4 persons who use deceptive mailings, such as those 

5 featuring games of chance, sweepstakes, skill con6 tests, and facsimile checks. 

7 (12) During fiscal year 2007, analysts prepared 

8 more than 27,000 letters and informative postcards 

9 in response to mail fraud complaints. During that 

10 same year, postal inspectors investigated 2,909 mail 

11 fraud cases in the United States, and arrested 1,236 

12 mail fraud suspects, of whom 1,118 were convicted. 

13 Postal inspectors also reported 162 telemarketing 

14 fraud investigations, with 83 arrests and 61 convic15 tions resulting from such investigations. 

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

17 Committee on Aging reported that, each year, con18 sumers lose approximately $40,000,000,000 to tele19 marketing fraud, and estimated that approximately 

20 10 percent of the Nation’s 14,000 telemarketing 

21 firms were fraudulent. Some researchers estimate 

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

23 crime to the authorities. 

24 (14) A 2003 report by AARP found that the 

25 crime of telemarketing fraud is grossly underVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:13 Jun 30, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3040.IH H3040

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1 reported among senior victims, but that those who 

2 are properly counseled by trained peer volunteers are 

3 less likely to fall victim to fraudulent practices. 

4 (15) The Federal Bureau of Investigation re5 ports that the threat of fraud to seniors is growing 

6 and changing. Many younger Baby Boomers have 

7 considerable computer skills, and criminals are modi8 fying their targeting techniques by using not only 

9 traditional telephone calls and mass mailings, but 

10 also online scams like phishing and e-mail spam11 ming. 

12 (16) The IC3 is a partnership between the Na13 tional White Collar Crime Center and the Federal 

14 Bureau of Investigation that serves as a vehicle to 

15 receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints re16 garding cybercrime. The IC3 processed more than 

17 219,553 complaints of Internet crime in 2007. From 

18 these submissions, the IC3 referred 90,008 com19 plaints of Internet crime, representing a total dollar 

20 loss of $239,090,000, to Federal, State, and local 

21 law enforcement agencies in the United States for 

22 further consideration. 

23 (17) Consumer awareness is the best protection 

24 from fraud. 


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1 SEC. 3. CENTRALIZED SERVICE FOR CONSUMER EDU2 CATION ON MAIL, TELEMARKETING, AND 

3 INTERNET FRAUD TARGETING SENIORS. 

4 (a) CENTRALIZED SERVICE.— 

5 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Federal Trade Com6 mission shall, after consultation with the Attorney 

7 General, the Secretary of Health and Human Serv8 ices, the Postmaster General, and the Chief Postal 

9 Inspector for the United States Postal Inspection 

10 Service— 

11 (A) disseminate to seniors and families and 

12 caregivers of seniors general information on 

13 mail, telemarketing, and Internet fraud tar14 geting seniors, including descriptions of the 

15 most common fraud schemes; 

16 (B) disseminate to seniors and families 

17 and caregivers of seniors information on means 

18 of referring complaints of fraud targeting sen19 iors to appropriate law enforcement agencies, 

20 including the Director of the Federal Bureau of 

21 Investigation, the attorneys general of the 

22 States, and a national toll-free telephone num23 ber for reporting mail, telemarketing, and 

24 Internet fraud established by the Federal Trade 

25 Commission; 


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1 (C) in response to a specific request about 

2 a particular entity or individual, provide pub3 lically available information on any record of 

4 civil or criminal law enforcement action for 

5 mail, telemarketing, or Internet fraud against 

6 such entity; and 

7 (D) maintain a website to serve as a re8 source for information for seniors and families 

9 and caregivers of seniors regarding mail, tele10 marketing, and Internet fraud targeting sen11 iors. 

12 (2) COMMENCEMENT.—The Federal Trade 

13 Commission shall establish and implement proce14 dures to carry out the requirements of paragraph 

15 (1) not later than one year after the date of the en16 actment of this Act. 

17 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

18 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

19 $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 

20 2014. 

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

22 INTERNET FRAUD. 

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

24 availability of funds authorized to be appropriated under 

25 this section, the Attorney General, after consultation with 


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1 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Post2 master General, and the Chief Postal Inspector for the 

3 United States Postal Inspection Service, shall establish 

4 and administer a competitive grant program to award 

5 grants to eligible organizations to carry out mail, tele6 marketing, and Internet fraud prevention education pro7 grams for seniors. 

8 (b) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.—The Attorney Gen9 eral may award grants under this section to State Attor10 neys General, State and local law enforcement agencies 

11 and groups, senior centers, and other local nonprofit orga12 nizations that provide assistance to seniors, as determined 

13 by the Attorney General. 

14 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

15 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

16 $20,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 

17 2014. 

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

19 SENIOR FRAUD AWARENESS WEEK. 

20 It is the sense of the Congress that— 

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

22 of the enormous impact that mail, telemarketing, 

23 and Internet fraud has on senior citizens in the 

24 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. 

Æ 


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