I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6954 
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 
SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 
Ms. BALDWIN (for herself, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. SMITH of 
Texas, and Mr. SCOTT of Virginia) 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 de-
termined 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 in-
crease 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senior Financial Em-
powerment Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) The proportion of the population of the 
United States age 60 years or older will drastically 
increase in the next 30 years as more than 
76,000,000 Baby Boomers approach retirement and 
old age. 
(2) Each year, anywhere between 500,000 and 
5,000,000 seniors in the United States are abused, 
neglected, or exploited. 
(3) Senior abuse, neglect, and exploitation have 
no boundaries, and cross all racial, social class, gen-
der, and geographic lines. 
(4) Millions of individuals in the United States 
are victims of financial exploitation, including mail, 
telemarketing, and Internet fraud, each year. Many 
of those who fall prey to these crimes are seniors. 
(5) It is difficult to estimate the prevalence of 
fraud targeting seniors because cases are severely 
underreported and national statistics on senior fraud 
do not exist. 
(6) The Federal Bureau of Investigation notes 
that senior Americans are less likely to report fraud 
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because they do not know to whom to report, they 
are ashamed to have been a victim of fraud, or they 
do not know that they have been a victim of fraud. 
In some cases, a senior victim of fraud may not re-
port the crime because he or she is concerned that 
relatives may come to the conclusion that the victim 
no longer has the mental capacity to take care of his 
or her own financial affairs. 
(7) Perpetrators of mail, telemarketing, and 
Internet fraud frequently target seniors because sen-
iors are often vulnerable and trusting people. 
(8) As victims of such fraudulent schemes, 
many seniors have been robbed of their hard-earned 
life savings and frequently pay an emotional cost, 
losing not only their money, but also their self-re-
spect and dignity. 
(9) Perpetrators of fraud targeting seniors 
often operate outside the United States, reaching 
their victims through the mail, telephone lines, and 
the Internet. 
(10) The Deceptive Mail Prevention and En-
forcement Act increased the power of the United 
States Postal Service to protect consumers against 
persons who use deceptive mailings, such as those 
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