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) According to a 2009 report by the MetLife 
Mature Market Institute, the annual financial loss 
by victims of senior financial abuse is estimated to 
be at least $2,600,000,000. 
(8) Perpetrators of mail, telemarketing, and 
Internet fraud frequently target seniors because sen-
iors are often vulnerable and trusting people. 
(9) 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. 
(10) Perpetrators of fraud targeting seniors 
often operate outside the United States, reaching 
their victims through the mail, telephone lines, and 
the Internet. 
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(11) 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 
featuring games of chance, sweepstakes, skill con-
tests, and facsimile checks. 
(12) During fiscal year 2007, analysts prepared 
more than 27,000 letters and informative postcards 
in response to mail fraud complaints. During that 
same year, postal inspectors investigated 2,909 mail 
fraud cases in the United States, and arrested 1,236 
mail fraud suspects, of whom 1,118 were convicted. 
Postal inspectors also reported 162 telemarketing 
fraud investigations, with 83 arrests and 61 convic-
tions resulting from such investigations. 
(13) In 2000, the United States Senate Special 
Committee on Aging reported that, each year, con-
sumers lose approximately $40,000,000,000 to tele-
marketing fraud, and estimated that approximately 
10 percent of the Nation’s 14,000 telemarketing 
firms were fraudulent. Some researchers estimate 
that only one in 10,000 fraud victims reports the 
crime to the authorities. 
(14) A 2003 report by AARP found that the 
crime of telemarketing fraud is grossly under-
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reported among senior victims, but that those who 
are properly counseled by trained peer volunteers are 
less likely to fall victim to fraudulent practices. 
(15) The Federal Bureau of Investigation re-
ports that the threat of fraud to seniors is growing 
and changing. Many younger Baby Boomers have 
considerable computer skills, and criminals are modi-
fying their targeting techniques by using not only 
traditional telephone calls and mass mailings, but 
also online scams like phishing and e-mail spam-
ming. 
(16) The IC3 is a partnership between the Na-
tional White Collar Crime Center and the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation that serves as a vehicle to 
receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints re-
garding cybercrime. The IC3 processed more than 
219,553 complaints of Internet crime in 2007. From 
these submissions, the IC3 referred 90,008 com-
plaints of Internet crime, representing a total dollar 
loss of $239,090,000, to Federal, State, and local 
law enforcement agencies in the United States for 
further consideration. 
(17) Consumer awareness is the best protection 
from fraud. 
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SEC. 3. CENTRALIZED SERVICE FOR CONSUMER EDU-
CATION ON MAIL, TELEMARKETING, AND 
INTERNET FRAUD TARGETING SENIORS. 
(a) CENTRALIZED SERVICE.— 
(1) REQUIREMENT.—The Federal Trade Com-
mission shall, after consultation with the Attorney 
General, the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-
ices, the Postmaster General, and the Chief Postal 
Inspector for the United States Postal Inspection 
Service— 
(A) disseminate to seniors and families and 
caregivers of seniors general information on 
mail, telemarketing, and Internet fraud tar-
geting seniors, including descriptions of the 
most common fraud schemes; 
(B) disseminate to seniors and families 
and caregivers of seniors information on means 
of referring complaints of fraud targeting sen-
iors to appropriate law enforcement agencies, 
including the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, the attorneys general of the 
States, and a national toll-free telephone num-
ber for reporting mail, telemarketing, and 
Internet fraud established by the Federal Trade 
Commission; 
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(C) in response to a specific request about 
a particular entity or individual, provide pub-
lically available information on any record of 
civil or criminal law enforcement action for 
mail, telemarketing, or Internet fraud against 
such entity; and 
(D) maintain a website to serve as a re-
source for information for seniors and families 
and caregivers of seniors regarding mail, tele-
marketing, and Internet fraud targeting sen-
iors. 
(2) 
COMMENCEMENT.—The 
Federal 
Trade 
Commission shall establish and implement proce-
dures to carry out the requirements of paragraph 
(1) not later than one year after the date of the en-
actment of this Act. 
(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 
2014. 
SEC. 4. GRANTS TO PREVENT MAIL, TELEMARKETING, AND 
INTERNET FRAUD. 
(a) GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—Subject to the 
availability of funds authorized to be appropriated under 
this section, the Attorney General, after consultation with 
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