Title: Fraud and Scam Reduction Act
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Fraud and Scam Reduction Act
This bill expands activities to address mail, telephone, and internet fraud, particularly such scams targeting older adults.
The bill establishes a Senior Scams Prevention Advisory Group, which must create model educational materials to educate employees of retailers, financial-services companies, and wire-transfer companies on how to identify and prevent scams that affect older adults.
Further, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) must establish an advisory office in the Bureau of Consumer Protection to assist the FTC in monitoring scams targeting older adults, educating consumers, and receiving complaints.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1215 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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. Cardenas, 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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Fraud and Scam 
Reduction Act''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for 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.

         TITLE I--PREVENTING CONSUMER SCAMS DIRECTED AT SENIORS

SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.

    This title may be cited as the ``Stop Senior Scams Act''.

SEC. 102. SENIOR SCAMS PREVENTION ADVISORY GROUP.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established a Senior Scams Prevention 
Advisory Group (referred to in this title as the ``Advisory Group'').
    (b) Members.--The Advisory Group shall be composed of stakeholders 
such as the following individuals or the designees of those 
individuals:
            (1) The Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.
            (2) The Secretary of the Treasury.
            (3) The Attorney General.
            (4) The Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial 
        Protection.
            (5) Representatives from each of the following sectors, 
        including trade associations, to be selected by the Federal 
        Trade Commission:
                    (A) Retail.
                    (B) Gift cards.
                    (C) Telecommunications.
                    (D) Wire-transfer services.
                    (E) Senior peer advocates.
                    (F) Consumer advocacy organizations with efforts 
                focused on preventing seniors from becoming the victims 
                of scams.
                    (G) Financial services, including institutions that 
                engage in digital currency.
                    (H) Prepaid cards.
            (6) A member of the Board of Governors of the Federal 
        Reserve System.
            (7) A prudential regulator, as defined in section 1002 of 
        the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5481).
            (8) The Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement 
        Network.
            (9) Any other Federal, State, or local agency, industry 
        representative, consumer advocate, or entity, as determined by 
        the Federal Trade Commission.
    (c) No Compensation for Members.--A member of the Advisory Group 
shall serve without compensation in addition to any compensation 
received for the service of the member as an officer or employee of the 
United States, if applicable.
    (d) Duties.--
            (1) In general.--The Advisory Group shall--
                    (A) collect information on the existence, use, and 
                success of educational materials and programs for 
                retailers, financial services, and wire-transfer 
                companies, which--
                            (i) may be used as a guide to educate 
                        employees on how to identify and prevent scams 
                        that affect seniors; and
                            (ii) include--
                                    (I) useful information for 
                                retailers, financial services, and wire 
                                transfer companies for the purpose 
                                described in clause (i);
                                    (II) training for employees on ways 
                                to identify and prevent senior scams;
                                    (III) best practices for keeping 
                                employees up to date on current scams;
                                    (IV) the most effective signage and 
                                placement in retail locations to warn 
                                seniors about scammers' use of gift 
                                cards, prepaid cards, and wire transfer 
                                services;
                                    (V) suggestions on effective 
                                collaborative community education 
                                campaigns;
                                    (VI) available technology to assist 
                                in identifying possible scams at the 
                                point of sale; and
                                    (VII) other information that would 
                                be helpful to retailers, wire transfer 
                                companies, financial institutions, and 
                                their employees as they work to prevent 
                                fraud affecting seniors; and
                    (B) based on the findings in subparagraph (A)--
                            (i) identify inadequacies, omissions, or 
                        deficiencies in those educational materials and 
                        programs for the categories listed in 
                        subparagraph (A) and their execution in 
                        reaching employees to protect older adults; and
                            (ii) create model materials, best practices 
                        guidance, or recommendations to fill those 
                        inadequacies, omissions, or deficiencies that 
                        may be used by industry and others to help 
                        protect older adults from scams.
            (2) Encouraged use.--The Chairman of the Federal Trade 
        Commission shall--
                    (A) make the materials or guidance created by the 
                Federal Trade Commission described in paragraph (1) 
                publicly available; and
                    (B) encourage the use and distribution of the 
                materials created under this subsection to prevent 
                scams affecting seniors by governmental agencies and 
                the private sector.
    (e) Reports.--Section 101(c)(2) of the Elder Abuse Prevention and 
Prosecution Act (34 U.S.C. 21711(c)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A)(iv), by striking the period at the 
        end and inserting a semicolon;
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) with respect to the report by the Federal 
                Trade Commission, in relevant years, including 
                information on--
                            ``(i) the newly created materials, 
                        guidance, or recommendations of the Senior 
                        Scams Prevention Advisory Group established 
                        under section 102 of the Stop Senior Scams Act 
                        and any relevant views or considerations made 
                        by members of the Advisory Group that were not 
                        included in the Advisory Group's model 
                        materials or considered an official 
                        recommendation by the Advisory Group;
                            ``(ii) the Senior Scams Prevention Advisory 
                        Group's findings about senior scams and 
                        industry educational materials and programs; 
                        and
                            ``(iii) any recommendations on ways 
                        stakeholders can continue to work together to 
                        reduce scams affecting seniors.''.
    (f) Termination.--This title, and the amendments made by this 
title, ceases to be effective on the date that is 5 years after the 
date of enactment of this Act.

                 TITLE II--SENIOR FRAUD ADVISORY OFFICE

SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE.

    This title may be cited as the ``Seniors Fraud Prevention Act of 
2021''.

SEC. 202. OFFICE FOR THE PREVENTION OF FRAUD TARGETING SENIORS.

    (a) Establishment of Advisory Office.--The Federal Trade Commission 
shall establish an office within the Bureau of Consumer Protection for 
the purpose of advising the Commission on the prevention of fraud 
targeting seniors and to assist the Commission with the following:
            (1) Oversight.--The advisory office shall monitor the 
        market for mail, television, internet, telemarketing, and 
        recorded message telephone call (hereinafter referred to as 
        ``robocall'') fraud targeting seniors and shall coordinate with 
        other relevant agencies regarding the requirements of this 
        section.
            (2) Consumer education.--The Commission through the 
        advisory office shall, in consultation with the Attorney 
        General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the 
        Postmaster General, the Chief Postal Inspector for the United 
        States Postal Inspection Service, and other relevant agencies--
                    (A) disseminate to seniors and families and 
                caregivers of seniors general information on mail, 
                television, internet, telemarketing, and robocall fraud 
                targeting seniors, including descriptions of the most 
                common fraud schemes;
                    (B) disseminate to seniors and families and 
                caregivers of seniors information on reporting 
                complaints of fraud targeting seniors either to the 
                national toll-free telephone number established by the 
                Commission for reporting such complaints, or to the 
                Consumer Sentinel Network, operated by the Commission, 
                where such complaints will become immediately available 
                to appropriate law enforcement agencies, including the 
                Federal Bureau of Investigation and the attorneys 
                general of the States;
                    (C) in response to a specific request about a 
                particular entity or individual, provide publically 
                available information of enforcement action taken by 
                the Commission for mail, television, internet, 
                telemarketing, and robocall fraud against such entity; 
                and
                    (D) maintain a website to serve as a resource for 
                information for seniors and families and caregivers of 
                seniors regarding mail, television, internet, 
                telemarketing, robocall, and other identified fraud 
                targeting seniors.
            (3) Complaints.--The Commission through the advisory office 
        shall, in consultation with the Attorney General, establish 
        procedures to--
                    (A) log and acknowledge the receipt of complaints 
                by individuals who believe they have been a victim of 
                mail, television, internet, telemarketing, and robocall 
                fraud in the Consumer Sentinel Network, and shall make 
                those complaints immediately available to Federal, 
                State, and local law enforcement authorities; and
                    (B) provide to individuals described in 
                subparagraph (A), and to any other persons, specific 
                and general information on mail, television, internet, 
                telemarketing, and robocall fraud, including 
                descriptions of the most common schemes using such 
                methods of communication.
    (b) Commencement.--The Commission shall commence carrying out the 
requirements of this section not later than one year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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