The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing recently titled “Stopping Senior Scams: Empowering Communities to Fight Fraud.”
Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-SC) and Chairman Bob Casey (D-PA) examined the most common scams targeting older adults and released the Aging Committee’s annual Fraud Book in English and Spanish, detailing the top 10 scams reported to the Aging Committee’s Fraud Hotline in 2021.
During the hearing, the senators highlighted the passage of their bipartisan Stop Senior Scams Act, which directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create a federal advisory council charged with improving education and training efforts so that businesses and financial institutions can better identify and prevent scams. The FTC convened its first meeting of the federal advisory council a week after the hearing.
In addition to the Committee’s annual fraud book, NRMLA created a brochure titled Recognize and Report Elder Financial Abuse that members are encouraged to download and share with clients.