AG HEALEY JOINS
BIPARTISAN COALITION URGING CONGRESS TO PASS LEGISLATION TO PROTECT SENIOR
CITIZENS FROM FRAUD AND SCAMS
Coalition Sends
Letter of Support for Fraud and Scam Reduction Act to Prevent Financial
Exploitation of Senior Citizens
BOSTON — Attorney General
Maura Healey has joined a bipartisan coalition of 47 attorneys general in urging
congressional leaders to support the Fraud and Scam Reduction Act,
which will assist stakeholders in training employees to recognize the warning
signs of elder fraud and to prevent irreversible damage to elderly victims.
“Our senior citizens are amongst
some of our most vulnerable residents being exploited through the mail, with
robocalls, and on the internet by fraudsters looking to make a profit,” said AG
Healey. “I’m joining my colleagues from all over the country to advocate
for this important legislation so that we can protect seniors from fraud and
scams through training and prevention.”
The act, H.R. 1215, is bipartisan legislation
– comprised of the Stop Senior Scam Act and Seniors Fraud Prevention
Act of 2021 – that will provide innovative ways to combat the financial
exploitation of senior citizens. The legislation will establish the Senior
Scams Prevention Advisory Group that is accountable to the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) and will collect data generated by stakeholders such as
retailers, financial services, and wire-transfer companies to help educate
employees on how to identify and prevent scams that target seniors. The group
will develop training and educational materials for those employees best suited
to identify the warning signs of elder fraud.
The act also establishes the Office
for the Prevention of Fraud Targeting Seniors—housed in the Bureau of Consumer
Protection of the FTC. The office will complement the efforts of the Senior
Scams Prevention Advisory Group by:
- Monitoring
emerging scams that target seniors through the internet, mail, robocalls,
telemarketing and television;
- Disseminating
information on common fraud schemes; and
- Sharing
information on how to report suspected senior fraud scams to a national
fraud hotline and the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network.
The FTC will also work with the
U.S. Attorney General’s Office to log and track complaints from victims and
relay the information to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.
To read the letter, click
here.
AG Healey joined the attorneys
general from the following states in signing on to the letter: Florida, New
York, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District
of Columbia, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern
Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode
Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia,
Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Earlier this year, the AG’s Office
held its first “Savvy
Senior Consumer Day”, which was a virtual summit that aimed to help elderly
residents and give them tips and resources on how to protect themselves from
scam and identity theft, especially during the pandemic.
Seniors in Massachusetts who have concerns about fraud and scams should reach
out to the AG’s Elder hotline number at (888)
AG-ELDER or (888) 243-5337.
