Hawaii Attorney General Urges Congressional Support for Fraud and Scam Reduction Act

Hawaii Attorney General Clare E. Connors joined a coalition of 47 Attorneys General urging congressional leaders to support the Fraud and Scam Reduction Act. This legislation, comprised of the Stop Senior Scam Act and Seniors Fraud Prevention Act of 2021, will assist stakeholders in training employees to recognize the warning signs of elder fraud and to prevent irreversible damage to elderly victims.

“Far too often, our senior citizens become the target of unscrupulous scammers seeking to defraud them of the hard-earned savings they need to survive,” Attorney General Connors said.  “We must use every resource available to prevent these kinds of crimes, and build stronger partnerships with businesses and other entities who can assist with data collection and education.”

The act, H.R. 1215, is bipartisan legislation 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). The group 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 targeting 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 in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection which will complement the efforts of the Senior Scams Prevention Advisory Group by:

• Monitoring emerging scams targeting 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.

Attorney General Connors 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, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, 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.

A copy of the letter can be found here.