House Passes Blunt Rochester’s Fraud & Scam Reduction Act
Washington,
November 17, 2020
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Andrew Donnelly
(302-893-4406)
WASHINGTON - Today, the United States House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 2610, the Fraud & Scam Reduction Act sponsored by Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich). The bill was originally introduced by Blunt Rochester as the Stop Senior Scams Act in May of 2019. The Fraud & Scam Reduction Act would establish a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Advisory Council, creating a public-private partnership to coordinate and share anti-scam resources with seniors and establishes a permanent Senior Fraud Advisory Office. The bill also helps prevent scams targeting seniors during national emergencies and scams targeting Native Americans.
“Bad actors preying on older Americans is, unfortunately, nothing new. But in the midst of a global pandemic impacting Americans’ lives and livelihoods, cracking down on those scams must be a priority,” said Blunt Rochester. “This bill, as its name suggests, was aimed at cracking down on these scams by bringing public and private stakeholders together to educate financial institutions, retailers, and seniors about potential scams. I want to thank my colleagues, Democratic and Republican, for their work in helping us establish a permanent Senior Fraud Advisory Office and their vote to protect our seniors.”
“Today's seniors face a constant threat of being targeted by financial scammers. Our bill will enhance public-private coordination to better safeguard our most vulnerable citizens and help stop this fraudulent activity before it's too late,” said Walberg. “I am glad to work with Rep. Blunt Rochester on this bipartisan effort to protect seniors and the savings they worked a lifetime to achieve.”
H.R. 2610 establishes a Senior Scams Prevention Advisory Council, which will create model educational materials for employees of retailers, financial-services, and wire-transfer companies on how to identify and prevent scams that affect seniors.
During its markup in the Energy & Commerce Committee, the Stop Senior Scams Act was amended to change the title of the bill to the Fraud and Scam Reduction Act and added text from four additional bills: H.R. 2301, the Seniors Fraud Prevention Act of 2019; H.R. 7699, the Protecting Seniors from Emergency Scams Act; H.R. 8127, the Protecting Indian Tribes from Scams Act, and H.R. 8152, the FTC Collaboration Act.
The Fraud & Scam Reduction Act will now go to the United States Senate, where it awaits passage.
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