Seniors Fraud Prevention Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 982 To establish an office within the Federal Trade Commission to prevent fraud targeting seniors, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 11, 2021 Mr. DEUTCH (for himself, Mr. WELCH, and Mr. BUCHANAN) 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 to prevent fraud targeting seniors, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Seniors Fraud Preven- 4 tion Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. OFFICE FOR THE PREVENTION OF FRAUD TAR- 6 GETING SENIORS. 7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF ADVISORY OFFICE.—The 8 Federal Trade Commission shall establish an office within 9 the Bureau of Consumer Protection for the purpose of ad- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:30 Mar 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H982.IH H982 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 982 IH vising the Commission on the prevention of fraud tar- 1 geting seniors and to assist the Commission with the fol- 2 lowing: 3 (1) OVERSIGHT.—The advisory office shall 4 monitor the market for mail, television, internet, 5 telemarketing, and recorded message telephone call 6 (hereinafter referred to as ‘‘robocall’’) fraud tar- 7 geting seniors and shall coordinate with other rel- 8 evant agencies regarding the requirements of this 9 section. 10 (2) CONSUMER EDUCATION.—The Commission 11 through the advisory office shall, in consultation 12 with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health 13 and Human Services, the Postmaster General, the 14 Chief Postal Inspector for the United States Postal 15 Inspection Service, and other relevant agencies— 16 (A) disseminate to seniors and families and 17 caregivers of seniors general information on 18 mail, television, internet, telemarketing, and 19 robocall fraud targeting seniors, including de- 20 scriptions of the most common fraud schemes; 21 (B) disseminate to seniors and families 22 and caregivers of seniors information on report- 23 ing complaints of fraud targeting seniors either 24 to the national toll-free telephone number estab- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:30 Mar 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H982.IH H982 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 982 IH lished by the Commission for reporting such 1 complaints, or to the Consumer Sentinel Net- 2 work, operated by the Commission, where such 3 complaints will become immediately available to 4 appropriate law enforcement agencies, including 5 the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the at- 6 torneys general of the States; 7 (C) in response to a specific request about 8 a particular entity or individual, provide pub- 9 lically available information of enforcement ac- 10 tion taken by the Commission for mail, tele- 11 vision, internet, telemarketing, and robocall 12 fraud against such entity; and 13 (D) maintain a website to serve as a re- 14 source for information for seniors and families 15 and caregivers of seniors regarding mail, tele- 16 vision, internet, telemarketing, robocall, and 17 other identified fraud targeting seniors. 18 (3) COMPLAINTS.—The Commission through 19 the advisory office shall, in consultation with the At- 20 torney General, establish procedures to— 21 (A) log and acknowledge the receipt of 22 complaints by individuals who believe they have 23 been a victim of mail, television, internet, tele- 24 marketing, and robocall fraud in the Consumer 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:30 Mar 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H982.IH H982 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 982 IH Sentinel Network, and shall make those com- 1 plaints immediately available to Federal, State, 2 and local law enforcement authorities; and 3 (B) provide to individuals described in sub- 4 paragraph (A), and to any other persons, spe- 5 cific and general information on mail, television, 6 internet, telemarketing, and robocall fraud, in- 7 cluding descriptions of the most common 8 schemes using such methods of communication. 9 (b) COMMENCEMENT.—The Commission shall com- 10 mence carrying out the requirements of this section not 11 later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 12 Act. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:30 Mar 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H982.IH H982 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS