Fraud and Scam Reduction Act

IIB 117TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 1215 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 19, 2021 Received MAY 24, 2022 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AN ACT To establish an office within the Federal Trade Commission and an outside advisory group to prevent fraud targeting seniors and to direct the Commission to include addi- tional information in an annual report to Congress on 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RFS H1215 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 HR 1215 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2 ‘‘Fraud and Scam Reduction Act’’. 3 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 4 this Act is as follows: 5 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—PREVENTING CONSUMER SCAMS DIRECTED AT SENIORS Sec. 101. Short title. Sec. 102. Senior Scams Prevention Advisory Group. TITLE II—SENIOR FRAUD ADVISORY OFFICE Sec. 201. Short title. Sec. 202. Office for the Prevention of Fraud Targeting Seniors. TITLE III—BUDGETARY EFFECTS Sec. 301. Budgetary effects. TITLE I—PREVENTING CON- 6 SUMER SCAMS DIRECTED AT 7 SENIORS 8 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 9 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Senior Scams 10 Act’’. 11 SEC. 102. SENIOR SCAMS PREVENTION ADVISORY GROUP. 12 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Senior 13 Scams Prevention Advisory Group (referred to in this title 14 as the ‘‘Advisory Group’’). 15 (b) MEMBERS.—The Advisory Group shall be com- 16 posed of stakeholders such as the following individuals or 17 the designees of those individuals: 18 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RFS H1215 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 HR 1215 RFS (1) The Chairman of the Federal Trade Com- 1 mission. 2 (2) The Secretary of the Treasury. 3 (3) The Attorney General. 4 (4) The Director of the Bureau of Consumer 5 Financial Protection. 6 (5) Representatives from each of the following 7 sectors, including trade associations, to be selected 8 by the Federal Trade Commission: 9 (A) Retail. 10 (B) Gift cards. 11 (C) Telecommunications. 12 (D) Wire-transfer services. 13 (E) Senior peer advocates. 14 (F) Consumer advocacy organizations with 15 efforts focused on preventing seniors from be- 16 coming the victims of scams. 17 (G) Financial services, including institu- 18 tions that engage in digital currency. 19 (H) Prepaid cards. 20 (6) A member of the Board of Governors of the 21 Federal Reserve System. 22 (7) A prudential regulator, as defined in section 23 1002 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 24 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5481). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RFS H1215 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 HR 1215 RFS (8) The Director of the Financial Crimes En- 1 forcement Network. 2 (9) Any other Federal, State, or local agency, 3 industry representative, consumer advocate, or enti- 4 ty, as determined by the Federal Trade Commission. 5 (c) NO COMPENSATION FOR MEMBERS.—A member 6 of the Advisory Group shall serve without compensation 7 in addition to any compensation received for the service 8 of the member as an officer or employee of the United 9 States, if applicable. 10 (d) DUTIES.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Advisory Group shall— 12 (A) collect information on the existence, 13 use, and success of educational materials and 14 programs for retailers, financial services, and 15 wire-transfer companies, which— 16 (i) may be used as a guide to educate 17 employees on how to identify and prevent 18 scams that affect seniors; and 19 (ii) include— 20 (I) useful information for retail- 21 ers, financial services, and wire trans- 22 fer companies for the purpose de- 23 scribed in clause (i); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RFS H1215 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 HR 1215 RFS (II) training for employees on 1 ways to identify and prevent senior 2 scams; 3 (III) best practices for keeping 4 employees up to date on current 5 scams; 6 (IV) the most effective signage 7 and placement in retail locations to 8 warn seniors about scammers’ use of 9 gift cards, prepaid cards, and wire 10 transfer services; 11 (V) suggestions on effective col- 12 laborative community education cam- 13 paigns; 14 (VI) available technology to as- 15 sist in identifying possible scams at 16 the point of sale; and 17 (VII) other information that 18 would be helpful to retailers, wire 19 transfer companies, financial institu- 20 tions, and their employees as they 21 work to prevent fraud affecting sen- 22 iors; and 23 (B) based on the findings in subparagraph 24 (A)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RFS H1215 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 HR 1215 RFS (i) identify inadequacies, omissions, or 1 deficiencies in those educational materials 2 and programs for the categories listed in 3 subparagraph (A) and their execution in 4 reaching employees to protect older adults; 5 and 6 (ii) create model materials, best prac- 7 tices guidance, or recommendations to fill 8 those inadequacies, omissions, or defi- 9 ciencies that may be used by industry and 10 others to help protect older adults from 11 scams. 12 (2) ENCOURAGED USE.—The Chairman of the 13 Federal Trade Commission shall— 14 (A) make the materials or guidance cre- 15 ated by the Federal Trade Commission de- 16 scribed in paragraph (1) publicly available; and 17 (B) encourage the use and distribution of 18 the materials created under this subsection to 19 prevent scams affecting seniors by govern- 20 mental agencies and the private sector. 21 (e) REPORTS.—Section 101(c)(2) of the Elder Abuse 22 Prevention and Prosecution Act (34 U.S.C. 21711(c)(2)) 23 is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RFS H1215 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 HR 1215 RFS (1) in subparagraph (A)(iv), by striking the pe- 1 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; 2 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 3 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4 (3) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(C) with respect to the report by the Fed- 6 eral Trade Commission, in relevant years, in- 7 cluding information on— 8 ‘‘(i) the newly created materials, guid- 9 ance, or recommendations of the Senior 10 Scams Prevention Advisory Group estab- 11 lished under section 102 of the Stop Senior 12 Scams Act and any relevant views or con- 13 siderations made by members of the Advi- 14 sory Group that were not included in the 15 Advisory Group’s model materials or con- 16 sidered an official recommendation by the 17 Advisory Group; 18 ‘‘(ii) the Senior Scams Prevention Ad- 19 visory Group’s findings about senior scams 20 and industry educational materials and 21 programs; and 22 ‘‘(iii) any recommendations on ways 23 stakeholders can continue to work together 24 to reduce scams affecting seniors.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RFS H1215 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 HR 1215 RFS (f) TERMINATION.—This title, and the amendments 1 made by this title, ceases to be effective on the date that 2 is 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 3 TITLE II—SENIOR FRAUD 4 ADVISORY OFFICE 5 SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 6 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Seniors Fraud Preven- 7 tion Act of 2021’’. 8 SEC. 202. OFFICE FOR THE PREVENTION OF FRAUD TAR- 9 GETING SENIORS. 10 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF ADVISORY OFFICE.—The 11 Federal Trade Commission shall establish an office within 12 the Bureau of Consumer Protection for the purpose of ad- 13 vising the Commission on the prevention of fraud tar- 14 geting seniors and to assist the Commission with the fol- 15 lowing: 16 (1) OVERSIGHT.—The advisory office shall 17 monitor the market for mail, television, internet, 18 telemarketing, and recorded message telephone call 19 (hereinafter referred to as ‘‘robocall’’) fraud tar- 20 geting seniors and shall coordinate with other rel- 21 evant agencies regarding the requirements of this 22 section. 23 (2) CONSUMER EDUCATION.—The Commission 24 through the advisory office shall, in consultation 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RFS H1215 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 HR 1215 RFS with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health 1 and Human Services, the Postmaster General, the 2 Chief Postal Inspector for the United States Postal 3 Inspection Service, and other relevant agencies— 4 (A) disseminate to seniors and families and 5 caregivers of seniors general information on 6 mail, television, internet, telemarketing, and 7 robocall fraud targeting seniors, including de- 8 scriptions of the most common fraud schemes; 9 (B) disseminate to seniors and families 10 and caregivers of seniors information on report- 11 ing complaints of fraud targeting seniors either 12 to the national toll-free telephone number estab- 13 lished by the Commission for reporting such 14 complaints, or to the Consumer Sentinel Net- 15 work, operated by the Commission, where such 16 complaints will become immediately available to 17 appropriate law enforcement agencies, including 18 the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the at- 19 torneys general of the States; 20 (C) in response to a specific request about 21 a particular entity or individual, provide pub- 22 lically available information of enforcement ac- 23 tion taken by the Commission for mail, tele- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RFS H1215 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 HR 1215 RFS vision, internet, telemarketing, and robocall 1 fraud against such entity; and 2 (D) maintain a website to serve as a re- 3 source for information for seniors and families 4 and caregivers of seniors regarding mail, tele- 5 vision, internet, telemarketing, robocall, and 6 other identified fraud targeting seniors. 7 (3) COMPLAINTS.—The Commission through 8 the advisory office shall, in consultation with the At- 9 torney General, establish procedures to— 10 (A) log and acknowledge the receipt of 11 complaints by individuals who believe they have 12 been a victim of mail, television, internet, tele- 13 marketing, and robocall fraud in the Consumer 14 Sentinel Network, and shall make those com- 15 plaints immediately available to Federal, State, 16 and local law enforcement authorities; and 17 (B) provide to individuals described in sub- 18 paragraph (A), and to any other persons, spe- 19 cific and general information on mail, television, 20 internet, telemarketing, and robocall fraud, in- 21 cluding descriptions of the most common 22 schemes using such methods of communication. 23 (b) COMMENCEMENT.—The Commission shall com- 24 mence carrying out the requirements of this section not 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RFS H1215 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 HR 1215 RFS later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 1 Act. 2 TITLE III—BUDGETARY EFFECTS 3 SEC. 301. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 4 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 5 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 6 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 7 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 8 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 9 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro- 10 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 11 vote on passage. 12 Passed the House of Representatives April 15, 2021. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1215.RFS H1215 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS