Fraud and Scam Reduction Act

In the Senate of the United States, December 17, 2020. Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representa- tives (H.R. 2610) entitled ‘‘An Act to establish an office within the Federal Trade Commission and an outside advi- sory group to prevent fraud targeting seniors and to direct the Commission to study and submit a report to Congress on scams targeting seniors and Indian tribes, and for other pur- poses.’’, do pass with the following AMENDMENT: Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following: 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. 2 † HR 2610 EAS TITLE II—SENIOR FRAUD ADVISORY OFFICE Sec. 201. Short title. Sec. 202. Office for the Prevention of Fraud Targeting Seniors. TITLE I—PREVENTING CON- 1 SUMER SCAMS DIRECTED AT 2 SENIORS 3 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 4 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Senior Scams 5 Act’’. 6 SEC. 102. SENIOR SCAMS PREVENTION ADVISORY GROUP. 7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Senior 8 Scams Prevention Advisory Group (referred to in this title 9 as the ‘‘Advisory Group’’). 10 (b) MEMBERS.—The Advisory Group shall be com- 11 posed of stakeholders such as the following individuals or 12 the designees of those individuals: 13 (1) The Chairman of the Federal Trade Commis- 14 sion. 15 (2) The Secretary of the Treasury. 16 (3) The Attorney General. 17 (4) The Director of the Bureau of Consumer Fi- 18 nancial Protection. 19 (5) Representatives from each of the following 20 sectors, including trade associations, to be selected by 21 Federal Trade Commission: 22 (A) Retail. 23 3 † HR 2610 EAS (B) Gift cards. 1 (C) Telecommunications. 2 (D) Wire-transfer services. 3 (E) Senior peer advocates. 4 (F) Consumer advocacy organizations with 5 efforts focused on preventing seniors from becom- 6 ing the victims of scams. 7 (G) Financial services, including institu- 8 tions that engage in digital currency. 9 (H) Prepaid cards. 10 (6) A member of the Board of Governors of the 11 Federal Reserve System. 12 (7) A prudential regulator, as defined in section 13 1002 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 14 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5481). 15 (8) The Director of the Financial Crimes En- 16 forcement Network. 17 (9) Any other Federal, State, or local agency, in- 18 dustry representative, consumer advocate, or entity, 19 as determined by the Federal Trade Commission. 20 (c) NO COMPENSATION FOR MEMBERS.—A member of 21 the Advisory Group shall serve without compensation in ad- 22 dition to any compensation received for the service of the 23 member as an officer or employee of the United States, if 24 applicable. 25 4 † HR 2610 EAS (d) DUTIES.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Advisory Group shall— 2 (A) collect information on the existence, use, 3 and success of educational materials and pro- 4 grams for retailers, financial services, and wire- 5 transfer companies, which— 6 (i) may be used as a guide to educate 7 employees on how to identify and prevent 8 scams that affect seniors; and 9 (ii) include— 10 (I) useful information for retail- 11 ers, financial services, and wire trans- 12 fer companies for the purpose described 13 in clause (i); 14 (II) training for employees on 15 ways to identify and prevent senior 16 scams; 17 (III) best practices for keeping 18 employees up to date on current scams; 19 (IV) the most effective signage and 20 placement in retail locations to warn 21 seniors about scammers’ use of gift 22 cards, prepaid cards, and wire transfer 23 services; 24 5 † HR 2610 EAS (V) suggestions on effective col- 1 laborative community education cam- 2 paigns; 3 (VI) available technology to assist 4 in identifying possible scams at the 5 point of sale; and 6 (VII) other information that 7 would be helpful to retailers, wire 8 transfer companies, financial institu- 9 tions, and their employees as they work 10 to prevent fraud affecting seniors; and 11 (B) based on the findings in subparagraph 12 (A)— 13 (i) identify inadequacies, omissions, or 14 deficiencies in those educational materials 15 and programs for the categories listed in 16 subparagraph (A) and their execution in 17 reaching employees to protect older adults; 18 and 19 (ii) create model materials, best prac- 20 tices guidance, or recommendations to fill 21 those inadequacies, omissions, or defi- 22 ciencies that may be used by industry and 23 others to help protect older adults from 24 scams. 25 6 † HR 2610 EAS (2) ENCOURAGED USE.—The Chairman of the 1 Federal Trade Commission shall— 2 (A) make the materials or guidance created 3 by the Federal Trade Commission described in 4 paragraph (1) publicly available; and 5 (B) encourage the use and distribution of 6 the materials created under this subsection to 7 prevent scams affecting seniors by governmental 8 agencies and the private sector. 9 (e) REPORTS.—Section 101(c)(2) of the Elder Abuse 10 Prevention and Prosecution Act (34 U.S.C. 21711(c)(2)) is 11 amended— 12 (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 13 the end; 14 (2) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period 15 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 16 (3) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(E) for the Federal Trade Commission, in 18 relevant years, information on— 19 ‘‘(i) the newly created materials, guid- 20 ance, or recommendations of the Senior 21 Scams Prevention Advisory Group estab- 22 lished under section 102 of the Stop Senior 23 Scams Act, and any relevant views or con- 24 siderations made by members of the Advi- 25 7 † HR 2610 EAS sory Group that were not included in the 1 Advisory Group’s model materials or con- 2 sidered an official recommendation by the 3 Advisory Group; 4 ‘‘(ii) the Senior Scams Prevention Ad- 5 visory Group’s findings about senior scams 6 and industry educational materials and 7 programs; and 8 ‘‘(iii) any recommendations on ways 9 stakeholders can continue to work together 10 to reduce scams affecting seniors.’’. 11 (f) TERMINATION.—This title, and the amendments 12 made by this title, ceases to be effective on the date that 13 is 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 14 TITLE II—SENIOR FRAUD 15 ADVISORY OFFICE 16 SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 17 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Seniors Fraud Preven- 18 tion Act of 2020’’. 19 SEC. 202. OFFICE FOR THE PREVENTION OF FRAUD TAR- 20 GETING SENIORS. 21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF ADVISORY OFFICE.—The Fed- 22 eral Trade Commission shall establish an office within the 23 Bureau of Consumer Protection for the purpose of advising 24 8 † HR 2610 EAS the Commission on the prevention of fraud targeting seniors 1 and to assist the Commission with the following: 2 (1) OVERSIGHT.—The advisory office shall mon- 3 itor the market for mail, television, internet, tele- 4 marketing, and recorded message telephone call (here- 5 inafter referred to as ‘‘robocall’’) fraud targeting sen- 6 iors and shall coordinate with other relevant agencies 7 regarding the requirements of this section. 8 (2) CONSUMER EDUCATION.—The Commission 9 through the advisory office shall, in consultation with 10 the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and 11 Human Services, the Postmaster General, the Chief 12 Postal Inspector for the United States Postal Inspec- 13 tion Service, and other relevant agencies— 14 (A) disseminate to seniors and families and 15 caregivers of seniors general information on 16 mail, television, internet, telemarketing, and 17 robocall fraud targeting seniors, including de- 18 scriptions of the most common fraud schemes; 19 (B) disseminate to seniors and families and 20 caregivers of seniors information on reporting 21 complaints of fraud targeting seniors either to 22 the national toll-free telephone number estab- 23 lished by the Commission for reporting such 24 complaints, or to the Consumer Sentinel Net- 25 9 † HR 2610 EAS work, operated by the Commission, where such 1 complaints will become immediately available to 2 appropriate law enforcement agencies, including 3 the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the at- 4 torneys general of the States; 5 (C) in response to a specific request about 6 a particular entity or individual, provide pub- 7 lically available information of enforcement ac- 8 tion taken by the Commission for mail, tele- 9 vision, internet, telemarketing, and robocall 10 fraud against such entity; and 11 (D) maintain a website to serve as a re- 12 source for information for seniors and families 13 and caregivers of seniors regarding mail, tele- 14 vision, internet, telemarketing, robocall, and 15 other identified fraud targeting seniors. 16 (3) COMPLAINTS.—The Commission through the 17 advisory office shall, in consultation with the Attor- 18 ney General, establish procedures to— 19 (A) log and acknowledge the receipt of com- 20 plaints by individuals who believe they have been 21 a victim of mail, television, internet, tele- 22 marketing, and robocall fraud in the Consumer 23 Sentinel Network, and shall make those com- 24 10 † HR 2610 EAS plaints immediately available to Federal, State, 1 and local law enforcement authorities; and 2 (B) provide to individuals described in sub- 3 paragraph (A), and to any other persons, spe- 4 cific and general information on mail, television, 5 internet, telemarketing, and robocall fraud, in- 6 cluding descriptions of the most common schemes 7 using such methods of communication. 8 (b) COMMENCEMENT.—The Commission shall com- 9 mence carrying out the requirements of this section not later 10 than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act. 11 Attest: Secretary. 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H.R. 2610 AMENDMENT