Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Claire McCaskill D-MO) introduced legislation last week that would protect senior citizens from financial exploitation and fraud.
The Senior Safe Act of 2017 would provide support to regulators, financial institutions, and legal organizations to educate their employees on how to identify and prevent financial exploitation of senior citizens.
“Protecting seniors from financial exploitation and fraud is one of the top priorities of the Aging Committee,” Collins, chair of the Senate Aging Committee, said. “One factor is common to all the scams the Aging Committee has investigated —the fraudsters need to gain the trust and active cooperation of their victims. Without this, their schemes would fail.”
The Senior Safe Act is based on Maine’s Senior$afe program, a joint effort by the state of Maine’s regulators, financial institutions, and legal organizations to educate bank and credit union employees on financial exploitation of older Maine residents.
At a hearing last year held by the Senate Aging Committee on this topic, Jaye Martin, the director of Maine’s Legal Services for the Elderly, testified on the program’s effectiveness.
“Senior$afe has been an extraordinary success, and we were thrilled to see your leadership in taking the concept to the nation,” Martin said. “Hundreds of financial institution managers and employees have been trained, and we are really seeing that increase the number of seniors that are getting help before it’s too late.”
Financial fraud targeting older Americans is a growing epidemic that has cost seniors $2.9 billion, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Scams have included the “Jamaican Lottery Scam”, the IRS impersonation ruse, and the financial exploitation of seniors through guardianships.
“If we can better protect our seniors from fraudsters in some of the most vulnerable years of their lives, we should use every tool at our disposal to do so,” McCaskill said. “We’ve got to give financial professionals the ability to combat fraud when they see it—while protecting the privacy of their customers—so that no Missourian’s life savings are at risk of exploitation.”
Cosponsors of the bill include Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Jon Tester (D-MT), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), John Barrasso (R-WY), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Angus King (I-ME).