Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, is leading a bipartisan effort in the Senate to crack down on financial scams targeting older Americans with a bill aimed at equipping local and state law enforcement with more advanced tools and resources to track down scammers.
Scott, who chairs the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, joined Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, to introduce the Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception (GUARD) Act.
It is designed to help law enforcement investigate and combat increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes that have cost seniors billions in recent years.
"This bill helps ensure that local and state law enforcement can access critical tools like blockchain tracing technology that is already used by the Department of Justice to freeze hundreds of millions in stolen funds, and receive federal assistance to investigate these crimes more effectively," said Scott in a statement.
Scott says that scams cost Americans over age 60 more than $4.8 billion in 2024, with individuals aged 50 to 59 losing an additional $2.5 billion.
The senators say the GUARD Act would expand the use of existing federal grant programs to fund specialized training for officers and to incorporate technology like blockchain tracing to follow the digital trail of stolen funds. The legislation also aims to foster better coordination between federal and local agencies.
The bill builds on Scott's previous efforts to combat fraud, including the committee's annual Fraud Report, a national "Slam the Scam Day" resolution, and a toll-free Fraud Hotline to help seniors and families report and respond to suspicious activity.
Britt said the GUARD Act will close law enforcement gaps to "bring these faceless cowards to justice."
"Every day, scammers target our seniors, often robbing them of their hard-earned savings and stealing their personal information," said Gillibrand. "Far too often, local law enforcement agencies lack the resources they need to track down these criminals.
"Our GUARD Act would enhance law enforcement capabilities and foster much-needed cooperation between federal and local agencies to combat fraud and bring scammers to justice," Gillibrand added.
Sophisticated overseas criminals are stealing tens of billions of dollars from Americans every year, a crime wave projected to get worse as the U.S. population ages and technology like AI makes it easier than ever to perpetrate fraud and get away with it.
Internet and telephone scams have grown "exponentially," overwhelming police and prosecutors who catch and convict relatively few of the perpetrators, Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention at AARP's Fraud Watch Network, told the Associated Press last year.
Victims rarely get their money back, including older people who have lost life savings to romance scams, grandparent scams, technical support fraud and other common grifts.
"We are at a crisis level in fraud in society," Stokes said. "So many people have joined the fray because it is pretty easy to be a criminal. They don't have to follow any rules. And you can make a lot of money, and then there's very little chance that you're going to get caught."
The Federal Trade Commission says the "vast majority" of frauds go unreported. Often, victims are reluctant to come forward.
A 2023 AARP study calculated that Americans over 60 lose $28.3 billion each year to fraud. The Federal Trade Commission, seeking to account for unreported losses, estimated fraudsters stole a staggering $137 billion in 2022, including $48 billion from older adults. The authors of that study acknowledged a "considerable degree of uncertainty."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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