AARP Fighting for You Against Fraud

AARP

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Published March 28, 2022

/ Updated July 12, 2024

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Consumer fraud is soaring. Reported losses to elder fraud totaled $3.4 billion in 2023, an increase of more than 14 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Reports involving older people increased by 14 percent from a year earlier. These crimes are underreported, so actual losses are much higher.

Though education empowers older Americans to protect themselves, more is needed to eliminate this large-scale problem. That’s why AARP advocates for laws and regulations at the state and federal levels to protect adults 50 and older. AARP has supported bipartisan legislation to strengthen consumer protections against scams, including bills that combat caller ID spoofing and illegal robocalls.

AARP endorsed the Veterans Protection From Fraud Act by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.). This legislation would enhance the criminal penalties for committing email or telemarketing fraud against veterans.
AARP endorsed the bipartisan Senior Security Act of 2023. The legislation by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) would help combat financial exploitation by creating an interdivisional task force at the Securities and Exchange Commission to examine and identify challenges that older people face while investing. The bill would require the Government Accountability Office to study and report on the economic costs of the financial abuse of older Americans.
On May 10, 2023, AARP sent a letter to Reps. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) and Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) endorsing the Reporting Instances of Non-authorized Grift (RING) Act of 2023. The bill would amend the Truth in Lending Act to require that certain creditors establish a toll-free phone number dedicated solely to assisting consumers 50 and older in resolving billing errors and mitigating fraudulent activity.
On March 7, AARP sent letters to lawmakers to endorse the Casualty Loss Deduction Restoration Act. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation would reinstate the casualty loss deduction, allowing taxpayers to deduct losses that were the result of unexpected disasters and theft, including fraud. It would reinstate this deduction retroactively, with a cap of $50,000 for retroactive claims. This would provide victims of fraud with some relief from their losses, even if they were unable to recover the funds stolen from them. AARP has long worked to educate consumers, support victims and improve fraud detection and prevention at financial institutions.

AARP has succeeded in winning approval for stricter consumer protections at the state level.

Multiple states: Protecting against real estate scams

Thirty states enacted legislation against the predatory practice of unscrupulous real estate brokers who misled homeowners into signing decades-long agreements that gave the brokers the exclusive right to sell the homes. The bills enacted in these states are based on a model bill designed by AARP and other national stakeholders. It prohibits service agreements of more than one year, makes the agreements nonrecordable in the deed or property record, and blocks liens or encumbrances associated with the land. It also prohibits locking homeowners into exclusive long-term real estate listing agreements and imposes penalties on brokers who do so. Samar Jha, governmental affairs director for AARP, worked on developing the model bill and assisted the state offices in advocating to pass the legislation. (Learn more on this episode of AARP’s The Perfect Scam podcast.)

Maryland: Gift card payment scams

Gov. Wes Moore signed into law legislation requiring businesses that sell gift cards to post a notice alerting customers about payment scams and to train their staff to identify and respond to gift card fraud. The bill bolsters efforts to curtail gift card scams and reduce this source of criminal money transfer by educating consumers, helping them to identify warning signs and encouraging reporting when residents are targeted by scammers.

Minnesota and Vermont: Cryptocurrency ATM/kiosk payment scams

The states passed anti-fraud legislation regulating cryptocurrency kiosks/ATMs. AARP Fraud Watch Network has increasingly received reports over the past few years of criminals directing victims of fraudulent schemes to pay via cryptocurrency ATM/kiosks. These machines, which look and operate like bank ATMs, allow people, including scammers, to send and receive cryptocurrency. Minnesota’s legislation will allow refunds for certain victims of fraud and sets daily transaction limits for new customers. Vermont’s legislation sets daily transaction limits for all customers and regulates fees.

New Mexico: Background checks

The state requires criminal history background checks at the Aging and Long-Term Services Department for employees, selected applicants and volunteers who work with vulnerable populations, including older people and those with disabilities, to try to prevent fraud and exploitation.

Wyoming: Victims can sue

Vulnerable adults have a legal cause of action against someone who exploited them. They, or certain individuals acting on their behalf, may file suit for actual damages (the amount stolen from the victim), punitive damages (penalties against the criminal) and attorney fees.

Florida: Suspicious transactions can be halted

The state passed a bill that allows banks and other financial institutions to briefly freeze a transaction or disbursement from a vulnerable adult’s account if they suspect that person is being exploited and they make a report to Adult Protective Services. The bill requires financial institutions to create policies and conduct training to educate employees who perform or approve transactions on issues related to financial exploitation.

Restitution for victims

AARP is pursuing state legislation — a consumer fraud restitution fund — that would provide a means for a state’s attorney general to get money back to victims.

Each year, attorneys general collect civil penalty payments from consumer fraud enforcement cases. When there are victims associated with a case, the money collected is restitution and goes to compensate them. Excess money, in most cases, will go into the state’s general fund.

Under AARP’s model bill, excess money would instead be directed to a new fund. The state attorney general would use that money to pay restitution to consumers defrauded in cases in which the attorney general was unable to collect money from scammers.

There are few viable options for recovering money lost to scams. Funds like these could help solve this problem.

More ways AARP is working for you:

AARP Fraud Watch Network leads an effort to fundamentally change how our country responds to the crime of fraud. The team reaches out to federal and state agencies, other nonprofits, the news media and consumers to change the narrative on fraud victims. The goal is to increase understanding that fraud is a punishable crime, that the perpetrators are largely transnational organized criminal enterprises funding atrocities such as human trafficking and that it is not the fault of victims deceived by scams. We aim to convince federal and state law enforcement to do more to pursue these criminals. Learn more by watching a TEDx Talk by Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention programs at AARP Fraud Watch Network.
AARP, through its award-winning BankSafe Initiative, offers free online training to employees of banks and credit unions to help them identify and stop suspected fraud before any money leaves a customer’s account. The initiative expanded to the retail sector to encourage frontline employees in stores to intervene when a customer appears to be buying gift cards at the direction of a criminal under false pretenses.
AARP Fraud Watch Network’s site (aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork) includes news on fraud and scam-fighting tips to thwart criminals. You can sign up for biweekly Watchdog Alerts by email or text to stay on top of the latest schemes.
The VOA ReST (Resilience, Strength and Time) program, a collaboration between AARP and Volunteers of America (VOA), offers free online facilitated emotional support sessions for fraud victims.