Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) reintroduced a bill on Thursday that seeks to protect senior citizens and disabled people from being financially exploited.
The Financial Exploitation Prevention Act would require the Securities and Exchange Commission to report to Congress on the best ways to change legislative and regulatory codes to combat these groups from financial exploitation.
This bill proposal also allows investment companies to delay paying out money from an investment if there is suspicion of someone trying to exploit a senior citizen or a disabled person.
Hagerty said senior citizens are losing billions of dollars from financial exploitation scams. The Tennessee senator stated he is “pleased to reintroduce this legislation with Senator Gallego to provide financial professionals the ability to address the growing issue of financial exploitation and abuse of vulnerable investors.”
In 2023, Hagerty introduced this bill, but it never made it out of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Gallego stated Arizona senior citizens “fall victim to scammers who target their hard-earned life savings.”
“Once the money is gone from their accounts, it’s almost impossible to get back. I’m proud to lead this legislation to strengthen the financial industry’s banks’ ability to step in when they suspect fraud and give seniors a critical safeguard against bad actors,” Gallego explained.
He added that this bill will help Arizona senior citizens “keep their accounts safe when they need them most.”
According to the United Health Foundation, 18 percent of the American population is over the age of 65.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated senior citizens lost nearly $5 billion last year to financial scams, which was up 43 percent from 2023.
Furthermore, the FBI noted the reported losses are likely to be higher, as senior citizens are less likely to report fraud due to unfamiliarity with the reporting process, embarrassment, and a lack of awareness that they have been scammed.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected].
