Collins, Sinema Lead Resolution Supporting Designation of Today as “National Senior Fraud Awareness Day”
Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) are leading a bipartisan resolution supporting the designation of today, May 15th, as “National Senior Fraud Awareness Day.” Their resolution is co-sponsored by Senators Martha McSally (R-AZ), Bob Casey (D-PA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Doug Jones (D-AL), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
“As the Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, combatting fraud has long been one of my top priorities. The proliferation of scams exploiting people’s anxiety surrounding COVID-19 underscores the ruthlessness of these criminals,” said Senator Collins. We have made progress to protect seniors, and we must not relent in our efforts to stop con artists from defrauding their victims.”
“Raising awareness of coronavirus-related scams will help protect Arizona seniors from criminal fraudsters seeking to take advantage of this public health emergency,” said Senator Sinema.
Senators Collins and Sinema’s resolution raises awareness about the increasing number of fraudulent schemes targeting seniors in the United States, encourages the implementation of policies to prevent those schemes and protect seniors, and honors the individuals and organizations who work tirelessly to counteract these scams.
Each year, seniors are robbed of nearly $3 billion through an ever growing array of scams, ranging from Social Security impersonation scams to sweepstakes scams to grandparents scams. Increasingly, scammers are exploiting the ongoing coronavirus crisis to prey on seniors through economic impact payment scams, vaccine scams, test kit scams, contact tracing scams, and work-from-home scams.
Since 2013, the Aging Committee’s Fraud Hotline (1-855-303-9470) has received more than 9,500 complaints reporting possible scams from individuals in all 50 states. Each year, the Committee releases a Fraud Book, which details the top 10 most common scams reported to the Hotline. The Aging Committee has held 25 hearings in the past seven years to examine scams affecting older Americans.
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