(PA) Casey Works to Stop Scammers from Stealing Seniors’ Savings
Casey to Scammers: Your Time is Up. You Will Not Steal One More Penny From Seniors
Casey and PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro Wrote a Letter to FCC: Finalize Rule to Safeguard Seniors from Spoofing
Watch Sen. Casey and Attorney General Shapiro’s Q&A
Washington, DC - Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, held a hearing, “Still Ringing Off The Hook: An Update on Efforts to Combat Robocalls.” During the hearing, Sen. Casey pledged his commitment to fighting to safeguard seniors from frauds and scams.
“It has been nearly eight months since the FCC first proposed a rule that would make it harder for scammers to spoof certain telephone numbers to trick people into answering their phones and creating opportunities for fraud and scams,” Sen. Bob Casey said. “Today, I call on the FCC to finalize this rule immediately, so that we can uphold our sacred responsibility to do more to safeguard older adults from frauds and scams.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a rule that would help prevent con artists from disguising themselves as a government agency or local business in an effort to entice someone to answer the phone. Today, Sen. Casey and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a witness at the hearing, wrote a letter to urge the FCC to finalize the rule.
In his testimony, Attorney General Josh Shapiro echoed Sen. Casey’s call for the FCC to finalize it’s anti-spoofing rule, stating “Education and outreach helps with prevention, but we also need the FCC to act, so we can get these spoofed calls, intended to trick and mislead Pennsylvanians, blocked and shut down for good.”
Illegal robocall schemes have victimized countless individuals, including seniors, robbing them of their hard-earned savings. According to data cited by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2016, consumers received approximately 2.4 billion robocalls per month. During the Aging Committee’s February hearing on scams Sen. Casey shared the story of one such victim, 80-year-old Arlene from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania who was scammed out of more than $800,000 through calls she received, claiming that she won an international lottery.
###
