Legislation that would fund a $10 million educational outreach program to help protect senior citizens from telemarketing fraud – and help curb a $40 billion industry – is once again circulating Congress. Older citizens frequently wind up on “mooch lists” compiled by fraudulent telemarketers to identify easy targets, according to law enforcement officials.
Though the American Association of Retired Persons supports the bill, administrators at the special interest group have questions about where exactly the money to fund the program would come from. There is some concern it might extract money from other programs that also benefit senior citizens, according to a regional spokesperson.
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AARP is in the middle of its own two-year campaign to combat telemarketing fraud. In some instances, AARP officials have obtained copies of mooch lists, then contacted the people listed so they would be aware of being a potential target.
The bill, which was written by U.S. Rep. Robert Weygand and submitted on Feb. 4, is called the Protection Against Scams on Seniors Act or the PASS Act. Weygand originally submitted the bill in 1997, but it didn’t make it through the legislative process during the last go-round. It had to be resubmitted this year.
Under existing laws, people convicted of telemarketing fraud face penalties of up to five years in prison if the victim is younger than 55 and up to 10 years in prison if the victim is older than that.
The PASS Act also proposes extending the country’s current law against telemarketing or wire fraud to include similar crimes committed via the Internet. The statute now only includes schemes to illegally obtain money or property, which are “transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television.” The penalty for breaking the law is a fine of up to $1 million, up to 30 years in prison, or both.
Glenn Koocher, manager of programs and advocacy for the AARP’s Northeast regional office in Boston, said: “We certainly applaud the intention of the bill. The only outstanding question would be where would the funding be coming from?
”To the best of our knowledge it’s unclear where the money would come from,” Koocher said.
It would be up to the appropriations’ committee to determine where the money would come from, he added. Funding for Social Security and Medicare would not be affected by this plan, but there are other programs targeting seniors that could sustain cuts to fund the PASS Act if it is indeed passed, Koocher explained.
For instance, the Older Americans Act could be affected, according to Koocher. That act supports home care, as well as information and referral services regarding home health care, and locally provides some financial support for the Department of Elderly Affairs in Rhode Island, he said.
Though it would be helpful to include the Internet under the wire fraud statute, Koocher said administrators at AARP don’t expect such a move to stop Internet fraud.
”It is a benefit, but we’d have to be very naïve ,” he said. “I think Internet fraud is going to be tougher to identify than telemarketing, because it’s so big and impersonal.”
Thirty percent of AARP’s members report regularly using the Internet. It is the nation’s largest organization for people 50 and over and sponsors education, advocacy and community service programs. There are 125,000 AARP members in Rhode Island.
While Weygand is hoping to win approval for his bill in the House of Representatives, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, was preparing to submit companion legislation in the Senate. As of early last week the Senate version had not been submitted.Introducing the bill in both the House and Senate increases its chances of passing.
This issue was included in this year’s Unified Democratic Agenda, which means party members in Congress decided it’s a priority issue.
About 10 percent of the United State’s 140,000 telemarketing companies fraudulently try to take money from the people they call
on, according to Congressional findings. Of those companies that are conducting fraudulent activities, 78 percent target senior citizens as potential victims, according to Gail Marcinkiewicz, a spokeswoman from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s regional office in Boston.
And the FBI has seen “an increase in targeting elderly,” she said.
An FBI witness, who once participated in fraudulent telemarketing schemes, testified that retirees are targeted for a number of reasons including: the fact they are easily accessible by phone; they are typically intent on increasing their nest egg; there’s a chance the person’s memory won’t be very good and they won’t record phone conversation details in writing; and they don’t ask for written guarantees.
Another reason the witness cited, which FBI officials found particularly significant, “once they realize the deceit they are too embarrassed to relay the deceit to law enforcement, off spring and friends,” Marcinkiewicz said.
”Many are businessmen who’d routinely committed to business deals over the phone over the years,” she added.
