Congress Looking for Private Industry Help With Stopping Senior Scams

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kans.) has proposed a bipartisan measure to crack down on financial scams targeting seniors through public-private partnerships with eight industries, reports KKTV . The plan would be to enlist those industries to make seniors more capable of spotting scams. "This is a lot about ... the private sector, being willing to help train their employees to spot a scam, so they can warn an older adult 'do not go down this path, it's not for real,'" Moran said. The bill requires placing two representatives on the advisory council from the retail, gift card, telecommunications, wire-transfer service, senior peer service, consumer advocacy, financial service, and prepaid card sectors. New penalties for scammers or for phone companies are not specified in the proposal. "I know that many people in the business community may grit their teeth at it," Moran acknowledged. "But this type of legislation ... probably has more promise to addressing the situation than allowing private enterprise to come up with a solution on their own."