Chairman Rick Scott of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging led a field hearing in Doral, Florida, focused on protecting seniors from fraud and financial exploitation. The event, titled “Protecting Florida’s Seniors: Fighting Fraud and Financial Exploitation,” brought together law enforcement officials, advocacy groups, and experts to address the growing problem of scams targeting older Americans.
The hearing followed the committee’s release of its 2025 Fraud Report, which documents an increase in sophisticated scams using artificial intelligence. According to the report, seniors lost over $4.8 billion to fraud in 2024 alone. Those aged 50-59 suffered an additional $2.5 billion in losses.
Expert witnesses included Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz; Jeff Johnson, state director for AARP Florida; Kathy Kraninger, president and CEO of the Florida Bankers Association; and Brandy Bauer from the State Health Insurance Assistance Program Technical Assistance Center and Senior Medicare Patrol National Resource Center. They discussed how public awareness campaigns, community-based interventions, and coordination among caregivers and law enforcement can help prevent elder abuse.
Chairman Scott highlighted recent legislative efforts aimed at combating these crimes. He has introduced two bills: the STOP Scammers Act and the GUARD Act. The STOP Scammers Act would give the Treasury Department new powers to designate scam networks as “Foreign Financial Threat Organizations,” allowing authorities to freeze assets and cut off access to U.S. financial systems for those found preying on American seniors.
Scott addressed attendees with prepared remarks:
“The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging will now come to order.
Thank you all for being here today. It’s wonderful to be back home in Florida as we continue doing the work of this committee.
I want to thank the Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s department for hosting us, and I’d like to recognize all the local leaders who are joining us today for this very important discussion.
One of the biggest issues I hear about from Floridians and seniors around the country is the growing threat of scams, fraud, and financial exploitation.
Whether it’s a phone call from someone posing as a grandchild in trouble, a suspicious investment scheme delivered through the mail, or an email from a government imposter threatening jail time, these criminals are targeting our seniors with increasing sophistication.
Our seniors are often especially vulnerable to this kind of fraud. Sadly, for many older Americans, falling victim to a scam doesn’t just mean losing money; it can also mean losing peace of mind, trust in others, and confidence in themselves while navigating daily life.
As this committee has heard many times before, this is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year problem.
In 2024, Americans over 60 years of age lost a staggering $4.8 billion to scams. And that’s just what scams have been reported.
Many seniors don’t report being scammed out of fear, shame, or the simple belief that nothing can or will be done. Many also aren’t sure where or how to go about reporting what happened.
Unfortunately, the status quo for too long in Washington has been to hold hearings, issue reports, and move on to the next issue without ever taking meaningful steps to fix the problem.
That is unacceptable, and we cannot let that happen here. Especially when our parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends are being actively targeted by criminals every day.
Many seniors live on fixed incomes, and this kind of exploitation can be the difference between a comfortable retirement filled with connection and security,
and financially struggling through their golden years with feelings of distrust
and isolation.
That’s why we’re focused on combating fraud
and scams at every level.
We need
to highlight
and discuss how we can effectively empower seniors,
families,
and our communities
to safe-guard themselves
and our aging friends
and neighbors against these scam-artists.
And then we must act
to fight back
and protect seniors.
Many of these actions are highlighted in our 2025 Fraud Report.
I’m grateful
to my colleagues on this Committee for working with me
to put this report together.
The report,
which is available online at Aging.Senate.Gov/SCAM,
includes helpful information meant
to prevent fraud
and provide resources for our seniors
to report scams when they happen.
It’s time we stopped playing defense
and started going on offense.
We must support our law enforcement,
educate the public,
and get innovative on how we protect vulnerable Americans.
That’s why we’re here in the great State of Florida for today’s hearing.
Our state is home to more than 4 million seniors.
It is a hotspot for retirees
and,
unfortunately,
scam activity.
That’s why I’ve made it a priority
to work with local,
state,
and federal law enforcement,
community groups,
and our state leaders
to fight fraud head-on.
We also need
to take a hard look at where many
of these scams are coming from.
Increasingly,
we’re seeing coordinated,
transnational fraud operations—especially from Communist China
and other foreign adversaries—targeting our seniors here at home.
These aren’t isolated incidents.
They’re large-scale operations run from overseas call centers,
often with
the knowledge,
or even
the protection,
of regimes like
the Chinese Communist Party.
These groups use stolen data,
AI technology,
and cryptocurrency
to exploit vulnerable Americans.
This is more than just a consumer protection issue;
it’s a national security concern.We need
to treat it like one
and hold these foreign actors accountable
for enabling criminal activity that harms American seniors.That’s why I introduced the STOP Scammers Act.This bill gives the Treasury Department the authority to formally designate scam networks as “Foreign Financial Threat Organizations” and freeze their assets,cute off their communication lines,and block their access to our financial system.If a foreign organization is preying on American seniors,the should be treated with the same seriousness an penalties as any other threat t oour national security.That's exactly what teh STOP Scammers Act allows us todo.Today,we will hear from leaders whoare combatingthis issueon teh frontlinesinourcommunities.Wellhearhowtheyareworking tofightfraudndprotectourseniors.Ourgoal today issimple–educatethepubliconthisimportantissueanstartremovingthestigmaassociatedwithreportingfraudndscamswhentheyhappen.Wewillhearfromourcommunityleadersonhowt accomplishthiswhatproactivestepswecantakeotprotectourvulnerablepopulationsagainstscammers,andhowwecanempowerourseniorstorecognizethesethreats.Seniorsdeservetofeelsafewhenansweringthephoneopeningtheiremail,andtrustingthepeoplearoundthem.Theyalsodeservetofeelliketheywillbeheardandtthattheirconcernsarevalidwhentheyreportfraudtolocalauthorities.Oftentimes,itislawenforcementthat'slefttopickupthepiecesbysupportingvictimsinvestigatingthesecrimes,andtryingtostopthemfromhappeningagain.ThisisonereasonI RankingMemberGillibrandsjoinedwithSenatorBrittintrotroducetheGUARDAct.Thisbillsupportslawenforcementinvestigationsintoscamsagainstretireesandexpendstheuseofexistinggrantstogoafterfraudnetworks.Theworkourlawenforcementplaysinidentifyingandinvestigatingscamsagainstretireesiscrucialtothisfight.”
The committee plans further outreach efforts aimed at educating both senior citizens and their families about prevention strategies.
