What is the Senior Safe Act?

Find out how the proposed law would help protect the elderly

Elder financial fraud in the U.S. has now reached an epidemic level. According to an estimate from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), seniors are scammed out of almost $3 billion every year. Fortunately, plans are in the works to help stop this growing problem.

Earlier this year, Senators Susan Collins and Claire McCaskill introduced the Senior Safe Act. This bipartisan legislation aims to protect older people from financial exploitation and fraud. If passed, support would be given to regulators and financial institutions to educate employees about identifying and preventing abuse.

The Senior Safe Act stems from Maine’s Senior Safe program, which has been a collaboration by state regulators and legal organizations to educate bank and credit union employees on elder fraud. Jaye Martin, the Director of Maine’s Legal Services for the Elderly, said the program has been very successful.

“Hundreds of financial institution managers and employees have been trained, and we are really seeing an increase in the number of seniors that are getting help before it’s too late,” Martin said.

A big issue with elder financial fraud is that it often goes unreported. Due to current privacy laws, even if a bank or other financial institution suspects fraud, it can be difficult to report it.

“One of the biggest problems we’ve had with financial institutions is making these reports,” said Diane Menio, executive director of the Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, at a Senate hearing.

As long as employees have been trained and reports have been made in good faith and to the appropriate regulatory authorities, the Senior Safe Act would offer protection against civil lawsuits.

“If we can better protect our seniors from fraudsters in some of the most vulnerable years of their lives, we should use every tool at our disposal to do so,” Senator McCaskill said. “We’ve got to give financial professionals the ability to combat fraud when they see it—while protecting the privacy of their customers.”

The Senior Safe Act is currently awaiting a vote in the Senate.

Until more laws and protections like the Senior Safe Act go into effect, elderly people are still at risk for being bilked out of their money. If this has happened to you, you should know that you may be able to recover lost funds. If a broker or other financial professional used fraudulent tactics that resulted in you losing money, securities arbitration could help you get it back.

To learn more, get in touch with the Silver Law Group for a free consultation. Scott Silver is the current chair of the American Trial Lawyers Association Securities and Financial Fraud Group and our expert legal team represents clients in securities law arbitration cases and victims of investment fraud to help them recover lost funds and get a sense of justice. We only work on contingency, so unless you reclaim money, you won’t owe us anything.