Pennsylvania Senate passes bill to protect seniors from financial scams
Pennsylvania lawmakers are working to combat financial scams targeting seniors with a bill passed nearly unanimously by the state Senate this week.
Senior narrowly avoids $10,000 scam
Seniors like Carol Axler, who enjoys playing cards at the West Shore Senior Center, have experienced the stress of being targeted by scammers. “He asked me to go to the bank and get $10,000 and tell them I want to buy a house,” Axler said. She ultimately avoided the scam after bank employees warned her. “I went back to where I lived, and I was sitting literally shaking in the parking lot, and it just ended there because I refused to answer the phone again for the rest of the night,” she said.
For seniors who fall victim to scams, the financial losses can be significant. “The time to act is now,” said Sen. Chris Gebhard, R-Lebanon County.
Bill would give banks authority to intervene
The legislation would require banks to report suspected fraudulent transactions targeting seniors and allow them to hold, cancel, or prevent such transactions. Tim Ward, vice president of government relations for the Pennsylvania Bankers Association, highlighted the urgency of the issue, noting, “Statistics from the FBI have shown that we are ninth in terms of elder financial fraud impacting Pennsylvania seniors.”
The bill would also authorize banks to contact a senior’s “authorized contact,” such as a guardian or lawyer, about potential fraud. “I think it would be very hard to be a bank teller, be somebody who works in the financial sector and know that the client that they probably have known for decades at this point is being the victim of a scam, but they don’t have much in their own authority to prevent it from happening,” Ward said.
Axler expressed hope that lawmakers will act to protect seniors. “Hey, we’re old. They are going to pick on us,” she said.
The bill could be voted on in the House next week, though the House is only scheduled to meet three more times this calendar year.
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