minutes. >> the hearing will come to order. we convene today to discuss a topic of the utmost importance to the aging community. fighting frauds and scams targeting seniors. while these predatory schemes have existed for decades. we know the pandemic is only exacerbated this issue. as fraudsters preyed on a fear and uncertainty surrounding the virus. federal agencies state governments and advocates all warn of con artists who will do among the following. they'll pose as federal and state agencies to steal benefits. they will falsely -- falsify i should say romantic relationship to gain a seniors trust. by way of a third example, petal fake health insurance in carers for the virus. scammers are also using new payment methods making losses difficult to trace. the federal trade commission reports that gift cards are the main payment method used by scammers to request and steal money from older adults. in 2021, 27% of adults 16 older who lost money paid a scam or using a gift card or a reloadable card. period of pure payment apps like zelle, venmo, cashup and paypal are also increasingly used by scammers. today, are really a cost again from pittsburgh pennsylvania will share her experience with a peer to peer payment scam. miss costa gantz story is all too common. scammers request payments from seniors by way of these apps. have increased exponentially. from 2% in 2017 to 10% in 2021. that's why i recently -- urging the agency to move forward with guidance. guidance to protect older adults from con artist using these apps. i'd like to thank members of the committee who have joined the letter. senator blumenthal, senator warren, senator gillibrand. strong guidance and enforcement are critical. as is education and preventing education on preventing an responding to the scams. i'm also proud that my stop senior scam act was signed into law in march of this year. thanks to senator moran and senator kelly and ranking member scott for working alongside me and others to pass this important legislation. thank you, member scott, for that work. this law creates a senior scams advisory council to ensure that banks and other businesses have both the information and the tools they need to train employees to identify and respond to scams. we are grateful to the federal trade commission for its work to lead this effort. and i'm pleased to this new council will hold its first convening one week from today. finally, ranking member scott and i are releasing our 2022 fraud book. here it is. all hold up both versions. in english and in spanish. we're releasing this as many of you know. we've done this on an annual basis. this is the 2022 book which arms older adults with the information that they need to protect themselves from scammers. this new and improved fraud book is available today in both english and spanish. the fraud book highlights the ten most common scams. reported to the committees fraud which is staff monday through friday. 90 am to 5 am eastern time. seniors in their loved ones can seek assistance with reporting fraud and getting connected to resources. the frauds hotline toll free number is 1855303. nine for 70. well read that again. 18 553039470. i am proud of the committee's bipartisan leadership on this issue. but we know that we have a lot more work to do. we have a sacred duty to protect seniors and their families against these scammers, these criminals. i look forward to continuing to work together on this. i will now turn to ranking member scott for his opening statement. >> thank, you chairman casey. thank you for working in a bipartisan fasten on some of the issues that impact our seniors across the country. the one thing about this committee that i think all americans can celebrate is the fact that this is a bipartisan effort that our seniors every step of the way. we need more bipartisan in congress unquestioned. thank you for your leadership. i do think it's important to once again reinforce the hotline. this is the tenth anniversary of the aging committee skyline. fraud hotline. the number again as sherman casey has that a couple of times is eight 553039470. so important for our senior snow there is help out there. one of the easiest ways for our seniors to find help is to call the hotline when necessary. seniors often live alone. or are isolated. loved ones and vulnerable people aren't out there for them. i would say that when you think about the scams, the devastating effect it has on people with fixed incomes is undeniable and it's really hard to replace income when you're on a fixed income. on average, seniors lose about $34,200 for every instance of a scam or fraud. in 2021, according to the ftc, scammers stole one billion dollars from our seniors. a billion dollars. in 2021 alone in south carolina -- communities lost 48 point $4 million to scams and frauds. the consequences to this scam, fraudsters, our many for our seniors. including losing purchasing power. trying to maintain good credit. affording the cost of their homes. losing sleep. it is an absolute catastrophic experience when one experiences a scam or a fraud. scams also have unseen consequences leaving seniors depressed, embarrassed and feeling betrayed. for example, joe saxton, a navy veteran form south carolina last year. she received a call from two scammers impersonating law enforcement. they told her that several people in texas had stolen her social security number and opened up checking accounts. in order for her to avoid the ramifications of law enforcement, she had to send them $22,000 in cash. remember that this all happened over a single day. the sense of urgency and the pressure placed on these seniors to make fast decisions that have financial consequences that are devastating happened so quickly. under this immense pressure, joe sent two packages of cash. one to multiple -- baltimore in maryland, the other one in little rock, arkansas. these people made her feel as though she had no other choice. the skin at only put joe in tremendous financial loss but also caused her to withdraw from family and friends. although frauds like the ones will discuss they are so common. each survivors story is unique on how it affects their lives. as the chairman said we have our 2022 bipartisan fraud book both in spanish and english. i didn't see that it was the most reported fraud to the committee's fraud hotline. further, this year's front book provide confirmation on how to protect yourself. according to the ftc, identity theft was the number one scam in south carolina in 2021 with 17,642 cases. one in four identity that victims reported -- sleep problems, increasing's i.t., depression -- reported scam. it's a 1600% increase in reported scams. unbelievable. in 2000 -- ftc reported 4.9 million scams and in 2021, that number was 5.7 million. an 18% increase in the number. i am thrilled that the council established by this act -- the chairman casey spoke about earlier. the stock senior scams act. helps our seniors. next week, we'll see the first hearing. i look forward to hearing for witnesses today. thank, you mister chairman. i yield back. >> thank you, ranking member scott. before i move to -- we'll have introductions of our witnesses. i want to acknowledge members who are here. already, senator collins, former chair this committee. and has been part of the effort of producing and publicizing fraud books in the past. we are grateful for her. leadership. senator blumenthal is here. from the state of connecticut as well senator scott from florida. will move to our witnesses. our first witness is doctor marti deliema, doctor deliema is an associate professor at the university of minnesota school of social work. she's an interdisciplinary gerontologist with a specialization in financial victimization through fraud and scams. doctor deliema has collaborate with a variety of financial institutions. aging organizations and federal agencies like the federal trade commission. doctor, welcome. our second witness is nancy pham-klinger. nancy is a senior adult protective services specialist. for the san diego county, for san diego county in california. she is dedicated her career to advocating for older adults. safeguarding their finances. and ensuring their safety. in 2021, she received the chief investigators commendation award from the san diego district attorneys bureau of investigations. for her efforts and recovering $75,000 for seniors in her community. our third witness is a pennsylvanian. aurelia costigan. born and raised in pittsburgh pennsylvania which isn't allegany county. formerly a school bus driver and health care worker, miss costa ghana is now retired. she is has two daughters. three grandchildren and two great grandchildren. she will share her experience today with a scammer who impersonated her bank and the step she took to respond to the scam. a really, our great for your here with us. now on to ranking member scott introduce our fourth and final witness. >> thank you mister chairman. it's a pleasure introduce a fellow south carolinian. mrs. polly fehler. it is my pleasure to talk about mrs. fehler. she resides in seneca south carolina for the last 32 years. she is a retired nurse. holding a masters in nursing and a veteran of the air force. thank you for your service, ma'am. she's also a member of st. mark 's united methodist church. serving her community as a vessel of god's love. her most important job, however, is being a loving grandmother to five grandkids. ranging from the ages of 5 to 26 years old. i hear being a grandmother is better than being a mother so i hear that rumor all the time. your son, tim, says i'm not sure that's true. april 2021, scammers conned their way into mrs. baylor's computer and online banking which resulted in the loss of $20,000. this crime hit misses fehler particularly hard both financially and emotionally. mrs. fehler's testimony today is about her personal experience being a survivor of these scams. i want to thank, you ma'am, for being willing to share your story. it does take courage to step forward into the light and help other folks avoid situations like the one you found yourself in. i'm so proud that you are willing to have other folks through your story. thank you so much for your willingness to be here today. god bless you. >> thank you, ranking member scott. well said. introducing one of our witnesses. we'll begin our testimony now. doctor deliema, you may begin. >> good morning. thank you chairman casey, ranking member scott and members of the committee. my name is dr. marti deliema. i've been assisted professor at the university of minnesota school of social work. i conducted research on consumer fraud and strategies to safeguard american's financial security. you invited me today to describe current trends in consumer scams affecting older adults. we can use consumer complaint data compiled by the federal trade commission to explore these trends. government impostor scams have been in the top five most reported categories of fraud affecting older adults for multiple years in a row. but the government agency being impersonated has changed over time. the irs, essay, fbi, cms and so on. the challenge is to predict which agencies close the perpetrators are going to try on next. and to create consumer education campaigns that are robust to these changes. throughout the pandemic, business impersonations scams carew exponentially. particularly retail company. it's romance scams that lead the pack in terms of personal financial costs. in a study i conducted with the ftc, we found that the median reported losses for consumers in their 70s and 80s were $10,000. quadrupled the losses reported by young adults. we can also use reporting data to look at methods of money transfer. today, bank transfer and cryptocurrency are the clear front runners in terms of losses. together, these methods account for one and a half billion in stolen funds. more than doubled the losses from all other payment methods combined. this is a great deal of money, research indicates that fewer than 3% of consumers report to law enforcement. the true losses are many magnitude greater. among older adults, as he said, gift cards are still the most common method of money transfer. gift cards are favored by perpetrators because there are easily available to consumers. there are not a, mr. instantly renewable and are very few controls. retail sales clerks are often the only individuals in position to intervene. in my research supported by aarp, my graduate students and i interviewed retail store managers from around the u.s.. we surveyed cashiers and we visited local stores to document what is being done. we found that most major retailers have some type of signage warning customers about gift card scams. but the messages were typically small. they were placed out of eye level or completely lost in the sea of gift cards competing for shoppers attention. less than half of our cashiers were surveyed reported there were any limits on purchase amounts. the store manager said they've never received any formal training from their employers on what to say to intervene. ultimately, they felt are not authorized to deny gift cards purchases if the customer assists even if they're certain scam. as the saying goes and retail, customer is king. in light of these findings, i believe that more education for frontline retail staff is warranted. more importantly, we need to demand action from the gift card payments industry. including the payment processors and the card issuers. these are the entities that concede when the money is being loaded on to a card by customers and stories and an emmy lee redeemed by perpetrators in a remote location. additional controls made include temporary holds on suspicious attempts to redeem high value cards. and that would give customers more time to identify and report fraud. lower transaction limits could also reduce the lost amount and make gift cards less attractive to foreign criminals consumer education is also critical as we say forewarned is forearmed. however we cannot as individuals to shoulder the burden of consumer protection alone and conjecture which occasionally the private sector to step up. legislation such as the trade staff is a fun tactic -- how phone companies withheld from congress can limit unwanted and fraudulent robocalls. we need somewhat convolution supply to other methods of contact from bogus text messages to fake social media profiles. we also need to expand the senior safe act to encourage all types of financial institutions to act quickly. by placing temporary holds on suspicious transactions and reporting elder thrown to the authorities. last, based on what we were seeing in the most recent reporting data, cryptocurrency is playing an outsized role in the fraud landscape. the fraudsters playbook has evolved in the air moving into new complex and under-regulated environments. step need to be taken now to curtail the ride of crypto fraud. in summary, you are so fortunate to sit in this where area policy making. this is where consumers, both sides of the aisle, and the private sector, they all want the same thing. to stop criminals from exploiting americans. let's advocate for greater investment from the private sector. we want companies to be proactive when they suspect a fraud. instead of reactive when that money is already gone. through these and other actions, we can show consumers that the federal government is committed to keeping their money safe, holding the perpetrators accountable, and restoring trust in the marketplace. thank you. >> thank you very much for your testimony. we will move next to our second witness. >> good morning. good morning to the members of the committee. my name is nancy. i am the senior protective service investigator at the financial unit in california. thank you for a limited join you today to discuss the topic that i am passionate about and dedicated to. this is the fight against fraud and scams. over the past year, i have been privileged to be attached to the san diego task force. it is a partnership of the san diego district attorney's office. the fbi, local law enforcement, and the county. -- we are seeking to impact scams against older adults. the county is home to over 3. 3 million people. of that, approximately 680,000 or individuals or the age of 60. from 2000 to 2030, it is projected that adults 60 and older will increase by 100 and 30%. the general population will increase just 38%. that means that one in four people and san diego will be over 60 years of age. these numbers are real. we have witnessed firsthand the increase in abs reversals over the years. particularly in cases with scams and financial abuse. from june 2021 to july 2022, over 1200 abs kamala cases were referred to our office. and i stayed estimated loss of over $34 million. it is clear that we have an issue. this is an issue that are most vulnerable population, who have spent years of hardware except for their goal and years, they are now being received having their life savings stolen under the false pretenses by vicious perpetrators. the ap s is frequently i respond to these victims. we help them start the process to potentially recover losses. we want them to bring a sense of security. back we are also protecting them from future exploitation. you're not investigation, we must build a poor, gain their trust, and assess their safety. all while ensuring that we gather all the necessary evidence to bring a case in the next level. what is the next level? that is what you may ask. as we know, without evidence, there is no. primary bs team members along with the local law enforcement agencies and san diego have been trained to gather key details. how do these scammers contact you? what company do they represent? what account members and financial institutions were mentioned during the conversation? these cases are complex. some of the top ones that we see our mobile cash, fq to be a money transfers, social media engineering, and cryptocurrency. and we confiscate a bitcoin machine and an elderly person walk up to in order to deposit cash? they used a qr code that they receive via text message. these difficult cases -- recovery of these funds is potentially possible. on july 13th, 2021, adult protective services was contacted by the san diego sheriff's department concerned about a possible local closure clearinghouse scam victim. there was a 75,000 dollar cash package located in florida. game from san diego address. upon investigating this president, we located the male or with the elders name on it. with the support and the system of the elder justice task force, we reached out to the appropriate parties in order to gather the necessary information to create an abs referral. this referral allowed us to have open communication with the identified victim. we were able to speak to their financial institution, locate national support, and then collaborate with local law enforcement. through this collaborative work, we conducted the records request. one payment was the san diego address. that is where the package was sent to you from florida. this victim identified that she had sent over $250,000 to various individual through the direction of employees from the publisher clearinghouse scam. this is not uncommon method of payment. scammers are using the most vulnerable citizens to launder money from them or for them. ultimately requesting for cash payments to be mailed to random addresses. we worked with the financial institution. we reviewed over 271 pages of bank records. we are able to confirm that our victim did sent the money to another senior. that check was cashed by the receiving banks. collaborative work works. i'm here today to speak to eu. this is a national problem crossing international borders. in the past year, according to these guys, more than 92,000