WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate unanimously approved Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s resolution designating May 13, 2021 as National Senior Fraud Awareness Day. The bipartisan resolution, co-introduced with Republican Senator Susan Collins (Maine), increases awareness and protects Arizona seniors from fraud.
“Raising fraud awareness helps protect Arizona seniors from predatory scams. We’ll continue holding criminals accountable and cracking down on illegal scams because Arizona seniors earned their benefits and their retirement over lifetimes of hard work,” said Sinema.
“We applaud Senator Sinema and Senator Collins for protecting older adults from financial fraud”, said Dana Marie Kennedy, AARP AZ State Director. “Scammers follow the money and more and more we see them coming out of the woodwork. When older adults experience scams, they lose so much more than other age groups. We’re seeing a growing list of scams targeting older adults, from Social Security imposters, the grandparent scam, the fake Covid-19 vaccine survey, the stimulus payment scam, lottery scams, tech support scams, and more. We must remain vigilant.”
In March, Senators Sinema and Collins reintroduced their bipartisan Senior Security Act—legislation that creates a task force at the Securities and Exchange Commission to examine and identify challenges facing senior investors, protecting them from financial crimes and scammers. Every two years, in consultation with other partners, the task force will report its findings to Congress and recommend any regulatory or statutory changes.
Sinema has long worked to empower and protect Arizona seniors from criminals. In 2018, Sinema led the bipartisan passage of the Senior Safe Act, while she was serving in the U.S. House, and worked with Senator Collins, who cosponsored the companion legislation in the Senate, to get it signed into law.
