Congress is considering a bill meant to boost efforts to combat ways of financially defrauding older Americans by providing them and their caregivers more access to information. 

The bill, backed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, would also seek to standardized the way financial fraud and abuse and create a national hotline to report fraud as well as commit more money to resources through the creation of a grant program to counteract efforts at exploiting older people. 

In New York alone, financial fraud against older people can run as much as $1.5 billion a year. Financial fraud is believed to have gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, with scammers finding new ways to coerce money out of victims through virus-related scams. 

The measure, sponsored with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican, would also find ways to studying the issue of why older people are more susceptible to scams, with funding for the National Institutes of Health to review the issue.

“Giving seniors the tools they need to stay vigilant against financial fraud is the best way to protect their pocketbooks, and to put these fraudsters out of business," Gillibrand said. "I am proud to work with Senator Collins on the Senior Financial Empowerment Act, so that seniors and their caregivers can respond to, report, and prevent costly financial scams and abuse plaguing our senior communities."