The hearing will come to order. Good morning. Protecting american seniors from scammers who seek to defraud them is a central goal of this committee. In the past six years, we have hearings on frauds and scams we must find ways to combat those who steal billions from our seniors and block moving and robo calls. Callers generated more than 26 billion unwanted calls that reached mobile phones. When land lines are included, the number source to 48 billion. Alone, residents received 93 million robo calls last year. Of 73 callsverage to each person in our state. So far, scammers are on pace to generate more than 58 billion billion unwanted calls. Scammers are initiated by offshore robo callers using new theirlogies to perpetuate schemes. We will focus on a practice called spoofing. Scammers to mask their identity by replacing their caller id with one that fits their story. See the internal sheriffservice or department pop up, they understandably understand answer the phone. They are worried, scared, and easily hustled into doing whatever the scammer demands. Moderne emergence of the voice over internet protocol technology, criminals can operate from call centers anywhere in the world. From american Law Enforcement as they can possibly get. Generating millions of robo calls at a low cost. Our committee has called on regulators and the Business Community to Work Together more aggressively to stop scammers from using technologies to facilitate fraud. Seen some progress on that front. Developed a program to identify the source of illegal robo calls. Implementing new technology that will allow consumers to towel whether the caller id is legitimate or has been spoofed. The implementation and the cost of these technologies has been slow. On the positive side, we are seeing a more aggressive and coordinated approach. In 20, the department of justice let a federal investigation that closed down five call centers in india. A few weeks ago, the federal trade commission announced an operation, a major crackdown against foreign and domestic defendants allegedly responsible for more than one billion calls to consumers. The federal Communications Commission has also been more active. These actions represent progress our community has pressed for to crackdown on robo callers. Now the committee is calling for a nextgeneration approach. Not only to crackdown on the criminals, but to consider new networkwide solutions to prevent call spoofing fraud in the first place. Recently taken an important step by passing an act which i was proud to be a cosponsor of. I hope it will be signed into law soon. Today, along with many of my theeagues, i am introducing antispoofing penalties modernization act which will complement provisions by doubling existing penalties and extending the statute of limitations in prosecuting illegal spoofing. Despite all of these efforts, the number of robo calls is expected to soar. To defeat these scammers, we need new technological approaches. We know from experience the scammers are ruthless and relentless. As the fraudsters can access telephone networks, they will flood our phones with billions of calls in search of new victims. The key to defeating these illegal is to block the robo calls from foreign call centers closer to their source before they can reach the american consumer. Networklearn about new level approaches with the potential to ultimately stop robo call spoofing fraud altogether. , and wehe technology will be reminded of this, we must never forget our purpose is to protect the victims of these scammers. Too many seniors continue to learn lose their money. Often, their entire retirement safeties too often, their entire Retirement Savings to con artists. I am pleased to turn to our Ranking Member, for his opening statement. Thank you for holding this hearing and your opening statement. I know many in our country are divided in a range of issues. We are united as americans despising these robo calls. Moreome, they have become than a nuisance. Artists artist con turn a conversation into a heist. They threaten loved ones and rip away savings. Criminals can cause tragedy. The perpetrators of these crimes must be pursued and prosecuted to the full extent of the law and they should be behind bars. I was pleased to support resources for the department of justice and the federal trade commission to successfully engage in two of the largest sweeps of companies facilitating these calls in the criminals and the criminals making them. Even these actions which took place earlier this year have not deterred the con artists. As one of our witnesses will explain, some fraudsters only seem more emboldened. They rake phone lines so the number that shows up appears to be that of a local police or Sheriffs Office. Countrys across the dont take such impersonation lightly. These schemes require an investment of time and resources from officers across the country. Keeping our streets and communities safe. Spendofficials must precious time keeping phone lines safe. This is why i am pleased to have senior scamse stop act. It will create a line of defense bankst scammers by giving tellers and others the tools to spot a scam and prevent someone from handing over cash to a stranger. This bill is enacted swiftly. Much of what we will discuss is how these crimes occur, but we must not forget the role industry and regulators play preventing a robo call from being connected in the first place. We must make sure the rules are in place to allow industry to adopt and implement the most uptodate often to authentication. I am pleased the Senate Passed , the trace act. The federal Communications Commission finalized new rules to help this technology, help get it to every consumer. We have a lot more to do. Very well being of our loved ones is at stake. I look forward to hearing more. We thank our witnesses. I look forward to working with chairman collins to put an end to these calls. Thank you. I want to thank senator scott for being with us. He has been an active member of the aging committee and we are very happy to have him here. We will now turn to our witnesses. Our first joined us from texas. She is the granddaughter of marjorie jones. Today, she testifies in memory of her grandmother. The hundredse for have fallen who victim to older fraud. I will turn to the Ranking Member. To introduceed sheriff sanders. Sheriff. Served as he previously served as a sheriffs deputy and later retired as chief inspector. In addition to his ground, he is a minister in his church. And as a chaplain at a retirement community. Even Law Enforcement and religious leaders are not spared from getting tangled up in these robo calls. I would like to welcome the sheriffs wife who i think is right behind him. Deputy, both of whom have made the trip to be with us today. Thank you both for being here. I look forward to hearing your testimony. Witness, a postal theector who oversees criminal Investigative Unit of the u. S. Postal service. Throughout her 15 years of service for the Postal Service, she has managed teams focused on various forms of theft and Money Laundering resulting from these calls. Welcomebe pleased to david frankel. Telecommunications expert who has worked in highperformance technologies since 1974. Implemented the trace back effort. Assisting Law Enforcement tracking down the origin of the illegal call. Thank you for joining us. Good morning. Members of the community for inviting me to be here today. I am very honored. Grandmother was a victim of elder fraud. There are no words to express what she meant to me and my family and how much we loved and adored her. Of faith and love cannot be confined to words and she will forever be missed. My grandmother was targeted and pursued nonstop by a ring of fraudsters. These individuals used creative and cunning tactics to gain her trust. They told her she had won a large cash prize and all she needed to do was pay the taxes and fees. I first realized she was a victim by the last conversation i ever had with her. Reliving that phone call is very painful. Needed 6,000she wired as soon as possible. Her forceful tone and desperation was upsetting. I could hear the panic in her voice. She was very afraid. This phone call set off many red flags. Everyone grew extremely concerned about her situation. We do not know of a single time in her entire life where she ever borrowed money from an individual. He hader informed me wired her 8,000 the week prior. He assured me he was trying to find out what was happening. He mentioned his fears someone was scamming her. Because she was so desperate and her the 6,000t she wanted. Sadly, she died less than a week later. It pains me to talk about my grandmothers horrific death. She chose to take her own life. It is extremely hard to imagine a loved one committing suicide. She did. Because these individuals prayed in her and in her good heart. Lastolden years and the chapter of her life was taken from her. It is clear to us the circumstances that led to her death were caused by these criminals. We found out just how much the criminals had taken from her. We found hidden in a closet several bags full of wire receipts where she had been sending large sums of money overseas. My family visited these services to talk to the clerks and discovered they had warned her this was not legitimate. They believed it was a scam. Money, buted to wire used a different location. We also discovered not only did they drain her of the money it took her a lifetime to save, she had taken out a reverse mortgage on her home and she cashed out all of her Life Insurance. My grandmother died with 69 in her bank account. In the summer of 2016, we were notified the individuals who committed this crime against her were caught. One of them had been extradited from costa rica and was already in the sentencing phase. I traveled from houston to charlotte, North Carolina to read my victim impact statement and finally faced one of the individuals who did this. Because of that statement, i was invited to speak with former attorney general Jeff Sessions and february, 2018, when he announced the older fraud suite. Raud i have been contacted by Many Americans facing the same scheme. I know Family Friends who have been impacted by the grandparent scam and the medical Debt Collection scam. On behalf of my grandmother marjorie, i want to thank the committee for hearing and exploring the growing and difficult problem of fraud against the elderly. We live in a fastpaced, youth Oriented Society and elder issues are not high on the social agenda but you have the ability to show great leadership by shining a light on this topic. Again, i think you for your passion. Recognizing as a government, as a society and individuals, we must increase our efforts to ensure seniors are protected from the criminals that prey on them. Outseniors deserve to live their lives with dignity and honor. Thank you very much for your moving testimony. And your willingness to come forward and share such a painful, horrible story. Toause you have been willing do that, i am sure you have alerted so many around this nation. Tot is a tremendous way honor the memory of your grandmother. I thank you for your courage in speaking out public. I am so sorry for what you and your family have endured. Thank you for being here. Sheriff sanders. Members of the committee. Sheriff inthe pennsylvania. Opportunity tohe testify about my offices experiences with scammers everett Delaware CountySheriffs Office experiences occasional reports from citizens about receiving a scam or robo calls from unknown persons. They vary, but the most common form is the caller claims the potential victim has missed jury duty. There is a warrant for their arrest. The caller will identify themselves as a member of the Sheriffs Office, typically using a fake name. In one incident, the color used the name of an actual deputy, going so far as to use the deputies voicemail greeting as their own. If the Sheriffs Office is able to get a number for a potential victim, and typically results in no answer. Someone will answer but once they realize it is from the sheriffss office, and we are asking legitimate questions, they typically terminate the call. Another aspect is the colors often use spoofing technology. This is when they are able to program the main number to show on the potential victims caller id. Find outften how we about the calls. The potential victim, people who realize something was amiss. We will tell them this is a scam. The Sheriffs Office does not call people we have business with. It is either done through u. S. Byl or in personal service the deputy. In addition, under no circumstances will we ever ask for information over the phone for money or any other valuable avoid obligation or risk. In two separate incidents, professionals were targeted. Convince them they were subject to arrest for missing jury duty. In one case, they were get spendo get the victim to 3000 and to purchase gift cards and mail them all. The husband grew suspicious and looked at the county website and saw the scam alert, but it was too late. Ruse was used. They advised one of the victims that he was subject to arrest for not responding to a grand jury subpoena. Enoughd him convinced they had him on the phone for an way and coaxed him all the to a bank in pennsylvania. Roximately 10 miles and they instructed him to withdraw 6,000. They advised him he should stay on the phone, not answer or communicate with anyone. Suspicious and tried to call repeatedly. That call and information, she was able to provide, we were able to contact the bank and intercept the victim as he was parking his vehicle. Ofe the victim thousands dollars. The most recent case, the victim was approached by the chief deputy, who was in plain clothes. When he first approached, the man was skeptical, saying he had the Sheriffs Office on the phone. Once the victim realized what had just happened, he explained he was chiefly concerned about his medical license. If he were to be arrested, his license would be jeopardized. As well as his position as a medical director. Losing sight of the fact that this elaborate this was an elaborate ruse. On theem keeping him phone, running him across the county and telling him not to speak to anyone, this was just a ruse. He was intercepted a block from the courthouse. Was going to the bank. To withdraw the money. He likely would have been directed to go to a federally authorized retailer to purchase money or gift cards, which he would be instructed to give all pertinent information over the phone. In some cases, to mail them. Scabbards d the scammers were able to gather potential information beforehand. Likely from the web. This enhanced their ability to convince the victim that because they know much about them, the call was legitimate. This gets the victim off balance. With the threat of potential arrest and the offer of the out by paying a fine, they opt for avoid arrest. Frequent targets are Older Persons who typically have Great Respect for authority and tend to be much more trusting. These type of scams circulate through the state. We will ce males from other Sheriffs Offices. We push out notifications to warn the. Law enforcement can do little to investigate these crimes. Keeping the public aware to avoid victimization is the best we can do. Learn senatorto casey introduced legislation that would train bank towers about how to spot tellers about how to spot a potential victim. They will serve as another line of defense, protecting our family, friends, and neighbors. More must be done by the Telecommunications Industry to stop these colors from getting through in the first place. Thank you for the opportunity to speak before the committee today. I look forward to answering any questions you may have. Thank you for being with us. Good morning. Ofking member and members the committee. I appreciate the opportunity to testify in efforts to combat fraud. Inspector in charge of the Postal Service criminal investigations group. Inas the assistant inspector charge of our miami field office. I worked with authorities in jamaica to investigate lottery fraud. My lawenforcement career with the immigration and naturalization service, later, the secret service. Consumers are bombarded by pitches and promotions. I have seen how persuasive language and hightech deception are used to convince people to part with their money. Imagine your phone ringing. Cashust pay a little called the insurance pp read once an individual has been persuaded to pay, the operator takes the relationship to the next level, asking for more money. Thee emotionally isolating individual. Most of the victims we know were not aware call spoofing technology existed. By their own admission, they overcame their doubts and bought into the claims because of the information displayed on their caller ids. Spoofed food numbers were instrumental leading victims to believe the call was for real. By case was investigated postal inspectors in North Carolina. Prosecuted by the department of justice fraud section. Offshore call section. They posed as representatives of the security and Exchange Commission and federal trade commission. They contacted consumers in the u. S. Claiming they had won a prize. They took steps to conceal their identity. Making it appear the calls they made came from washington, d. C. , which lent weight to the scam. Other technologies also played a part. One victim testified she was warned to keep pain as the the victim where lived. Payments to costa rica were sent via Wire Transfer. Smith and griffin also hired collect cash. Nine defendants were charged. Eight worked in the call center. Identifiedectors 1800 people who collectively lost more than 10 million, just in connection with this case. He