Using just phones and the internet, fraudsters have proven to be relentless. Seniors,t our nations we must continue to not only prosecute con artists, who steal literally billions from our seniors, but to find new ways to block illegal spoofing and robo calls the Network Level. Last year, robo callers generated more than 26 billion unwanted calls that reached mobile phones. Were included, the number soars to 48 billion. May, our residency received 93 average robo calls each day. So far, robo callers are on pace to generate 50 billion unwanted illegal robo calls targeting american consumers. Overwhelmingly are initiated by offshore robo callers who are using new technologies to perpetuate their schemes. Today, we will focus on a practice called spoofing. Allows scammers to mask their identity by replacing their caller id with one that fits their story. When victims see the irs or the local shares Department Show up theyeir caller id, understandably answer the phone. They are also worried, scared, and often easily hustled into doing whatever the scammers demand. Moderne emergence of the voice over internet protocol technology, criminals can now operate from call centers anywhere in the world, as far away from american Law Enforcement as they can possibly voip to hide their identity. Our committee has called on regulators and the Business Community to Work Together more aggressively to stop scammers p and othervoi technologies to facilitate fraud. We have seen some progress on that front. U. S. Telecom developed trace back, a Program Designed to identify the source of legal robo callers. New technology called shaken, stirred, will allow consumers to tell whether or not the caller id that shows up on their phones is legitimate or has been spoofed. The implementation and cost of these technologies to protect consumers has been slow. We are seeing a more aggressive and coordinated approach against robo callers by the federal government. In 2016, the department of justice led a federal investigation that shut down five call centers in india. Commission andde Law Enforcement partners announced operation call it quits. A major crackdown against foreign and domestic defendants allegedly responsible for more than one billion calls to consumers nationwide. Been mores also active. These federal actions represent progress our committee has roboed for to crackdown on callers. Now the committee is calling for approach toation not only crackdown on the consider, but also to to networkwide solutions prevent robo called spoofing frauds in the first place. We recently have taken an important step in the senate by passing the trace at, of which i a cosponsor. Be i hope it will be signed into law soon. Today, along with many of my colleagues, i am introducing the antispoofing penalties modernization act, which will byplement the trace act doubling existing penalties and by extending the statute of limitations on prosecuting illegal spoofing. Despite all of these efforts, calls isr of robo expected to soar. Defeat these scammers, we need new technological approaches. We know from experience that the scammers are ruthless and relentless, and as long as these fraudsters can access our telephone networks, they will continue to flood our phones with billions of calls in search of new victims. The key to defeating these scammers is to block the illegal robo calls from foreign call centers closer to their source before they can reach the american consumer. Newy, we will learn about Network Level approaches with the potential to ultimately stop robo call spoofing fraud altogether. , and wehe technology will be reminded of this today, we must never forget that our purpose is to protect the victims of these notorious scammers. Too many seniors continue to. Ose their hardearned money as we were here today, these scammers can shatter the lives of seniors and their families and impose a cost that cannot be measured in money alone. I am now pleased to turn to our Ranking Member, senator casey, for his opening statement. Thank you, chairman collins, for holding this hearing and also for your opening statement. I know that many in our country are divided on range of issues, but were united as americans in despising these robocalls. For some these calls have become more than just a nuisance. The con artists on the other end of the line often turn a conversation into a heist, literally. Our aging loved ones and they rip away their earned savings. As well hear today these also cause n terrible tragedy. The perpetrator of these crimes pursued and prosecuted to the full extent of the law and they should be designed bars. I was supposed to support resources for the department of federal trade commission to successfully ngage in two of the largest coordinated sweeps of companies thelitating these calls and criminals making them. Unfortunately even these action that is took place earlier this deterred the con artists. As one of our witnesses, sheriff pennsylvania will explain, some fraudsters only more emboldened. They rig phone lines so the number shows up, the number that on caller i. D. Appears to be the number of a local office. R sheriffs sheriff sanders and local Law Enforcement officials across the country dont take such impersonation lightly. Are requiring an investment of time and resources across the s country. Instead of focusing only on what our do best, keeping streets and our communities Law Enforcement officials must spend precious time keeping the phone lines safe. Reasons why f the im pleased to have introduced the stop or moran, senior scams act. Just recently. Bill will create another line of defense against scammers by giving bank tellers, cashiers the tools to spot a scam and prevent someone from ver handing over cash to a stranger on the phone. We hope that this bill is swiftly. Much of what well discuss today is how these crimes occur. Forget the not Important Role that both ndustry and regulators play in preventing an illegal robocall from being connected in the place. So we must make sure that the rules are in place to allow adopt and to mplement the most up to date Call Authentication and blocking technologies. That the senate recently passed an act as referred to and that the federal communications finalized new rules to help get this technology to every consumer telephone. But as well hear today we have a lot more to do. Health,tal and financial indeed, very wellbeing of our loved ones, is at stake. Hearing more to from our witnesses. We thank our witnesses, and i also look forward to working chairman collins and other colleagues to put an end to these destructive calls. You, madam chair. Thank you very much, senator casey. I also want to thank senator scott of florida for being with us today. Been a very active member of the aging committee and were happy to have him here. Well now turn to our witnesses. Our first witness is angela, who texas. S from shes the granddaughter of lake ie jones from charles, louisiana. Memory oftestifies in voice for ther and a the scores, the hundreds of fallen victimhave to eldzer fraud. ll northern to the Ranking Member to introduce our witness from the commonwealth. Im pleased to introduce sheriff Jerry Sanders from pennsylvania. Sheriff sanders served as sheriff since 2018. He previously served as a sheriffs deputy in the city of philadelphia and later retired inspector. In addition to his law background, sheriff sanders is a minister in his chief and is the chaplain of the center. Tirement as well hear from his Law Enforcement and religious leaders are not spared from getting tangled up in these robocalls. Would like to welcome the sheriffs wife, juanita, right ehind him over his right shoulder, and his chief deputy mike honin a hugh, both of whom trip to be with us right from pennsylvania, next to philadelphia. We look forward, sheriff to hearing your testimony. You. Thank you. Ur third witness will be delaney de leoncolon. Inspector who oversees the criminal Investigative Unit of the United States postal service. Throughout her 15 years of postal service, hes managed teams focusing on various forms of theft and Money Laundering that frequently robocalls. These finally, well be pleased to frankel. David hes a Telecommunications Expert who has worked in high erformance computer and Networking Technology since 1974. Helped to implement the trace back effort which has in sted Law Enforcement tracking down the origin of Illegal Robocalls. All for joining us, and we will begin with ms. Stanchek. Good morning. Chairman collins, Ranking Member case circumstances and other members inviting mettee for to be here today. Honored. My grandmother, Marjorie Jones, was a victim of elder fraud. There are no words to express what she meant to me and my loved and how much we all and adored her. The examples of her faith and confined to e forever be hell missed. Y grandmother was targeted and pursued nonstop by a ring of fraudsters. Individuals used to tive and cunning tactics gain her trust. D her she had won large cash prize and all she needed to and fees. The taxes i first realized my grandmother was a victim of elder fraud in i ever hadnversation with her. Phone call is very painful. She explained that she needed 6,000 wired to her as soon as possible. Er forceful tone and desperation was very upsetting. Could hear the panic in her voice and she was very, very afraid. Phone call set off many red lags and everyone grew extremely concerned about her financial situation. Single time w of a in her entire life where she ver borrowed money from an individual. My father informed me that he 8,000 the week prior, and he assured me he was was g to find out what happening. He mentioned his fears that was scamming her, but because she was so desperate and the 6,000. Ent her wanted. Than a weekied less later. T pains me to talk about my grandmothers horrific death chose to take her own life. T is extremely hard to imagine loved one committing can suicide, but she did, because preyed on her ls and on her good heart. And the last rs, chapter of her life was taken her. It is clear to us that the circumstances that led to her were caused by these criminals. After her death, we found out just how much these criminals had taken from her. Found hidden in a closet several bags full of wire had been here she sending large sums of money overseas. Visited these wire Marketing Services to talk with discovered that they had warned her that this they t legitimate and believed it was a scam. He continued to wire money but used a different location. We also discovered not only did they drain her of all the money to saves,r a lifetime but that she had taken out a reverse mortgage on her home and all of her Life Insurance. With 69 in r died her bank account. In the summer of 2016, we were notified by the department of that the individuals who committed this crime against her were caught. Ne had been extradited from costa rica and was already in the sentencing phase. I traveled from houston to to lotte, North Carolina, read my victim impact statements to the court and to finally to ns face one of the individuals who did this. Because of that statement i was to speak with former attorney general Jeff Sessions n february 2018, when he announced the elder fraud sweep. Ince then, i have been contacted by Many Americans who are facing the exact type of scam. And personally, i know two other close Family Friends that have impacted by the grandparent the medical Debt Collection scam. On behalf of my grandmother, Marjorie Jones i want to thank committee for hearing and exploring the growing and fraud lt problem of against the elderly. E live in a fast paced youth Oriented Society and elder issues are not high on the agenda. But you have the ability to show shining a rship by light on this topic. Thank you for your passion. Thank you for recognizing, as a government, as a society, and as must increase our efforts to ensure that our eniors are protected from the criminals that prey on them. Our seniors in this country to live out their lives with dignity and honor. You. K thank you very much for your moving testimony. And for your willingness to come forward and share such a painful, horrible story with us. To use youve been willing do that, im sure that you have so many around this nation, and thats a tremendous to honor the memory of your grandmother, so i thank you for and speaking out publicly, and im so sorry for family have your endured. Here. You for being sheriff sanders. Sanders chairman collins, Ranking Member casey members of the committee, im sheriff sanders jr. And i delray the sheriff of county, pennsylvania. Thank you for the opportunity to committee ore the about my offices experience c callmers using robo spoofing technologies. They experience occasional reports from citizens about robocalls fromor unknown persons. Scams vary but the most common form is the caller claims potential victim has missed jury duty and there is a warrant for their arrest. Will identify themselves as a member of the Sheriffs Office. Using a fake name. In one recent incident the of an used the name actual deputy, who went so far voicemailthe deputys greeting as their own. If the Sheriffs Office is able from a potential it im calling it back, typically results in no answer. On occasion someone will answer but once they realize the call Sheriffs Office, and were asking legitimate typically they terminate the call. The er aspect of this is call is often using spoofing technology. This is when they are able to program the actual Sheriffs Office main number to show on potential victims caller i. D. This is often how we find out about the calls. Potential victim, in most cases, people who realize omething is amiss, terminates the call and calls back using which is yed number the Actual Office number. We will tell them that this is a scam. Office does not all people that we have business with. It is either done through u. S. In most cases, in deputy. L service boy the in addition, under no circumstances will we ever ask for information over the phone ask for money or any other valuable thing to avoid arrest. On or in two separate incidents that occurred over the last several onths, professionals were targeted. The scammers convinced two of them that they were subject to missing jury duty. In one case they were able to get the victim to travel to a withdraw 3,000. Nd then on to retail establishments where she was instructed to purchase thousands of dollars in money cards. Or gift cards, and ended up mailing them all. Husband grew suspicious and looked on the sheriffs webpage, on the county but it and saw the scam, was too late. In the most recent case, a was used and they advised one of the victims, a he was old doctor that subject to arrest for not responding to a grand jury subpoena. They had him convinced enough that they had him on the phone approximately an hour, and had coaxed him all the way to a media, pennsylvania. And thats approximately 10 and 20 minutes away. And they instructed him to 6,000. W they advised him that he should answer ore phone, not communicate with anyone and to follow their instructions. His wife in the meantime grew and tried to call him repeatedly. When she could not reach him she Sheriffs Office. With that call and information, provide, we were able to contact the bank and asually intercept the victim he was parking his vehicle of the scamxecution and saved the victim thousands of dollars. In the most recent case the was approached by the chief deputy, who was in plainclothes and robbed in an unmarked car. A, the man ief first was skeptical, first approached, he man was skeptical saying had the Sheriffs Office on the phone. The scam terminated the call by he time the chief took the victims phone. Once the victim realized what had just happened, he explained concerned about his medical license, and that if he were to be arrested, that his license would be jeopardized, as well as his position as a director. Losing sight of the fact that an elaborate, this was elaborate ruse. With them keeping him on the the , running him across county and telling him not to this to anyone, et cetera, ruse. N fact, just a he was intercepted a block from the courthouse. With the building in view, but going in to verify, he was actually going to the withdraw the money. He then likely would have been federally go to a authorized retailer to purchase money or gift cards, which he then be instructed to give all pertinent information over the phone. And in some cases, to mail them. In the three most recent cases believed the scammers were able to gather personal potential on the victims, two medical rofessionals, and an architect beforehand. Most likely from the web. This enhances the scam mers convince the victim since they know much about them, legitimate. Ll is this gets the victim off balance potentialhe threat of arrest, and then offer of the fine, they opt for that to avoid arrest. Older t targets are persons who typically have Great Respect for authority, and tend be much more trusting. Circulate through the state. Well often see emails from offices in fs response, when we experience and we push out press social media notifications to warn the public, and we have a alert on the county website. Unfortunately, given the limits manpower and resources, local Law Enforcements can do little the