AARP Joins FTC Stop Senior Scams Act Advocacy Group

En español | The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Stop Senior Scams Act Advisory Group will meet for the first time on Thursday, Sept. 29, and AARP will have a prominent seat at the table, joining other advocacy groups, financial industry associations and government officials to come up with ways to better prepare and protect older Americans from scams and fraud.

The advisory group was created following the March passage of the AARP-backed Fraud and Scam Reduction Act, with the goals of educating consumers about scams, improving industry fraud-prevention training, developing better ways to stop scams before they happen, and expanding fraud prevention research. More than 2.8 million fraud reports were submitted to the FTC last year as consumers reported losing more than $5.8 million.

Jilenne Gunther, national director of AARP’s BankSafe Initiative, will represent AARP on the advisory group, which begins Thursday, Sept. 29, at 2:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on the FTC’s website. She will also co-chair a sub-committee of the advisory group focused on financial industry training and education.

We’ve long worked to protect consumers — and especially older adults — from scams and fraud. AARP’s BankSafe intervention platform provides free interventions, training, and policy templates to help banks, credit unions and other financial organizations spot and stop fraud and exploitation, with a focus on older adults. The platform is estimated to have stopped nearly $200 million from being stolen from older adults to date. Around 1,000 financial institutions, banks, credit unions and financial advisors use BankSafe’s training, including Chase Bank and SunCoast Credit Union. In addition, AARP’s Fraud Watch Network serves as an invaluable resource to consumers to help them spot and avoid fraud to protect themselves and their families.

Learn more about our BankSafe Initiative.