{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/fighting-fraud-against-seniors", "Fighting fraud against seniors", "2014-12-04", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Fighting fraud against seniors \r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                Thursday, December 4, 2014\r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\r\n            \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n            In her ongoing effort to protect seniors from scam artists, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill last week questioned prepaid debit card companies and retail stores on their role in preventing consumers \u2014 particularly seniors \u2014 from falling victim to phone scams in a hearing in the Senate Special Committee on Aging.\r\n\r\nWhile in the past, the committee and McCaskill\u2019s Consumer Protection Subcommittee have heard from law enforcement, regulators and phone companies, McCaskill used this hearing to shed light on the role of the private sector in stopping fraudsters from using prepaid debit products or wire transfer services to trick consumers into sending them money.\r\n\r\n\r\n\u201cThe use of prepaid products to help scammers defraud customers is rising year to year,\u201d McCaskill said. \u201cSo while the prepaid debit card companies aren\u2019t the problem, because they are the front lines \u2014 interacting directly with the consumer \u2014 they are in an ideal position to be a part of the solution.\u201d\r\n\r\n\r\nMcCaskill, chairman of the Senate Consumer Protection Panel, pressed witnesses on the level of industry-wide coordination of best practices and standards to combat fraud at the point of sale, the degree to which private companies collaborate with law enforcement and the extent to which consumers are protected from fraud when they buy prepaid products.\r\n\r\n\r\nMcCaskill previously chaired a hearing on phone scams \u2014 or \u201crobocalls\u201d \u2014 and next month plans to introduce legislation designed to combat robocalls by strengthening enforcement authorities, better preventing the falsification of caller ID information to commit fraud, and encouraging telecommunications providers to more aggressively implement technologies to stop fraudulent calls from reaching consumers in the first place.\r\n\r\n\r\nAs much as $649 million may have been lost to phone scams in 2013 alone and according to a study by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, nearly one in five seniors has been a victim of elder financial abuse.\r\n\r\n            \r\n             \r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/fighting-fraud-against-seniors"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5350510366261005, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}