The American legislators of the House of Representatives have introduced bipartite legislation to combat financial fraud and “butcher’s scams” which target older American citizens, in particular by online means. The bill would support law enforcement agents in the use of blockchain technology and will allow federal police to help local police and local police with tracing tools for blockchain technology.
The “Guarding Guarding Not Protected Drawn from DESCESS (Guard) Act” was presented on April 21 by the Republican representative Zach Nunn (R-AA) and co-worked by his republican colleague Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) with the Democrat representative Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ).
“The crooks prove to be Iowa retirees and steal their harder money. In 2023 only, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office General received more than 13,000 financial fraud reports, which led to around $ 42.6 million in financial loss, “said representative Nunn. “Iowa retirees should not have to worry about fraudsters who have stolen their savings with false investment plans. But if they are scammed, the police should have the necessary tools to translate their case into court. ”
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data published in March showed that US consumers said they had lost more than $ 12.5 billion in fraud in 2024, which is an increase of 25% compared to the previous year.
According to the Nunn representative, the elderly bring the weight of this increase in fraud and scams, undergoing much higher financial losses. For example, in 2021, the median loss for people over 70 was $ 9,000, compared to $ 2,400 in all age groups.
A particularly omnipresent scam which has become more common in the past two years is the “pork butcher”, named for the way the bad actors “fattened” their victims to extract the most possible value. The crook, or network of fraudsters pretending to be an individual, will generally develop an online or virtual relationship with the victim – often romantic – then convince them to invest more and more money in fraudulent investments.
Based on the recent data of the Chainalysis blockchain analysis company, the pig butcher’s schemes represented 33.2% of all the scam income linked to digital assets in 2024.
“In 2022, these scams led to reported losses of more than a billion dollars. It has become so bad that the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) published an explicit warning to tell the Americans over 50 to monitor the criminals who try to deceive them from their harshly won savings,” said the press release. Nunn.
However, he suggested that the law enforcement agencies and national security have a crucial advantage against these criminals: “The permanence and transparency of blockchain technology. Officers can use blockchain technology to stop these criminals on their ways. ”
This was highlighted in November 2023, when the United States Ministry of Justice (DOJ), using blockchain, frozen about $ 225 million linked to an international human trafficking union in Southeast Asia responsible for “pork butcher”. Another example occurred at the end of 2023 when 3,500 cybercriminals associated with online scams were arrested and 300 million dollars in stolen funds seized by the authorities during an interpol Operation led by South Korea.
The Guard Act would rely on these efforts by allowing local and local police to use eligible federal funding to investigate financial fraud and “pig butcher” scams against retirees. It would also allow federal police to help local and local police with tracing tools for blockchain technology.
“We need 12th century tools to suppress fraudsters that use each tip in the book – social media, emails, sms and telephone calls – to eclipse billions of dollars each year,” said Gottheimer’s representative, co -president of the Bipartisan Law Enforcement Caucus and member of the Chamber’s Financial Services Commission. “This is why I am proud to co-direct the law on bipartite guard to ensure that the police can access advanced technologies to stop these scams and protect our communities.”
The Fitzgerald representative echoed this feeling, affirming that the bill represented “a critical step in the equipment of our state and the application of local law with the tools they need to combat financial fraud more effectively”.
He added that “by exploiting innovative technologies like blockchain, we can better protect seniors and families of Wisconsin from increasingly sophisticated scams.”
The Guard Act is also supported by the AARP, the Iowa State Police Association, the Financial Technology Association, the Consumer Bankers Association, the America’s Credit Union Association, the Digital Chamber, the National Police Association, the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Iowa Bankers Association.
“This bipartite legislation would help equip the police and local states, which are on the front line to respond to fraud, the resources they need to investigate fraud, keep the criminals responsible and do justice to the victims,” said Bill Sweeney, vice-president of AARP government.
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