Federal Elder-Fraud Policy Tracker

This page tracks federal-level legislative, regulatory, and enforcement activity affecting US elder fraud. It is updated quarterly. Coverage includes active bills in Congress, federal agency rulemakings, major court-case outcomes (described by scheme and outcome, not individual defendants per our editorial policy), interagency coordination, and OFAC designations. The tracker is intended as a citable reference for journalists, researchers, and policy professionals working on elder-fraud prevention.

How to use this page: Each section below covers one branch of federal elder-fraud activity, updated quarterly. Cite as: HCSK Inc., Federal Elder-Fraud Policy Tracker, seniors.hcsk.org/federal-elder-fraud-policy-tracker, accessed [date].

Last updated

Q2 2026 update — May 2026. Next scheduled update: August 2026 (Q3).

Active Congressional bills

The 119th Congress has active legislation on elder fraud across both chambers. The following are bills with substantive progress as of Q2 2026:

  • Senate Special Committee on Aging — has continued annual hearings on elder fraud throughout 2025-2026, with focus on AI-enabled scams and transnational compounds.
  • Stop Senior Scams Act — proposed strengthening of FTC/DOJ coordination, retailer reporting requirements for gift-card scams.
  • Elder Fraud Protection Act proposals — various versions enhancing prosecutorial tools for transnational elder-fraud cases.
  • Crypto-kiosk consumer-protection bills — both chambers have introduced versions requiring identity verification, transaction limits, and scam-victim refund windows.
  • Senior Investor Protection Act — would expand FINRA Rule 2165 authority and create federal floor on transaction holds.
  • Bank Secrecy Act updates — proposed enhanced reporting requirements for crypto-related elder-fraud SARs.

Federal agency rulemakings and advisories

Treasury / FinCEN

  • Continuing implementation of FinCEN advisories on pig butchering and Cambodian compound operations.
  • OFAC designations of compound-linked entities continue to expand on a quarterly basis.

CFPB

  • Enhanced enforcement of Reg E protections in P2P scam cases. See our P2P payment scams pillar.
  • Continuing pressure on major banks for Zelle scam refund policy.

FTC

  • Consumer Sentinel Network elder-fraud data publishing.
  • Enforcement actions on tech-support and gift-card-payment scams.
  • Updated rules on consumer-deceptive practices in crypto-investment marketing.

SEC

  • Investor alerts on AI-augmented investment scams targeting seniors.
  • Enforcement against fake crypto investment platforms.

FBI

  • IC3 2025 Elder Fraud Annual Report (released June 2025).
  • Recovery Asset Team continues to recover funds in pig-butchering and wire-fraud cases when victims report quickly.

DOJ

  • Elder Justice Initiative — continuing prosecutions of transnational fraud rings.
  • Indictments and forfeitures targeting compound-linked actors.

HHS / Medicare / SSA

  • HHS OIG continues enforcement of Medicare fraud schemes targeting seniors.
  • SSA OIG continuing public-awareness campaigns on SSA impersonation.

HUD

Major case outcomes (anonymized)

Per editorial policy we describe schemes and outcomes, not individual defendants. The following are representative case categories with material outcomes in the past year:

  • Pig-butchering wire-laundering takedown — multiple coordinated DOJ indictments resulting in nine-figure asset seizures from compound-linked crypto-exchange flows.
  • Tech-support scam ring takedowns — federal indictments of organizations that staffed call centers running fake Microsoft/Apple scripts against US seniors.
  • Romance-scam money-laundering indictments — US-based money mules indicted for receiving and forwarding senior-victim funds.
  • Reverse-mortgage forgery prosecution — federal charges in cases involving forged signatures on HECM applications.
  • Compound trafficking-victim repatriations — State Department coordinated repatriations of US citizens released from Southeast Asian compounds.

OFAC designations relevant to elder fraud

Treasury OFAC continues to expand designations targeting compound operators, crypto-laundering intermediaries, and individual organizers. New designations are typically announced through Treasury press releases. The most material categories for US elder fraud:

  • Cambodian compound operators and casino-linked organizations.
  • Crypto-exchange operators with material compound-laundering flows.
  • Individuals identified as facilitators of forced-labor recruitment for compound operations.
  • Property and entity designations within Special Economic Zones associated with compound activity.

State-level coordination

Federal action operates alongside expanding state-level activity. The following states have active elder-fraud legislation, units, or task forces with material activity in 2025-2026: California, New York, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington, and Virginia. The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) has multistate task forces on tech-support fraud, crypto-kiosk fraud, and pig-butchering.

How to suggest a tracker entry

If you are a journalist, researcher, or policy professional with a federal elder-fraud development you think we should track, see For Press & Journalists or For Researchers for contact and submission information.

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