Rep. Jesse Topper last week introduced a bill intended to increase cooperation between state departments in order to enhance protection from senior citizens in cases of unwanted telephone calls that lead to financial exploitation.

House Bill 2443 calls for the state office of the attorney general to notify the Pennsylvania Department of Aging on a monthly basis regarding any investigation being conducted under the state’s Telemarketer Registration Act that involves someone age 60 or older. Through that cooperation, local area agencies on aging could identify, or possibly observe, potential patterns of financial exploitation, such as scams and sweepstakes fraud. Under current law, the attorney general’s office only reports detailed investigations and enforcement actions during the preceding fiscal year to the General Assembly.

“Cases of senior citizen fraud and abuse are on the rise across the Commonwealth,” Topper said. “This is a commonsense solution, which I believe could help our agencies gain more knowledge of how people are falling victim to financial exploitation.”