Senate hearing on AI scams, deepfakes & senior fraud — transcript and witness summaries — July 29, 2026

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksThe U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging will now come to order. The biggest issue I hear about from seniors around the country is the growing threat of scams, fraud, and financial exploitation. Whether a phone call from someone posing as a grandchild in trouble, a suspicious investment scheme delivered through the mail, or an email from a government agency or law enforcement, they are targeting seniors with sophistication.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksFor many older Americans, falling victim to a scam doesn't just mean losing money, it also means losing peace of mind, trust in others, and confidence in themselves while navigating daily life.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksAs this committee has heard many times before, this is a multibillion-dollar-a-year problem. In 2025, Americans over 60 reported losing $7.7 billion to scams. That is just scams that have been reported. The rise of artificial intelligence has offered scammers new tools to proceed with criminal schemes.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksWe must adapt and respond to these new threats. AI can be used to make fraudulent videos known as deepfakes, impersonating trusted figures to defraud seniors in a variety of schemes. It can also be used to clone someone's voice, a terrifying development that has been misused in heartbreaking ways impersonating a loved one. AI has made existing scams more effective and lowered the barrier to entry for criminals.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksWhat once required real technical skill can now be done by almost anyone using an AI tool.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksThese developments are highlighted within our new committee report: 'Artificial Intelligence & Older Americans: Confronting New Threats, Unlocking New Opportunities.' I'm grateful to Ranking Member Gillibrand for putting this report together with me. The report, available online, includes helpful information educating seniors on the new threats of AI and steps you can take to protect yourself. Many seniors live on fixed incomes. This kind of exploitation can be the difference between a secure, comfortable retirement and years of financial hardship, distrust, and isolation.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksSeniors want us to fight back. That means understanding the new technology, supporting law enforcement, and educating the public.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksUnderstanding has to come first. That is why I introduced the bipartisan Aging with Artificial Intelligence Act of 2026 with Senator Mark Kelly and Senator Roger Marshall. The bill directs the National Academies to study how older Americans are using AI and assess its benefits and risks, including the various scams and frauds we are examining today. Before we can protect seniors from this technology, we need to understand how it is reaching them.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksI'm grateful this effort has the support of groups like AARP, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychological Association.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksUnderstanding the threat alone is not enough. Seniors need an easy way to report it. That is why Senator Hassan and I introduced the ReportScams.gov Act, a bipartisan bill to establish a single federal portal where consumers can report scams, find information about available assistance, and have their reports automatically routed to relevant federal and state agencies. Seniors should not have to navigate a maze of bureaucracy to be heard.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksBut reporting is only useful if law enforcement can act on it. This is why I joined Ranking Member Gillibrand to introduce the Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception (GUARD) Act to expand federal grant programs, fund specialized law enforcement training, and provide tools to track stolen cryptocurrency. We also introduced the National Strategy for Combating Scams Act to require the FBI to develop a unified national strategy involving victims, law enforcement, nonprofits, and the private sector. The federal government has to coordinate efforts to combat these complex schemes.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksEach bill attacks the problem from a different angle, but they all share one goal: making sure seniors are never left to face these criminals alone. Today's hearing is part of that effort. We will hear from experts on AI policy, leaders from the financial sector working to stop fraud, and victims who have faced these crimes firsthand. We want to educate seniors about the rising threat of AI-enabled fraud, show them how to defend themselves, and identify policies the federal government can enact to curb the threat.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksSeniors deserve to feel safe when answering the phone and opening their mail. They deserve to know that when they report fraud, they will be heard and action will be taken. Protecting seniors is a bipartisan issue, and I'm grateful for the partnership I have with members of this committee. I would like to recognize Ranking Member Gillibrand for her opening statement.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksThank you, Mr Chairman. I appreciate the witnesses being here for such an important hearing. The question before us is not whether AI will transform our society; it certainly will. The question is whether we let it be turned against the people we love.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksCriminals are using AI to steal from families and seniors—cloning voices, faking videos, and tricking honest people. Americans deserve to trust their own eyes and ears. That takes clear rules, honest labels, and real consequences. In just a few years, AI has become part of daily life for nearly every American, older adults included.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksAARP found AI use among older adults nearly doubled between 2024 and 2025. That is no surprise. AI holds real promise to improve seniors' lives. In New York, the Office for the Aging is already connecting seniors with AI tools that fight scams, ease loneliness, and support caregivers.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksWe should encourage those uses. But we must also put common-sense safeguards in place so this technology is never used against the people it is intended to serve.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksI often think about Pope Leo's guidance emphasizing that technology is never neutral. The same tools that connect us can also be turned against the most vulnerable among us. Today, we will hear how that is already happening. Scammers use AI to generate deepfake images, clone voices, and launch phishing attacks that drain seniors' savings.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksIn many cases, AI did not invent these scams; it supercharged them, making old cons more convincing and far easier to pull off. AI deception takes other forms, too. Tools built without real safeguards can hallucinate and feed older adults dangerously wrong information. Last year, Reuters reported an AI chatbot that repeatedly insisted it was human and invited a 76-year-old man to an address in New York City.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksHe fell on his way to the train station and died of his injuries. This year, The New York Times reported an AI tool gave a 75-year-old man bad medical advice, and he delayed his cancer treatment because of it. Even one case of AI-fueled deception is too many.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksWe can choose differently. We can decide how AI shapes our communities, families, and the way we care for one another. This morning, I sent a letter to leading AI companion companies, including OpenAI, Meta, and X, asking them to explain how they safeguard their products for older adults and people with disabilities. I was glad to partner with Senator Kelly on this letter, and I expect these companies to respond promptly and fully.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksThat letter is just one step; it cannot be the last. We need a bipartisan framework to govern AI—one that puts human dignity first and protects the most vulnerable. We must also confront the scams targeting our seniors head-on. I've introduced two bipartisan bills to do exactly that: the National Strategy for Combating Scams Act and the GUARD Act.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksBoth give federal agencies and law enforcement the tools they need to coordinate and protect consumers from fraud. I look forward to working with Chairman Scott and my colleagues on this committee to ensure older adults are protected from AI's harms and share in its benefits.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksThank you, Ranking Member Gillibrand. I would like to welcome our witnesses to help the committee understand the landscape of AI-driven fraud and share their experiences dealing with these types of scams. I would like to recognize Dr David Amron, founder of The Roxbury Institute. He joins us because he saw firsthand how this technology can be turned against us.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksScammers used AI to create a deepfake video endorsing a fake miracle cream that he never endorsed. Thank you for being here, Dr Amron. You may begin your testimony.

David Amron, MD — remarks paraphrasedDr David Amron, founder and medical director of The Roxbury Institute in Los Angeles, testified regarding his more than thirty years treating patients with lipedema, a chronic fat-storage disease affecting millions of women. He stressed that clinical medicine relies entirely on interpersonal trust between caregivers and vulnerable individuals seeking treatment. Amron observed that despite recognizing the rapid progression of artificial intelligence, he had not anticipated how quickly bad actors could clone a physician's likeness and medical authority for commercial deception.

David Amron, MD — remarks paraphrasedAmron recounted discovering in summer 2025 that an illicit campaign had fabricated a synthetic video portraying him and a research colleague endorsing an unproven lipedema topical treatment. The promotion spliced authentic segments from his YouTube channel with synthetic voice replication, artificial celebrity cameos, and trademarked network logos to build an apparently legitimate commercial. After patients reported the material—some having already paid for the counterfeit product—clinic staff issued public warnings and spent 11 days navigating platform reporting channels across social networks, search providers, and web domain registrars.

David Amron, MD — remarks paraphrasedDespite these notifications, identical advertisements continuously reappeared under newly registered internet domains, exposing significant gaps in platform content moderation. Amron warned that fraudulent medical endorsements pose severe physical hazards because individuals managing progressive illnesses may postpone legitimate clinical care in favor of counterfeit therapies. He called on federal lawmakers to impose heightened penalties on medical impersonation, hold digital platforms liable for distributing deceptive promotions, and update consumer statutes to address automated likeness manipulation.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksThank you, Dr Amron. We are sorry that happened to you. I would now like to introduce Deborah Del Mastro, a San Francisco Bay Area mother, musician, and vocal coach who experienced an AI voice-cloning kidnapping scam targeting her family. Thank you for being here, Ms Del Mastro.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksPlease begin your testimony.

Deborah Del Mastro — remarks paraphrasedDeborah Del Mastro described enduring an aggressive voice-cloning extortion ordeal on May 14, characterizing it as the most terrifying day of her life. The incident commenced during breakfast with an incoming call from a local area code. A male voice asserted that her daughter Sarah had been seized by a narcotics syndicate, issued a $20,000 payment demand, and warned that her daughter and relatives would be killed if Del Mastro disconnected or notified authorities.

Deborah Del Mastro — remarks paraphrasedThe caller patched in audio of a young woman crying and begging for assistance in speech identical to her daughter's tone and inflection, leaving Del Mastro entirely convinced of an active abduction. Coerced under constant threats to maintain an unbroken cellular connection, Del Mastro and her husband drove across Northern California retail outlets for five and a half hours, attempting transactions at Safeway and Walgreens before dispatching Western Union and MoneyGram wires to Mexico from Walmart outlets.

Deborah Del Mastro — remarks paraphrasedDel Mastro explained that the extortionists only terminated the call after draining $5,400 across four discrete wire transfers, which depleted the household's accessible emergency funds. When she subsequently reached her daughter directly, Del Mastro discovered Sarah was unharmed and learned from her children who work in information technology that the voice had been an artificial intelligence clone. She recounted the lasting emotional distress of the experience and urged policymakers to implement nationwide educational initiatives and systemic protections for families unfamiliar with voice-cloning capabilities.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksThank you, Ms Del Mastro. We are very sorry you had to go through that terrible ordeal. I now recognize Paul Benda, Executive Vice President for Risk, Fraud and Cybersecurity at the American Bankers Association. Thank you for being here, Mr Benda.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksPlease begin your testimony.

Paul Benda, American Bankers Association — remarks paraphrasedPaul Benda of the American Bankers Association explained that rather than introducing novel types of crime, generative AI functions as a force multiplier for existing schemes, enabling low-skilled perpetrators to execute customized, high-volume deception at unprecedented speed and negligible cost. He outlined how bad actors leverage publicly accessible personal data to engineer trust, deploy fabricated audio and visual personas, and exploit emotional vulnerabilities involving urgency and fear.

Paul Benda, American Bankers Association — remarks paraphrasedBenda highlighted recent threat patterns, pointing to FBI advisories regarding syndicates using synthetic video to impersonate senior law enforcement officials and create bogus recovery sites aimed at past fraud victims. He reported that bank impersonation schemes surged by 150 percent between 2024 and 2025 according to data from fourteen major lenders. While financial institutions utilize machine-learning defenses and educate branch personnel via the Safe Banking for Seniors program, Benda noted that deceptive grooming usually takes place on telecommunications networks long before funds reach banking rails.

Paul Benda, American Bankers Association — remarks paraphrasedTo combat synthetic fraud, Benda urged lawmakers to create a centralized National Office for Scam and Fraud Prevention, enact legislation mandating advertiser verification on digital platforms, enhance carrier authentication to prevent caller ID manipulation, and fund local law enforcement efforts. He maintained that effective deterrence requires stopping deceptive outreach on commercial tech networks prior to the transmission of funds.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksThank you, Mr Benda. I would now like to introduce Matthew Ferraro, partner at Crowell & Moring LLP and former senior counsel for cyber and emerging technology at the Department of Homeland Security. Thank you for being here, Mr Ferraro. Please begin your testimony.

Matthew Ferraro, Crowell & Moring LLP — remarks paraphrasedMatthew Ferraro testified regarding the legal and regulatory complexities surrounding synthetic media, citing industry figures showing deepfake fraud caused more than $200 million in damages during the opening quarter of 2025 and is projected to fuel $40 billion in annual domestic fraud by 2027. He emphasized that older adults face acute exposure, experiencing financial loss from scams at five times the rate of younger age groups.

Matthew Ferraro, Crowell & Moring LLP — remarks paraphrasedFerraro observed that generative models eliminate the grammatical errors and visual glitches that previously signaled fraudulent solicitations, producing convincing synthetic audio and video representations of relatives, customer support representatives, and healthcare providers. He recommended a three-part approach: broadening public media literacy via senior centers and clinics, strengthening interagency enforcement under established legal frameworks prohibiting fraud regardless of technology, and developing background content provenance tools modeled after automated email spam filters.

Matthew Ferraro, Crowell & Moring LLP — remarks paraphrasedFerraro advised against fatalism regarding emerging technology, contending that a comprehensive strategy integrating digital literacy, platform oversight, and technical verification protocols can adequately protect consumers while preserving beneficial technological innovation.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksThank you, Mr Ferraro. I would now like to introduce Ben Winters, Director of AI and Privacy at the Consumer Federation of America, where he leads advocacy on consumer protection, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic accountability. Thank you for being here, Mr Winters. Please begin your testimony.

Ben Winters, Consumer Federation of America — remarks paraphrasedBen Winters of the Consumer Federation of America testified that consumer fraud damages have escalated dramatically following the commercial rollout of generative tools in 2023. He observed that annual cyber fraud reported to the FBI expanded from $3.5 billion in 2019 to $12.5 billion in 2023 and reached $21 billion in 2025, while total estimated real-world losses across the economy climbed to $150 billion in 2025, with seniors bearing $55 billion of that total.

Ben Winters, Consumer Federation of America — remarks paraphrasedWinters described modern fraud as an integrated multilayered system of under-regulated tools spanning commercial data brokers trading sensitive demographic lists, automated telecommunications systems broadcasting mass messages, social platforms accepting unvetted scam ads, and irreversible payment channels including cryptocurrency networks. He further cautioned that conversational chatbots mislead isolated seniors by feigning human empathy, asserting false authority, or dispensing hazardous financial and healthcare advice.

Ben Winters, Consumer Federation of America — remarks paraphrasedWinters proposed several concrete legislative remedies: enacting the SCAM Act to hold tech platforms legally accountable for disseminating fraudulent promotions, passing comprehensive data privacy statutes with strict minimization rules, establishing the ReportScams.gov framework with mandatory platform integration, protecting state regulatory authority, and maintaining vigorous congressional oversight of the FTC, CFPB, and FBI.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksSenator Tuberville, would you like to start?

Sen. Tommy Tuberville — verbatim remarksThank you, Mr Chairman. We have a mess, we know it. Technology brings us more and more every day. We have heard the problems, but my solution is education at a young age.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville — verbatim remarksMaybe boomers are in trouble because we are all going to get scammed one way or another, not just domestically, but internationally. It is big time. How do we fix this? We've got the problem, give us the solution.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville — verbatim remarksI will ask everybody this: get your solution ready.

Matthew Ferraro, Crowell & Moring LLP — answer paraphrasedMatthew Ferraro highlighted the value of public media literacy, pointing to Finland's nationwide educational framework as a proven model for coaching citizens to pause and authenticate suspicious content. He added that federal leadership must support background detection software on consumer hardware to screen out synthetic forgeries automatically.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville — verbatim remarksIf you do anything in life, when you get a manual, you get ethics with it first. The same with AI: we have to teach our kids ethics. But our young kids can learn it. You have worked for DHS.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville — verbatim remarksGive us your solution.

Paul Benda, American Bankers Association — answer paraphrasedPaul Benda affirmed the necessity of consumer education, citing industry outreach through the Safe Banking for Seniors campaign. He argued that public awareness must be backed by institutional accountability for telecom carriers and social networks to verify caller identification numbers and block fraudulent promotional placements.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville — verbatim remarksI feel your pain. My mother-in-law got scammed internationally. She got a call from my granddaughter in Europe saying, 'Send $10,000, I need it bad, I've got to get out of this situation.' She sent it. She wasn't in trouble; they just stole the money.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville — verbatim remarksWhat kind of legislation do you think we need? Have you talked to anybody since your debacle?

Deborah Del Mastro — answer paraphrasedDeborah Del Mastro testified that although she had not previously engaged with legislators, discussions with technical specialists revealed a stark disparity: extensive instruction exists on utilizing artificial intelligence, yet virtually no consumer guidance explains how to identify or defend against synthetic impersonation. She urged leaders to prioritize widespread public warnings and enforceable consumer protections.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville — verbatim remarksWe're just now beginning. Think about how much more they will be able to fool people. It will be worse and worse. Thank you very much, and thank you, Mr Chairman.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksThank you, Senator Tuberville. Senator Kelly.

Sen. Mark Kelly — verbatim remarksThank you, Mr Chairman, and thank you for holding this hearing. As all of us know, AI has the potential to change everything about our lives—reshaping how we work, how we make decisions, how entire industries operate, our economy, energy systems, and national security. While it brings enormous opportunity, it also introduces risks that demand serious oversight. That is why we are here today.

Sen. Mark Kelly — verbatim remarksOver the past year, I have focused on making AI work for all Americans, which led me to introduce a roadmap called AI for America. If AI is going to transform our economy, we need a real plan to ensure Americans are not left behind and that technology is developed and used responsibly.

Sen. Mark Kelly — verbatim remarksOlder Americans need to be included in this conversation, not treated as an afterthought as products are deployed. About one in five Arizonans in my state are over the age of 65. When I hear from seniors in Arizona, they tell me they are concerned about what is real and what is not real. Seniors are seeing more convincing phishing scams and online fraud.

Sen. Mark Kelly — verbatim remarksSometimes people don't know if they are talking to a real person. Just yesterday, I was on the phone with my cable company and was convinced I was speaking with an artificial persona until I questioned it and reached a real person. These are fair concerns that affect everyone.

Sen. Mark Kelly — verbatim remarksLast week, I introduced bipartisan legislation with Senator Justice called the Senior Chatbot Protection Act. This bill requires companies to clearly disclose when consumers are interacting with AI, safeguards sensitive conversations, and addresses deceptive design practices that put people at risk. Today, Ranking Member Gillibrand and I sent a letter to leading AI companies asking how they ensure their products are safe for older adults. Furthermore, Chairman Scott and I introduced the bipartisan Aging with AI Act in June to support research into how seniors use AI and its associated risks and benefits.

Sen. Mark Kelly — verbatim remarksCongress has a responsibility to set clear rules based on science and data. Based on the harms you have seen, how would the protections in the Senior Chatbot Protection Act make AI chatbots and voice assistants safer for older Americans?

Ben Winters, Consumer Federation of America — answer paraphrasedBen Winters stated that mandatory disclosure obligations are essential so users immediately understand whether they are interacting with a human or an automated system. He noted that prohibiting manipulative user interfaces and capping conversation memory retention would substantially curtail opportunities to exploit vulnerable seniors.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksThank you, Senator Kelly. Dr Amron, you discovered a video using your voice and likeness that you never made and never endorsed. Walk us through what you had to do to report it and the process to get it taken down.

David Amron, MD — answer paraphrasedDr David Amron recounted the prolonged friction his staff encountered when seeking removal of the synthetic promotions, noting that his marketing personnel spent 11 days trying to secure a human response from Meta. He characterized the company's reporting workflows as delayed, opaque, and predominantly automated, pointing out that even after individual postings were taken down, mirrored iterations immediately re-emerged across fresh web domains.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksMs Del Mastro, what did you do after realizing you had been scammed? How did losing those funds affect you and your husband's financial situation?

Deborah Del Mastro — answer paraphrasedDeborah Del Mastro explained that because she and her husband subsist on fixed Social Security benefits augmented by musical performances, losing their liquid savings caused severe financial strain. She noted that municipal police could not assist because the wire destination was outside United States jurisdiction. Following public media coverage aimed at alerting other households, community contributions via a GoFundMe effort reimbursed the stolen funds.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksWere you able to raise the money on GoFundMe?

Deborah Del Mastro — answer paraphrasedDeborah Del Mastro reiterated that communal solidarity from friends, relatives, and local residents enabled her household to overcome the direct monetary loss.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksThere are a lot of wonderful people in the world. There are evil people out there, but there are some good ones.

Deborah Del Mastro — answer paraphrasedDeborah Del Mastro concurred with the committee's focus, affirming that safeguarding susceptible populations demands collective vigilance across families, financial institutions, and government.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksSenator Gillibrand. Senator Alsobrooks, you are recognized.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks — verbatim remarksThank you so much to Chair Scott and Ranking Member Gillibrand for hosting today's hearing. There is an old warning that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is—but that assumes you recognize when something is not real. Artificial intelligence is making that much harder. For older Americans, the harm from a senior scam does not end with stolen money; it ends with stolen dignity.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks — verbatim remarksThese scams make our elders afraid to answer the phone and cause severe anxiety. As part of the sandwich generation caring for my aging mother, I have witnessed the relentless barrage of predatory calls she receives all day long.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks — verbatim remarksMs Del Mastro, thank you for sharing your story. As a mother, I can only imagine the trauma you experienced. What has stayed with you most since that day, and how did you feel knowing seasoned criminals manipulated your maternal instincts to create a false emergency?

Deborah Del Mastro — answer paraphrasedDeborah Del Mastro testified that the most devastating factor was the seamless authenticity of the cloned voice, which overwhelmed critical skepticism during a perceived life-or-death crisis. She added that once cash was disbursed across foreign wire pickup stations, local law enforcement lacked legal and logistical avenues to reclaim the funds.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks — verbatim remarksIn 2025, over 4,500 Marylanders aged 60 and older filed fraud complaints reporting more than $176 million in losses. Mr Benda, when an older customer informs a bank that they were deceived into transferring money, how quickly can the bank act, and what does the recovery process depend on?

Paul Benda, American Bankers Association — answer paraphrasedPaul Benda stated that when customers promptly alert their financial institution to deceptive transfers, banks can trigger rapid recall protocols to intercept and freeze capital within institutional payment channels. He cautioned, however, that once transactions transition into peer-to-peer fintech apps, digital asset wallets, or physical cash distribution counters, tracking and clawing back assets becomes exceptionally difficult.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksThank you all for your testimony. Ms Del Mastro and Dr Amron, I'm furious on your behalf. I am stunned by the sheer injustice surrounding these types of scams. I have personal friends who were targeted and ended up sending money via crypto kiosks.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksMy aunt was scammed out of $5,000 because someone told her she hadn't paid her taxes properly. These are seasoned, sophisticated criminal networks targeting our loved ones. It is incumbent on Congress and the administration to do far more. I am deeply concerned by recent reductions in personnel and resources at enforcement agencies like the CFPB, FTC, and CISA that protect consumers from bad actors.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksMr Winters, how have these enforcement cuts affected our ability to stop scammers?

Ben Winters, Consumer Federation of America — answer paraphrasedBen Winters observed that curtailing regulatory agency budgets and reducing specialized investigator staffing compromises the government's ability to track illicit financial flows and dismantle upstream criminal syndicates, leaving bad actors to operate with minimal friction.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksMr Benda, from your perspective, what investments and procedural protections are needed so we have stronger safeguards against these scams?

Paul Benda, American Bankers Association — answer paraphrasedPaul Benda stressed that establishing rigorous telecom identity verification to block number spoofing, coupled with training retail and financial personnel to spot coerced customers, provides the most dependable mechanism for interrupting extortion before money changes hands.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksI have heard many examples where bank tellers saved the day by asking a customer, 'Can I ask, this seems like a lot of money, is this someone you know?' That single human intervention stopped a $10,000 fraudulent transfer. Should we require questions and pauses across all money transmitter locations?

Paul Benda, American Bankers Association — answer paraphrasedPaul Benda affirmed that instructing frontline staff to detect behavioral signs of duress and encourage customers to verify unexpected monetary requests frequently halts fraudulent transfers.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksMr Ferraro, in 2025 the Government Accountability Office found fragmented coordination among federal agencies combating fraud, leading Chairman Scott and me to introduce the National Strategy for Combating Scams Act to place the FBI in charge of a multi-agency effort. How does a lack of coordination hinder our response, and what would a national strategy accomplish?

Matthew Ferraro, Crowell & Moring LLP — answer paraphrasedMatthew Ferraro explained that decentralized federal oversight creates informational blind spots, dilutes accountability, and splinters agency mandates. He testified that a statutory national coordination framework would define clear jurisdictional duties, require systematic cross-agency intelligence sharing, and consolidate law enforcement priorities.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksDr Amron and Ms Del Mastro, what specific actions do you want Congress and law enforcement to take to protect other families from experiencing what you endured?

Dr David Amron maintained that public educational campaigns cannot curb systemic abuse unless digital host platforms face statutory liability for monetizing and circulating fraudulent synthetic media. Deborah Del Mastro concurred, noting that maintaining accessible in-person bank personnel and enforcing verified identification on incoming phone numbers and digital profiles are essential to halting predatory impersonation schemes.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksThank you, Senator Gillibrand. Mr Benda, can you explain to the committee the scale of damage AI impersonations inflict on Americans, and what key strategies should be deployed to combat this fraud?

Paul Benda, American Bankers Association — answer paraphrasedPaul Benda emphasized that restoring consumer confidence in everyday communications requires telecommunications carriers to authenticate caller identity and digital platforms to enforce strict bans on synthetic impersonation.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksMr Ferraro, AI scams are inherently borderless. Can you discuss the nature of deepfakes and the international coordination required to combat them?

Matthew Ferraro, Crowell & Moring LLP — answer paraphrasedMatthew Ferraro detailed how overseas criminal syndicates operate structured compounds to orchestrate synthetic media scams, citing joint operations between United States agencies and Vietnamese authorities as evidence that cross-border enforcement partnerships are necessary to shut down foreign call centers.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksMr Winters, would establishing a single centralized federal reporting portal encourage more victims to come forward?

Ben Winters, Consumer Federation of America — answer paraphrasedBen Winters affirmed that a centralized reporting hub such as ReportScams.gov would simplify reporting for victims, centralize loss intelligence, and facilitate collaborative enforcement across state and federal regulators.

Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand — verbatim remarksI have hours of questions for all of you. I want to thank you for testifying, bringing your stories here, and providing concrete recommendations. This is a massive challenge, and I am grateful for your dedication. Thank you, Mr Chairman, for holding this hearing.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksToday we released a bipartisan report on artificial intelligence and older Americans. When we work together across party lines, we make real progress on behalf of the American people. I want to thank all of our witnesses for participating today. I remind seniors and their families that the Senate Aging Committee operates a dedicated toll-free Fraud Hotline for anyone who believes they may have been targeted or victimized.

Chairman Rick Scott — verbatim remarksIf senators have additional questions for the record, the hearing record will remain open until next Wednesday at 5:00 PM. Thank you all for being here. The committee stands adjourned.