Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Joseph Biden, D-Del., disagree on almost everything. But they joined forces Wednesday to try to put teeth into federal laws against scam tele-mar-keting.
If a bill they introduced passes, telemarketers who bilk senior citizens out of their life savings may in turn have all that they own seized by the government. They also would suffer stiffer fines and longer prison sentences than for other fraud.The two senators' bill comes a week after the FBI's sting "Operation Disconnect," which began in Utah two years ago, led to hundreds of arrests nationwide of scam tele-mar-ket-ing operators whose most common targets were senior citizens.
"Unfortunately, the trusting people of my home state have been favorite targets of scam artists," Hatch said, adding that horror stories about victims prompted him into action.
For example, he said, "A Salt Lake City FBI agent reported that an elderly woman was bilked out of her last $500. She had been too embarrassed to ask for help. Without money, she spent the last days of her life eating dog food."
Biden said the elderly are favorite targets "because of their pride that makes them reluctant to tell their children . . . and the authorities about what they've done."
Hatch said typical scams promise the victim a prize ranging from a Cadillac to a diamond necklace - if they first give their credit card number or buy hundreds of dollars' worth of what turns out to be cheap products for inflated prices.
"One Utahn spent $500 on vitamins to receive this tennis bracelet," Hatch said holding it up for cameras. "A Las Vegas firm represented it to be a `10-karat-weight sapphire and diamond' bracelet set in gold." It had no diamonds, only zircon in a cheap gold-plated setting worth "about $30 to $60."
So Hatch, ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and committee chairman Biden introduced the Senior Citizens Against Marketing Scams Act of 1993, or SCAMS for short.
It would allow the government to seize any property bought with money acquired through tele-mar-ket-ing scams that heavily target senior citizens, similar to seizures allowed through the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
"But under RICO, you have to prove a continuing criminal enterprise. That is harder to prove than what will be available in this bill," Biden said.
The bill also would add an additional five years imprisonment for fraud when committed by tele-mar-ket-ing, and an additional 10 years imprisonment for tele-mar-ket-ing fraud aimed at senior citizens.