This summer, the national media profiled a Northern Virginia retiree who lost his life savings to scammers. Over a series of months, cybercriminals impersonating this man’s bank and the IRS convinced him to withdraw hundreds of thousands of dollars from his retirement accounts and turn it into Bitcoin and gold, which the criminals then stole.
The media account is heartbreaking and a warning. According to the FBI, scammers stole more than $94 million from Virginians over the age of 60 in 2023. This amount was an increase of $34 million from 2022. In response to the surge, law enforcement has urged Americans of all ages to educate and protect themselves, as well as their family and friends.
For Virginians who believe leaders in Washington, D.C., should do more to combat scams, there is some good news. The issue is on the radar of Congress, including the Senate Banking Committee. The bad news, unfortunately, is that the current approach some senators are taking falls far short.
In the Senate, much of the attention on scams has revolved around peer-to-peer payment services like Zelle. While these services are sometimes used by crooks at the end of their crimes, nearly all scams begin long before someone is tricked into hitting ‘send’ on a payment app.
By focusing only on payment services, members of Congress are missing an opportunity to provide Americans with real protections. As Congress and the Senate continue to debate the best way to reverse the rise in scams, it is my hope that Virginia’s senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, will help push their colleagues in a new direction and beyond the singular focus on payment services. Legislation truly designed to protect consumers would recognize that scams often start with a phone call, phishing email or hidden identity. Meaningful policies would provide law enforcement more resources to track and stop criminal networks and allow for more consumer education to help Americans spot and stop scams before they start.
As a small business owner, I have other concerns with the Senate’s narrow approach. It would raise costs on my business and my customers.
Services like Zelle are quickly replacing cash or checks. Being able to receive payments from customers online is convenient on several fronts, and unlike credit cards or other payment systems, Zelle does not charge fees.
Many Zelle users access the service through their local bank or credit union. The new government mandates that Congress is considering for peer-to-peer payment services would place costly new burdens on local financial institutions. Should Congress proceed with new rules, many local banks and credit unions are likely to respond by charging fees for every Zelle transaction or fundamentally altering the service. Either outcome is bad for small local businesses like mine.
With scams and fraud on the rise, Virginians need Congress to tackle the problem, but we also need Congress to focus on real policies that actually protect Americans from crooks. I’m hoping that our two US senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, will be voices of reason on this issue who push for comprehensive solutions that bring together stakeholders to go after criminals and stop scams and fraud before they occur.
Dorothy Blackwell is the owner of Nelson Gallery in Lexington.
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