Gottheimer Sounds Alarm on Phone Scams, Proposes Stop Senior Scams Plan & New Hotline

Huge Increase of IRS Senior Tax Scams ahead of April 15^th

PARK RIDGE, N.J. — Today, Congressman Gottheimer announced his Stop Senior Scams Plan at Atrium Senior Living in Park Ridge, N.J.

During Fiscal Year 2017, more than 12,000 victims reported over $60 million in total monetary losses nationwide due to the IRS impersonation scam. And New Jersey is one of the top six hardest hit states in the country, with victims suffering reported financial losses of more than $2.6 million.

His plan focuses on:

• Demanding that our government double down on these IRS impersonation scams and take urgent action to protect American consumers from sophisticated scammers looking to take advantage of them.
• Establishing a new Senior Scam Hotline to solicit individual cases from seniors who have been scammed so we can elevate their cases to the right federal agencies to take aggressive action. Gottheimer’s office has senior caseworkers standing by ready to help. To report a suspicious call, please contact Gottheimer’s Senior Scam Hotline at (800) 974-1301 or at SeniorsHotline@mail.house.gov.
• Calling for the immediate passage of the bipartisan Senior Safe Act to allow our financial institutions and our financial advisors to report senior exploitation when they see it
• Encouraging vigilance about not falling for scams and sounding the alarm on the issue so it rises to top of everyone’s consciousness, particularly during tax filing season