HARRISBURG — Sen. Chris Gebhard (R-48) announced the passage of legislation he introduced to update Pennsylvania’s Older Adult Protective Services Act to better protect seniors from financial abuse and scams.
“Older Pennsylvanians are among our most vulnerable citizens, and we have seen an alarming rise in financial exploitation targeting them,” said Gebhard. “This bill aims to improve and streamline reporting and empower financial institutions to help prevent scams committed against seniors before they happen.”
Senate Bill 738 would require financial institutions to report suspected cases of elder financial abuse and empower the institutions to hold suspicious financial transactions. An employee, such as a teller, would be required to report to a designated representative of the institution about suspected fraud within two business days. The institution then would have five business days to report this transaction to the appropriate area agency on aging. Similar legislation has been passed in more than 20 states and has been used as an effective tool to prevent fraud.
The state Department of Aging will also begin issuing findings on the total number of reports, values of the fraudulent transactions and results of the investigations. This tracking will help ensure this program is working as it was intended.
The FBI ranked Pennsylvania ninth in total losses to fraud experienced by older adults in 2025.