Sen. Nicole Poore is a Democrat representing Delaware's 12th District, which includes most of New Castle and Bear, all of Delaware City and communities south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
We have all been told how to avoid scams: Do not click suspicious links. Do not give personal information to strangers. Be cautious when you receive an unexpected call from your bank. Hang up and call the number on the back of your card.
It is good advice. But the scale and sophistication of fraud today make one thing increasingly clear: We cannot put the entire burden of stopping scams on the people being targeted.
Delawareans know that all too well. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Delaware has the second highest rate of fraud reports per capita in the country, behind only Nevada.
For me, this issue is personal.
I first became involved in public policy because of my son, Nicholas, who is severely disabled. Through that experience, I came to understand the challenges families face when they depend on services and programs that are essential to their loved ones’ well-being. Scammers understand those vulnerabilities, too.
They impersonate government agencies and claim there is a problem with a benefit or payment. They tell families they must act immediately or risk losing assistance they depend on. The caller is a criminal peddling a lie, but these scammers have become very good at using fear, urgency and uncertainty against their victims.
Other scams come disguised as opportunity. Fake job listings and work-from-home offers promise paychecks but instead demand money up front for equipment, training or fees. The jobs never existed.
And no one is immune. Teachers, business owners, professionals and people with advanced degrees have all fallen victim to increasingly sophisticated scams. That is important to remember because shame is one of the criminals’ greatest weapons. Victims should feel comfortable reporting what happened and asking for help.
There is another side of this crisis that receives far less attention.
Many of the people working inside scam compounds across Southeast Asia were themselves recruited through fake job advertisements. They traveled believing they were accepting legitimate employment, only to have their passports confiscated and finding themselves held against their will and forced to participate in criminal operations targeting people around the world.
As a member of the Delaware Anti-Trafficking Action Council, I believe we must recognize this for what it is: human trafficking. The money stolen from American families is financing criminal enterprises that exploit victims on both ends of the scam.
Technology has also transformed the scale of the problem. Investigations have shown how scammers can use artificial intelligence to create increasingly convincing messages and impersonations, while global communications and technology infrastructure allow criminal networks operating thousands of miles away to reach directly into our homes and onto our phones.
That is why telling Americans to simply “be more careful” is no longer enough.
State legislatures have important roles to play, but a criminal enterprise operating across international borders cannot be solved by states acting alone. We need Congress, federal law enforcement, technology companies, financial institutions, payment platforms, telecommunications providers and international partners working together.
I want to thank Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., for co-sponsoring the Taskforce for Recognizing and Averting Payment Scams (TRAPS) Act. The legislation recognizes the scope of this problem and brings public- and private-sector stakeholders together to identify solutions.
That cooperative approach is exactly what is needed. Too often, proposals to address scams focus on only one part of the system, one industry, one payment method or one technology. But scammers adapt quickly. Closing one door simply encourages them to find another.
We need to focus on the criminal networks themselves, while strengthening protections throughout the entire system.
Congress should provide investigators the resources necessary to pursue these networks across borders and work with our international partners to dismantle the compounds where these crimes are taking place.
We also need to make getting help easier for victims. Today, someone who has just lost money to a scam may be told to contact any number of agencies, from the Federal Trade Commission to the FBI. In the aftermath of a frightening and sometimes financially devastating experience, most people have no idea where to begin.
Americans should have one clear place to turn. A single point of contact where victims can report what happened, receive guidance and be connected with the appropriate law enforcement and financial resources.
Scammers are not going to stop innovating, and they are not going to voluntarily give up a business that steals billions of dollars from Americans.
Our response must be just as determined.
Protecting Delaware families will require education and personal vigilance, but it will also require the government and industry to accept their shares of the responsibility. We need to make it harder for scammers to reach Americans, harder for them to move stolen money, easier for law enforcement to pursue them and much easier for victims to get help.
The people committing these crimes are organized, technologically sophisticated and increasingly international.
Our response must be, too.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
