US Senate hearing warns AI scams threaten seniors

American Bankers Association EVP Paul Benda testified before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, describing how generative AI has industrialized scams by making them more convincing, personalized and scalable. He urged Congress to create a National Office for Scam and Fraud Prevention, strengthen telecommunications safeguards, improve fraud‑related information sharing, enact the SCAM Act and modernize identity and authentication systems.

The bipartisan Senate hearing, chaired by Senator Rick Scott, highlighted that Americans over 60 lost $7.7 billion to AI‑enabled fraud in 2025. Senators warned that deepfakes, voice cloning and AI chatbots are being used to impersonate relatives, experts and celebrities, deceiving seniors into transferring money. Witnesses, including victim Deborah Del Mastro and surgeon Dr David Amron, recounted personal losses caused by AI‑generated voice and video scams. The panel called on major AI firms to provide safeguards for older adults and people with disabilities.