BILL NUMBER: S7382
SPONSOR: BYNOE
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to increasing penalties for
the crimes of theft and fraud when directed against an elderly person
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To increase the penalties for theft and fraud when directed against an
elderly person, as defined as anyone sixty years or older. This would
create a new Class B felony for theft against an elderly person and
fraud against.an elderly person.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 provides the legislative intent of this bill.
Section 2 adds a new section 165.80 to Article 165 of the penal law
"Other Offenses Related to Theft" which covers all associated crimes of
theft when committed against an elderly person. Such a crime would be a
Class B felony.
Section 3 adds a new section 165.80 to Article 165 of the penal law
"Other Frauds" which covers all associated crimes of fraud when commit-
ted against an elderly person. Such a crime would be a Class B felony.
Section 4 provides the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Theft and Fraud directed against seniors has increased steadily since
2020, and according to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center's statis-
tics in 2023 elder fraud complaints increased 14%. In addition, accord-
ing to NASDAQ's 2024 Financial Crimes Report, one in ten elderly Ameri-
cans are victims of theft or fraud each year, fraud against seniors
accounts for a total of $77.7 billion in fraud annually.
As the occurrence of these crimes increase leading to more seniors fall-
ing victims to scams, theft and fraud, this legislation would create two
new penalties within the penal code, "theft against an elderly person"
and "fraud against an elderly person" which would be an overarching
penalty for all fraud or theft when directed against an elderly victim
and would be classified as a Class B Felony, increasing the penalties
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Legislation
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.