New legislation could protect Idahoans from scammers

JEROME, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — A new bill is being introduced in the state house this week that could protect you and your money from fraudsters.

“We’re seeing an increase in fraud,” says Republican Representative of District 21, Jeff Ehlers.

Ehlers is one of the state legislators who is proposing new legislation— House Bill 182, better known as “Report and Hold”, which would protect certain adults from financial exploitation.

“Take a hypothetical senior citizen that was contacted by a fraudster that said, ‘hey you need to wire $10,000, and what the proposed legislation does is allows the institution to hold that for a little bit and say, ‘hey this looks suspicious,’” says Ehlers.

If passed into law, financial institutions can pause suspicious transactions for 15 days to investigate and get assistance from law enforcement. This will include protection for adults 65 years and older, as well as those 18 years and older with mental or physical impairments.

“The quicker the authorities get involved, the better chance there is to recoup that money, but once it’s gone its gone, " says Director of AARP- Idaho, Lupe Wissel.

“Especially if its foreign, there’s not a lot we can do to get it back or for law enforcement to prosecute,” says Ehlers.

According to the AARP, in 2023 there were over 14 thousand reported scams in Idaho. Idaho is currently one of 8 states that do not provide “Report and Hold” legislation, leaving many vulnerable to scams.

“This is just a away to protect their hard-earned money,” says Wissel.

Although the AARP has shown full support of House Bill 182, officials from the Jerome Senior Center don’t agree.

“I don’t think I support it because we have scam prevention presentations here with the sheriff, the police department and our local banker,” says Jerome Senior Center Site Manager, Sheila Harmon. “We help them as much as we can to learn about scams but giving someone else the ability to shut down their account temporarily-- I think that’s government oversight.”

However, Representative Ehlers says the bill isn’t government oversight, it’s an extra shield of protection.

“Seniors still have access to their bank accounts and can make all their transactions it’s just in this case where you’ll have really high suspicions that its fraud, that your financial institution can step in, and I think millions of dollars have been saved in other states because of legislations like this,” says Ehlers.

The bill will be heard in committee on Wednesday. Public comment, either in person or via zoom takes place the following week. For more information, click here.

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