Legislature backs Elder Law Section supported bill to serve internet scammers via digital platforms
Sen. Jonathan Martin
An Elder Law Section proposal to protect vulnerable adults from “unascertainable” internet scammers has cleared the Legislature.
The House voted 115-0 Tuesday to approve SB 106 by Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin, a Ft. Myers attorney and former prosecutor.
“Members, this is the ‘Stop the Scammers’ bill,” said the House sponsor, Rep. Kevin Steele, R-Hudson.
The bill cleared the Senate, 37-0, last month and now heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
SB 106 would permit a family member, or “trusted contact,” to obtain a court injunction to temporarily freeze a bank transfer when fraud is suspected.
A provision of the bill authorizes service on an “unascertainable” or unknown respondent using the same method of communication — such as email, Facebook Messenger, or a dating app — that the suspected scammer used to contact the victim.
“We have the ability to serve the exploiter via the same way that they contacted, or exploited, the vulnerable adult,” Martin told the Children, Families & Elder Affairs Committee last month.
The proposal builds on a landmark “Exploitation Injunction” that the Legislature approved in 2018 that permits a family member or an agent to obtain an injunction to freeze a vulnerable adult’s assets, without the aid of an attorney or paying a filing fee.
In 2021, the Elder Law Section worked with the Florida attorney general to strengthen the law by adding provisions to criminalize “undue influence,” and to improve accessibility by authorizing agents under a durable power of attorney to file the petition, Martin said.
“The injunction law has been very successful against known exploiters,” Martin said. “But scammers escape the law by virtue of their anonymity.”
Elder Law Section Chair Shannon Miller, who is board certified in elder law, told the committee that despite the exploitation injunction, vulnerable adults continue to fall victim.
“It’s a $60 billion business in the United States,” she said.
Miller told the committee that a 67-year-old client, “Miss Kelley,” was defrauded of $2.5 million by a scammer the widow met on the dating app, “Millionaire Match,” before her adult sons became aware. Miller described the client as a “lovely woman,” who was intelligent, active, and able to drive, despite early stages of an age-related brain disorder that made her vulnerable to manipulation.
A Senate analysis notes there are 5 million Floridians older than 65. Seniors like “Miss Kelley,” who have yet to reach the end stages of Alzheimer’s or dementia, are most at risk of financial scams, Miller said.
“She met a gentleman who told her if she would simply help him pay the bond to release his gold and diamonds, then he would be able to come to Florida, sweep her off her feet, and they would live happily ever after.”
Miller said she and her client’s adult sons were unable intervene quickly enough to prevent a final transfer of $500,000 to “Tom” the scammer.
“She was out $2.5 million,” Miller said.
The bill would permit a family member or a trusted agent, after being notified by a bank of a suspicious transaction, to petition a court to halt a transfer for 30 days.
“The judge reviews the facts in that temporary petition, they usually enter that temporary order within 24 hours,” she said.
A subsequent hearing within 15 days would give parties an opportunity to confirm that the transfer is legitimate, Martin said.
“This puts the notice out there to the person, if they think they’re entitled to that asset, they can show up in court and make them prove their case to a judge,” Martin said.
In addition to the Elder Law Section, the bill is supported by the Florida Bankers Association.
