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New Strategies to Fight Fraud

Michelle Crouch,

AARP

Published March 01, 2026

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As fraud has expanded rapidly, lawmakers — urged on by AARP — have taken several steps to try to rein it in.

Across the Southeast region, legislatures in the last year or so have passed measures that seek to lessen the risk of mail fraud, gift card fraud and cryptocurrency kiosk fraud.

In Mississippi, for example, a new law cracking down on mail fraud “sends a clear message that we will not tolerate those who prey on our seniors,” according to AARP Mississippi State Director Kimberly L. Campbell.

The legislative activity comes as fraud — including fraud directed at older adults — continues its relentless climb. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there has been a “dramatic” increase in reports of fraud targeting older Americans. In 2024, those 60 and older reported losses of $2.4 billion — up fourfold from 2020.

Those 2024 numbers “include only a fraction” of older adults harmed because most fraud is not reported, the FTC notes.

Older adults may be more likely to suffer higher losses than younger consumers because they may be more affluent and because fraud itself has changed, says Kathy Stokes, AARP senior director of fraud prevention programs.

“It used to be maybe five or more years ago, the scams were like, ‘Let’s get a thousand bucks off of them and move on.’ And now they’re holding on for months, creating these trust relationships and taking everything — just everything,” she says.

Here’s how AARP and lawmakers are clamping down on fraud:

Louisiana

AARP played a key role in advancing a new law that helps protect older adults from cryptocurrency fraud. The law focuses on crypto kiosks (also known as crypto ATMs), a tool that scammers are increasingly using because they move money quickly and transactions are difficult to trace.

Under the law, kiosk operators must now be licensed by the state and post warning signs alerting users to potential scams. It also sets a $3,000 daily transaction limit and puts a 72-hour hold on transactions or allows for customer refunds.

“Up until now, once your money was put in, it was gone,” says Alfred E. Mason, AARP Louisiana’s volunteer state president who last year helped push the bill. The law gives a person “time to change their minds and get their funds back.”

Arkansas

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AARP Arkansas and the state attorney general’s office pushed for a new law that cracks down on gift card fraud, setting greater penalties for scammers.

Before the law went into effect, prosecutors were limited because gift card fraud wasn’t a felony, says AARP Arkansas Advocacy Director Chris McCoy. “They just didn’t have anything with teeth,” he says.

The new law establishes tiered penalties based on the dollar amount involved and allows multiple violations to be combined for tougher charges.

Some gift card scams involve thieves tampering with and draining gift card balances before they are purchased. Others involve perpetrators convincing victims to buy gift cards and mailing them or sharing the numbers on the back of the card, McCoy says.

Mississippi

Although mail fraud is a federal offense — and residents were reporting cases of thieves stealing checks from the mail and using them to hijack people’s funds — until last year Mississippi had no state law making mail fraud a prosecutable offense.

That gap in the law is now closed. In 2025, AARP Mississippi supported the passage of a bill to make mail theft a state crime and give local law enforcement new authority to investigate and prosecute cases. The law went into effect July 1, 2025.

The move was important, says state director Campbell, in part because older residents — including those in rural areas — still rely on mailed checks to pay their bills. “They need this type of protection,” she says.

To learn about the latest frauds — and to get tips and advice — go to aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork, or call the free AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360.

More AARP Fraud Resources

AARP Fraud Watch Network How to access the free service.
Keep an Eye Out for the Latest Travel Scams Don’t let criminals steal your fun with fake booking sites, bogus deals and other rip-offs.
The Best Weapon Against Amazon-Related Scams? Knowing How They Work Criminals keep finding new ways to use the company’s name to steal from consumers.

Michelle Crouch is a North Carolina-based writer who has covered health issues for Reader’s Digest, The Washington Post and other publications. She has written for the Bulletin for more than a decade.