ABA Testifies Before Senate Aging Committee on Protecting Seniors from AI-Generated Fraud

American Bankers Association Executive Vice President for Risk, Fraud and Cybersecurity Paul Benda will testify before the Senate Special Committee on Aging today on the growing threat of artificial intelligence-enabled scams and the need for a coordinated response to better protect older Americans from financial exploitation.

At a hearing titled "The AI Deception Machine: Deepfakes, Chatbots, and the New Frontier of Senior Fraud," Benda will outline how generative AI is making scams more convincing, personalized and scalable while enabling criminals to exploit trusted identities and communications channels. 

"The central point of my testimony is straightforward: generative AI is not replacing traditional scams. It is industrializing them," Benda said in his prepared testimony. "A criminal can now create a convincing voice, video, photograph, text message, advertisement, or online persona with little technical skill and at very low cost." 

Benda's testimony highlights how banks are using AI, advanced analytics, employee training, consumer education and information sharing to better identify suspicious activity and protect consumers from increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes. 

"While criminals use AI to make deception more effective, banks employ AI to detect anomalies and protect customers,” Benda said. “The goal should not be to restrict beneficial defensive uses. It should be to strengthen safeguards, improve information sharing, and reduce criminals' ability to exploit communications and identity systems.” 

ABA’s testimony also outlines several policy recommendations, including establishing a National Office for Scam and Fraud Prevention, strengthening telecommunications safeguards, improving fraud-related information sharing, enacting the SCAM Act and modernizing identity and authentication systems.

"Congress can help by establishing accountable national leadership, strengthening telecommunications safeguards, improving information sharing and funds recovery, supporting modern identity systems, and ensuring that every sector involved in the scam lifecycle is responsible for protecting the public," Benda said.

Benda's full testimony is available here.