Financial exploitation is a common form of abuse that targets seniors and adults with disabilities. In 2023, Florida alone reported a staggering loss of more than $293 million due to financial fraud involving vulnerable individuals.[i] In attempts to combat this issue, Florida Senator Darryl Rouson introduced Senate Bill 556, “Protection of Specified Adults,” during the 2024 Legislative session.[ii] After being signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis, the bipartisan bill took effect on January 1, 2025, and was subsequently codified into the Florida Statutes under § 415.10341.[iii] The new law aims to protect specified adults from financial exploitation by allowing financial institutions to delay a disbursement or transaction if exploitation is suspected.
Under the statute, “financial exploitation” is defined as wrongful or unauthorized misuse of a specified adult’s assets through deception, intimidation, undue influence, or abuse of legal authority.[iv] Accordingly, a “specified adult” is described as a natural person, aged sixty-five or older, or alternatively—a “vulnerable adult”—a person who is eighteen or older and whose ability to perform daily activities or self-care is impaired due to disability, dysfunction, brain damage, or aging.[v] If such exploitation is suspected, the statute mandates financial institutions to delay transactions for up to fifteen days, with the possibility of extending this period by an additional thirty days if necessary.[vi] Additionally, an internal review of the circumstances must be initiated, all authorized parties on the account (excluding suspected exploiters) must be notified, and a record of the delayed transaction or disbursement must be maintained for a period of at least five years.[vii] While theoretically sound, the challenge with this approach lies in the impracticality of placing the burden on institutions to educate and train employees on financial exploitation and to develop effective procedures for addressing such situations.[viii]
Imposing this obligation on financial institutions, such as national banks, is ill-considered, as it assumes they have the resources and expertise to prevent exploitation while managing core operations. Evidence shows that despite substantial efforts, banks have failed to combat fraud effectively on their own.[ix] Additionally, research indicates that financial institutions are facing challenges not only in hiring new employees, but also in retaining them.[x] Given these persistent challenges, entrusting financial institutions with such a critical responsibility raises substantial concerns regarding their capacity to implement and enforce these protections effectively, thereby undermining the statute’s purpose. Considering that those who fall within the specified adult category under the statute are at the highest risk for financial exploitation,[xi] it is questionable why the legislature would risk their protection by assigning this duty to institutions that are unlikely to effectively address this pressing matter.
A more effective approach is to delegate the training, education, and development of procedures to the federal government and then direct financial institutions via the statute to hire these trained professionals at their locations. Specifically, this responsibility could be delegated to Florida’s Office of the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force (“Strike Force”). Established in 2019 and expanded to include Florida in 2022, the Strike Force is a joint law enforcement effort consisting of prosecutors, data analysts, FBI agents, and other law enforcement.[xii] These personnel collaborate with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), industry partners, and Elder Justice Coordinators to combat financial fraud and abuse of older adults.[xiii] Since its enactment, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has highlighted the Strike Force’s significant success in combating elder fraud throughout the country.[xiv] Given the established expertise and proven success of this entity in addressing elder fraud, it is difficult to envision a more fitting body to oversee the orchestration of Fla. Stat. § 415.10341 than Florida’s section of the Strike Force. This revised procedure is simple: the Strike Force trains individuals to identify financial fraud, and financial institutions are statutorily required to hire at least one such person for every 150 customers who fall into the “specified adult” category to monitor the activity of their accounts.
Nonetheless, one foreseeable point of contention is financing. However, several strategies can help combat this issue. To reduce training costs, the DOJ may limit program enrollment to only the necessary staff for Florida’s financial institutions. To prevent shortages due to resignations, employees will be required to serve a minimum of three years unless removed for cause. Six months before their term ends, they would decide on renewal, ensuring adequate time for replacements. To further cut costs, the program could prioritize candidates with backgrounds in accounting, finance, or forensic accounting. Additionally, to ease financial burdens on institutions, roles could be remote or part-time. Since these employees would primarily monitor accounts of “specified adults,” their workload would allow for such flexible and cost-efficient staffing.
Given Florida’s reputation as the fraud capital of the country[xv], it is critical to ensure that regulations designed to prevent financial exploitation are as strong and effective as possible, particularly when dealing with vulnerable adults. Failure to do so, puts Florida at risk of allowing those who constitute a significant portion of the state’s population to continue to be disproportionately targeted by these deceptive actors.[xvi] While Fla. Stat. § 415.10341 represents a step in the right direction to mitigate this devastating reality, its current approach falls short of fully preventing financial exploitation. By centralizing training, education, and procedural development under a dedicated organization of experts, financial institutions can enhance their compliance with the statute and more effectively safeguard at-risk individuals from financial exploitation.
[i] Special Agent Willie Creech, FBI Highlights Growing Number of Reported Elder Fraud Cases Ahead of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, Fed. Bureau Investigations (June 14, 2024), https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/miami/news/fbi-highlights-growing-number-of-reported-elder-fraud-cases-ahead-of-world-elder-abuse-awareness-day.
[ii] Roxanne Rehm & Alex J. Sabo, Florida Adopts Protection of Specified Adults Statute for Financial Institutions, Bressler, Amery & Ross (June 10, 2024), https://www.bressler.com/news-florida-adopts-protection-of-specified-adults-statute-for-financial-institutions.
[iii] See id.
[iv] Fla. Stat. § 415.10341(1)(a) (2024).
[v] Fla. Stat. § § 415.10341(1)(c) (2024) (explaining the traits of a specified adult pursuant to this statute); see also Fla. Stat. § 415.102(28) (defining a vulnerable adult as “[A] a person 18 years of age or older whose ability to perform the normal activities of daily living or to provide for his or her own care or protection is impaired due to a mental, emotional, sensory, long-term physical, or developmental disability or dysfunction, or brain damage, or the infirmities of aging.”).
[vi] Fla. Stat. § 415.10341(3–4).
[vii] Fla. Stat. § 415.10341(3)(a)–(b)(2).
[viii] Fla. Stat. § 415.10341(6).
[ix] ABA, Associations: Banks Cannot Fight Financial Scams on Their Own, Am. Bankers Ass’n Banking J. (July 22, 2024), https://bankingjournal.aba.com/2024/07/aba-associations-banks-cannot-fight-financial-scams-on-their-own.
[x] Jerone Abueva, Winning the Talent War: Strategies For Banks to Attract and Keep the Best, Insights (Oct. 28, 2024), https://insights.samsung.com/2024/10/28/winning-the-talent-war-strategies-for-banks-to-attract-and-keep-the-best.
[xi] See Be Alert for Financial Schemes Targeting Seniors and Vulnerable Adults, Securian Fin., https://www.securian.com/insights-tools/articles/fraud-and-financial-abuse.html (last visited Mar. 24, 2025).
[xii] See Justice Department Expands Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force to Protect Older Americans from Fraud, U.S. Dep’t Just. (Oct. 4, 2022), https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-expands-transnational-elder-fraud-strike-force-protect-older-americans.
[xiii] Justice Department Announces New Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force, U.S. Att’y Off. Middle Dist. Fla. (June 13, 2019), https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/justice-department-announces-new-transnational-elder-fraud-strike-force.
[xiv] See Christina Ianzito, Justice Department Intensifies Its Fight Against Elder Fraud, Am. Ass’n Retired Pers. (Oct. 4, 2022), https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/elder-fraud-strike-force/.
[xv] See Jennifer Torres, Florida Faces Fraud Epidemic as State Ranks First in Nation for Scams, Gulflive (Oct. 17, 2024, 4:35 PM), https://www.gulflive.com/news/2024/10/floridas-fraud-epidemic-ranked-as-nations-top-target-for-scams.html.
[xvi] See Graham Brink, How Old are Floridians? Five Charts Tell the Story, Tampa Bay Times (Jan. 11, 2024), https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2024/01/11/floridians-keep-getting-older-heres-why-that-matters (“Florida is also by far the oldest of the big states. We have more residents at least 65 years old than Louisiana has total people.”); see also Be Alert for Financial Schemes Targeting Seniors and Vulnerable Adults, supra note xi (explaining how older and vulnerable adults are the most frequent targets for scams, frauds, and financial abuse).
