NY State Senate Bill 2025-S7382

Senate Bill S7382

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to increasing penalties for certain theft and fraud crimes against elderly persons

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Codes Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Apr 11, 2025	referred to codes

2025-S7382 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Codes
Law Section:: Penal Law
Laws Affected:: Add §§165.80 & 190.91, Pen L

2025-S7382 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Increases penalties for certain theft and fraud crimes against elderly persons; makes such crimes a class B felony.

2025-S7382 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7382

SPONSOR: BYNOE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to increasing penalties for
the crimes of theft and fraud when directed against an elderly person

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To increase the penalties for theft and fraud when directed against an
elderly person, as defined as anyone sixty years or older. This would
create a new Class B felony for theft against an elderly person and
fraud against.an elderly person.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 provides the legislative intent of this bill.

Section 2 adds a new section 165.80 to Article 165 of the penal law
"Other Offenses Related to Theft" which covers all associated crimes of
theft when committed against an elderly person. Such a crime would be a

Class B felony.

Section 3 adds a new section 165.80 to Article 165 of the penal law
"Other Frauds" which covers all associated crimes of fraud when commit-
ted against an elderly person. Such a crime would be a Class B felony.

Section 4 provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Theft and Fraud directed against seniors has increased steadily since
2020, and according to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center's statis-
tics in 2023 elder fraud complaints increased 14%. In addition, accord-
ing to NASDAQ's 2024 Financial Crimes Report, one in ten elderly Ameri-
cans are victims of theft or fraud each year, fraud against seniors
accounts for a total of $77.7 billion in fraud annually.

As the occurrence of these crimes increase leading to more seniors fall-
ing victims to scams, theft and fraud, this legislation would create two
new penalties within the penal code, "theft against an elderly person"
and "fraud against an elderly person" which would be an overarching
penalty for all fraud or theft when directed against an elderly victim
and would be classified as a Class B Felony, increasing the penalties

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Legislation

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.

2025-S7382 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7382
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              April 11, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  BYNOE  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
 
 AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to increasing  penalties  for
   the crimes of theft and fraud when directed against an elderly person
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Legislative intent. This Legislature finds that  theft  and
 fraud  against  seniors have increased steadily since 2020. According to
 the FBI Internet Complaint Center's  statistics,  in  2023  elder  fraud
 complaints  increased  14%.  The  Legislature holds that crimes targeted
 against the elderly take a wide variety of forms, from  check  fraud  to
 identity  theft  or through scams where individuals pose as tech support
 or even as family members. This Legislature further finds that according
 to NASDAQ's 2024 Financial Crimes Report, one in ten  elderly  Americans
 are  victims  of  theft  or  fraud each year, in total, $77.7 billion in
 fraud globally has been linked to elderly victims.
   Therefore, this Legislature finds that to combat the increasing occur-
 rence of these crimes, and to treat them with  the  severity  that  they
 deserve,    theft  and  fraud  directed towards an elderly victim should
 hereby be classified as a separate crime that is classified as  Class  B
 felony.
   §  2.  The penal law is amended by adding a new section 165.80 to read
 as follows:
 § 165.80 THEFT AGAINST AN ELDERLY PERSON.
   1. A PERSON IS GUILTY OF THEFT AGAINST AN  ELDERLY  PERSON  WHEN  SUCH
 PERSON  COMMITS  AN  OFFENSE DEFINED IN THIS TITLE WHEN THE VICTIM IS AN
 ELDERLY PERSON.
   2. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, "ELDERLY PERSON" MEANS  A  PERSON
 WHO IS SIXTY YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER.
   THEFT AGAINST AN ELDERLY PERSON IS A CLASS B FELONY.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11628-01-5
 S. 7382                             2

 
   §  3.  The penal law is amended by adding a new section 190.91 to read
 as follows:
 § 190.91 FRAUD AGAINST AN ELDERLY PERSON.
   1.  A  PERSON  IS  GUILTY OF FRAUD AGAINST AN ELDERLY PERSON WHEN SUCH
 PERSON COMMITS AN OFFENSE DEFINED IN THIS TITLE WHEN THE  VICTIM  IS  AN
 ELDERLY PERSON.
   2.  FOR  THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, "ELDERLY PERSON" MEANS A PERSON
 WHO IS SIXTY YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER.
   FRAUD AGAINST AN ELDERLY PERSON IS A CLASS B FELONY.
   § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.

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