KENNEBUNK — A fraud case involving Candice Simeoni’s grandfather during her first year as a law enforcement officer with the Kennebunk Police Department sparked her passion to protect seniors from scams.

At a Senate Aging Committee hearing on Wednesday, chaired by U.S. Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, Simeoni explained how she has worked to combat elder abuse over her 15-year career in law enforcement.

Simeoni founded York County Elder Abuse Task Force in 2005 to help address the epidemic of scams.

Simeoni, invited to testify by Sen. Collins, has worked on 77 elder justice cases in the past year, ranging from the loss of hundreds of dollars to entire estates. Three of her cases have been referred to the local district attorney.

“Over my law enforcement career, I’ve had the opportunity to complete extensive training in the field of elder abuse,” said Simeoni. “I have a true passion for being the voice of our vulnerable populations, primarily our elderly and those with disabilities.”

“Officer Simeoni has been a leader in fighting fraud against Maine seniors,” said Collins. “I am so proud of her exceptional efforts to help seniors who have been scammed as well as educate older Americans and her fellow law enforcement officers on how to prevent fraud.”

Collins noted that Wednesday’s hearing is the 22nd hearing the Aging Committee has held in the past six years to examine scams affecting older Americans,

“Stopping these scam artists requires a coordinated response from all levels of our government and the private sector, but alert citizens will always be the best line of defense,” Collins said. “The committee’s work has helped inform seniors and put criminals on notice that they will be caught and brought to justice.”

During the hearing, Collins unveiled the committee’s 2019 Fraud Book, which details the top 10 most common scams reported to the committee’s Fraud Hotline over the past year. The senator pointed out that one of the commonalities of these scams is that many seniors have trouble ending conversations with con artists because they feel it is rude to simply hang up the phone.

Simeoni told the committee that scammers take advantage of seniors’ politeness and can be charismatic or threatening. She said she learned on Tuesday evening that a Kennebunk senior was scammed out of nearly $5,000 because the senior felt harassed and intimidated.

“I wish I could talk to every elder and let them know that it’s okay to hang up and it’s okay to protect yourself in a way where you just hang up the phone,” Officer Simeoni said.

Collins said that as the chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, one of her top priorities is to combat scams that target seniors.

Last year,  a bipartisan bill Collins authored with Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, was signed into law. The new law will provide support to regulators, financial institutions, and legal organizations to educate their employees about how to identify and prevent financial exploitation.

Collins also joined Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, in introducing the Seniors Fraud Prevention Act that passed the Senate last Congress, which would help fight scams by educating seniors about fraud schemes and improve monitoring and responding to fraud complaints. She said that bill will be reintroduced soon.

The Senate Aging Committee operates a toll-free Fraud Hotline, 855-303-9470, for people to report being victimized by scam artists or to receive assistance if they think they are being scammed.

Last year, the hotline received more than 480 calls from Maine. Once again, Collins said, the IRS impersonation scam, where criminals pretending to work for the IRS call unsuspecting victims and demand payment of supposed back taxes, was the most reported scam.

In a 2018 interview, Simeoni said that whether they are being scammed by someone from far away or by someone in a position of trust much closer to home, incidents of financial abuse of the elderly tend to go unreported.

She urged people to report such incidents, either to a number like the Fraud Hotline, or local law enforcement.

“If something doesn’t feel right, let’s talk about it,” she said.

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