The Federal Trade Commission this week urged Congress to amend the Federal Trade Commission Act in response to a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited the agency’s ability to recoup money for defrauded consumers, including older Americans who were reportedly cheated out of more than $1.6 billion last year.

“We do all we can to protect older adults and shut down the scams targeting them,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement Wednesday. “But we still need Congress to restore our authority to get money back from the scammers and into consumers’ pockets.”