119-hr2978

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2978 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 2978

 To permit State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies that 
 receive eligible Federal grant funds to use such funds for 
 investigating elder financial fraud, pig butchering, and general 
 financial fraud, and to clarify that Federal law enforcement agencies 
may assist State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies in the use 
 of tracing tools for blockchain and related technology, and for other 
 purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 April 21, 2025

 Mr. Nunn of Iowa (for himself, Mr. Gottheimer, and Mr. Fitzgerald) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
 the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To permit State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies that 
 receive eligible Federal grant funds to use such funds for 
 investigating elder financial fraud, pig butchering, and general 
 financial fraud, and to clarify that Federal law enforcement agencies 
may assist State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies in the use 
 of tracing tools for blockchain and related technology, and for other 
 purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees 
from Deception Act'' or the ``GUARD Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

 In this Act:

    (1) Elder financial fraud.--The term ``elder financial 
 fraud'' means the illegal or improper use of an elderly or 
 adult with a disability's money, property, or other resources 
 for monetary or personal benefit, profit, or gain.

    (2) Eligible federal grant funds.--The term ``eligible 
 Federal grant funds'' means funds received under the following:
        (A) The Department of Justice Economic, High-
 Technology, White Collar, and Internet Crime Prevention 
 National Training and Technical Assistance Program.
        (B) The Department of Justice Information Sharing 
 Training and Technical Assistance Program.
            (C) The Department of Justice Internet of Things 
 National Training and Technical Assistance Program.
            (D) Section 1401 of the Violence Against Women Act 
 Reauthorization Act of 2022 (34 U.S.C. 30107; relating 
 to Local Law Enforcement Grants for Enforcement of 
 Cybercrimes Against Individuals).
        (E) The Department of Justice COPS Technology and 
 Equipment Program.

    (3) General financial fraud.--The term ``general financial 
 fraud'' means the intentional misrepresentation of information 
 or identity to deceive others, the unlawful use of a credit 
 card, debit card, or automated teller machine or the use of 
 electronic means to transmit deceptive information, in order to 
 obtain money or other things of value.

    (4) Pig butchering.--The term ``pig butchering'' means a 
 confidence and investment fraud in which the victim is 
 gradually lured into making increasing monetary contributions, 
 generally in the form of cryptocurrency, to a seemingly sound 
 investment before the scammer disappears with the contributed 
 monies.

    (5) Scam.--The term ``scam'' means a financial crime 
 undertaken through the use of social engineering that uses 
 deceptive inducement to acquire--
        (A) authorized access to funds; or
        (B) personal or sensitive information that can 
 facilitate the theft of financial assets.

    (6) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several 
 States, the District of Columbia, and each territory of the 
 United States.

SEC. 3. FEDERAL GRANTS USED FOR INVESTIGATING ELDER FINANCIAL FRAUD, 
 PIG BUTCHERING, AND GENERAL FINANCIAL FRAUD.

    (a) In General.--State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies 
that receive eligible Federal grant funds may use such funds for 
investigating elder financial fraud, pig butchering, and general 
financial fraud, including by--

    (1) hiring and retaining analysts, agents, experts, and 
 other personnel;

    (2) providing training specific to complex financial 
 investigations, including training on--
        (A) coordination and collaboration between State, 
 local, Tribal, and Federal law enforcement agencies;
        (B) assisting victims of financial fraud and 
 exploitation;
            (C) the use of blockchain intelligence tools and 
 related capabilities related to emerging technologies 
 identified in the February 2024 ``Critical and Emerging 
 Technology List Update'' of the Fast Track Action 
 Subcommittee on Critical and Emerging Technologies of 
 the National Science and Technology Council (the 
 ``Critical and Emerging Technology List''); and
            (D) unique aspects of fraud investigations, 
 including transnational financial investigations and 
 emerging technologies identified in the Critical and 
 Emerging Technology List;

    (3) obtaining software and technical tools to conduct 
 financial fraud and exploitation investigations;

    (4) encouraging improved data collection and reporting;

    (5) supporting training and tabletop exercises to enhance 
 coordination and communication between financial institutions 
 and State, local, Tribal and Federal law enforcement agencies 
 for the purpose of stopping fraud and scams; and

    (6) designating a financial sector liaison to serve as a 
 point of contact for financial institutions to share and 
 exchange with State, local, Tribal and Federal law enforcement 
 agencies information relevant to the investigation of fraud and 
 scams.

    (b) Report to Grant Provider.--Each law enforcement agency that 
makes use of eligible Federal grant funds for a purpose specified under 
subsection

    (a) shall, not later than 1 year after making such use of 
the funds, issue a report to the Federal agency that provided the 
eligible Federal grant funds, containing--

    (1) an explanation of the amount of funds so used, and the 
 specific purpose for which the funds were used;

    (2) statistics with respect to elder financial fraud, pig 
 butchering, and general financial fraud in the jurisdiction of 
 the law enforcement agency, along with an analysis of how the 
 use of the funds for a purpose specified under subsection

    (a) affected such statistics; and

    (3) an assessment of the ability of the law enforcement 
 agency to deter elder financial fraud, pig butchering, and 
 general financial fraud.

SEC. 4. REPORT ON GENERAL FINANCIAL FRAUD, PIG BUTCHERING, AND ELDER 
 FINANCIAL FRAUD.

 No later than a year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Financial Crimes 
Enforcement Network in consultation with the Attorney General, the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, and the appropriate Federal banking 
agencies and Federal functional regulators shall, jointly, submit to 
Congress a report on efforts and recommendations related to general 
financial fraud, pig butchering, elder financial fraud, and scams.

SEC. 5. REPORT ON THE STATE OF SCAMS IN THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director 
of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in consultation with the 
Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the 
appropriate Federal banking agencies and Federal functional regulators 
shall submit a report to the Congress on the state of scams in the 
United States that--

    (1) estimates--
        (A) the number of financial fraud, pig butchering, 
 elder financial fraud, and scams committed against 
 American consumers each year, including--
            (i) attempted scams, including through 
 social media, online dating services, email, 
 impersonation of financial institutions and 
 non-bank financial institutions;
            (ii) successful scams, including through 
 social media, online dating services, email, 
 impersonation of financial institutions and 
 non-bank financial institutions;
        (B) the number of consumers each year that lose 
 money to one or more scams;
            (C) the dollar amount of consumer losses to scams 
 each year;
            (D) the percentage of scams each year that can be 
 attributed to--
            (i) overseas actors; and
            (ii) organized crime;
        (E) the number of attempted scams each year that 
 involve the impersonation of phone numbers associated 
 with financial institutions and non-bank financial 
 institutions;
        (F) an estimate of the number of synthetic 
 identities impersonating American consumers each year;

    (2) provides an overview of the Federal civil and criminal 
 enforcement actions brought against the recipients of the 
 proceeds of financial fraud, pig butchering, elder financial 
 fraud, and scams in the period covered by the report that 
 includes--
        (A) the number of such enforcement actions;
        (B) an evaluation of the effectiveness of such 
 enforcement actions;
            (C) an identification of the types of claims 
 brought against the recipients the recipients of the 
 proceeds of financial fraud, pig butchering, elder 
 financial fraud, and scams;
            (D) an identification of the types of penalties 
 imposed through such enforcement actions;
        (E) an identification of the types of relief 
 obtained through such enforcement actions; and
        (F) the number of such enforcement actions that are 
 connected to a Suspicious Activity Report; and

    (3) identifies amounts made available and amounts expended 
 to address financial fraud, pig butchering, elder financial 
 fraud, and scams during the period covered by the report by--
        (A) the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection;
        (B) the Department of Justice;
            (C) the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
            (D) the Federal Communications Commission;
        (E) the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
 Board;
        (F) the Federal Trade Commission;
        (G) the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network;
        (H) the Securities and Exchange Commission; and
            (I) the Social Security Administration.

    (b) Solicitation of Public Comment.--In carrying out the report 
required under subsection

    (a) , the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
solicit comments from consumers, social media companies, email 
providers, telecommunications companies, financial institutions, non-
bank financial institutions.

SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

 Each Federal agency that provides eligible Federal grant funds that 
are used for a purpose specified under 

section 3

    (a) shall issue an 
annual report to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
Affairs of the Senate containing the information received from law 
enforcement agencies under 

section 3

    (b) .

SEC. 7. FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES ASSISTING STATE, LOCAL, AND 
 TRIBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AND FUSION CENTERS.

 Federal law enforcement agencies may assist State, local, and 
Tribal law enforcement agencies and fusion centers in the use of 
tracing tools for blockchain and related technology tools.
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