119-s2019

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2019 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 2019

 To establish a Task Force for Recognizing and Averting Payment Scams, 
 and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 June 10, 2025

 Mr. Crapo (for himself, Mr. Warner, Mr. Moran, and Mr. Warnock) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
 Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To establish a Task Force for Recognizing and Averting Payment Scams, 
 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 ``Taskforce for Recognizing and 
Averting Payment Scams Act'' or the ``TRAPS Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

 In this Act:

    (1) Payment.--The term ``payment'' means any mechanism 
 through which an individual can electronically transfer funds 
 to another individual via a platform or intermediary.

    (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
 of the Treasury.

    (3) Task force.--The term ``Task Force'' means the Task 
 Force on Payment Scams established under 

section 3

    (a) .

SEC. 3. TASK FORCE ON PAYMENT SCAMS.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a task force, to 
be known as the Task Force for Recognizing and Averting Payment Scams.

    (b) Membership.--

    (1) Composition.--The Task Force shall be chaired by the 
 Secretary or a designee thereof, and shall consist of 
 representatives from the following:
        (A) The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
        (B) The Federal Communications Commission.
            (C) The Federal Trade Commission.
            (D) The Department of Justice.
        (E) The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
        (F) The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
 System.
        (G) The National Credit Union Administration.
        (H) The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
            (I) The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
        (J) A representative, appointed by the Secretary in 
 consultation with the Task Force, from a financial 
 institution with expertise in identifying, preventing, 
 and combating payment scams.
        (K) A representative, appointed by the Secretary in 
 consultation with the Task Force, from a credit union 
 with expertise in identifying, preventing, and 
 combating payment scams.
            (L) A representative, appointed by the Secretary in 
 consultation with the Task Force, from a digital 
 payment network with expertise in identifying, 
 preventing, and combating payment scams.
            (M) A representative, appointed by the Secretary in 
 consultation with the Task Force, from a community 
 bank.
        (N) A representative, appointed by the Secretary in 
 consultation with the Task Force, from a consumer 
 group.
        (O) A representative, appointed by the Secretary in 
 consultation with the Task Force, from an industry 
 association representing technology or online 
 platforms.
        (P) Not more than 5 representatives appointed by 
 the Secretary to represent victims, scam support 
 networks, and other relevant stakeholders in order to 
 better assist consumers and stakeholders.

    (2) Term of appointment.--The term of a member of the Task 
 Force shall continue until the termination of the Task Force.

    (3) Vacancy.--Any vacancy occurring in the membership of 
 the Task Force shall be filled in the same manner in which the 
 original appointment was made.
            (c) === Purpose ===
-The Task Force shall--

    (1) examine current trends and developments in payment 
 scams, identify effective methods for preventing such scams, 
 and issue recommendations to enhance efforts to identify and 
 prevent such activities;

    (2) adopt a cross-sector approach to ensure its 
 recommendations reflect the full scope of the issue, given that 
 scams impact individuals across a wide range of industries, 
 including financial services, telecommunications, and 
 technology; and

    (3) include representation from stakeholders with direct 
 experience supporting victims of scams, as well as industry 
 participants with insight into scam tactics and prevention 
 strategies.
            (d) Meetings.--The Task Force shall meet not less than 3 times 
during the 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this 
Act, and thereafter at such times and places, and by such means, as the 
Chair of the Task Force determines to be appropriate, which may include 
the use of remote conference technology.

    (e) Duties.--The duties of the Task Force shall include--

    (1) evaluating best practices for combating methods used by 
 scammers, including spoofed calls, scam text messages, and 
 malicious advertisements, pop-ups, and websites;

    (2) assessing how international jurisdictions have tried to 
 prevent payment scams;

    (3) identifying and reviewing current methods used to scam 
 a consumer through payment platforms;

    (4) determining a strategy for education programs that 
 better equip consumers to identify, avoid, and report payment 
 scam attempts to the appropriate authorities;

    (5) coordinating efforts to ensure perpetrators of payment 
 scams can be identified and pursued by law enforcement;

    (6) consulting with other relevant stakeholders, including 
 State, local, and Tribal agencies and financial services 
 providers;

    (7) determining whether any additional Federal legislation 
 would be beneficial for law enforcement and industry in 
 mitigating payment scams; and

    (8) identifying potential solutions to payment scams 
 involving business email compromise.

    (f) Compensation.--Each member of the Task Force who is a civilian 
or employee of the United States shall serve without compensation, 
other than compensation to which entitled as an employee of the United 
States, as the case may be.

    (g) Report.--

    (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date on 
 which the Secretary establishes the Task Force, the Task Force 
 shall submit to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services 
 of the House of Representatives and make publicly available 
 online a report detailing--
        (A) the results of the reviews and evaluations of 
 the Task Force under subsection

    (e) ;
        (B) the strategy identified under subsection

    (e) ;
            (C) any legislative or regulatory recommendations 
 that would enhance the ability to detect and prevent 
 payment scams described in subsection

    (e) ; and
            (D) recommendations to enhance cooperation among 
 Federal, State, local, and Tribal authorities in the 
 investigation and prosecution of scams and other 
 financial crimes, including harmonizing data 
 collection, improving reporting mechanisms and streams, 
 estimating the number of complaints and consumers 
 affected, and evaluating the effectiveness of anti-scam 
 training programs.

    (2) Annual updates.--After submitting an initial report 
 required under paragraph

    (1) , the Task Force shall, on an 
 annual basis, submit to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
 Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial 
 Services of the House of Representatives and make publicly 
 available online an updated version of the report.

    (h) Applicable Law.--Chapter 4 of title 5, United States Code, 
shall not apply to the Task Force.
            (i) Sunset.--The Task Force shall terminate on the date that is 3 
years after the date on which the Task Force submits the report 
required under subsection

    (h)

    (1) .
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