119-s2544

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2544 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 2544

 To permit State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies and 
 grantees 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 July 30, 2025

 Mrs. Britt (for herself, Mrs. Gillibrand, and Mr. Scott of Florida) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
 Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To permit State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies and 
 grantees 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 the money, 
 property, or other resources of an elderly individual or adult 
 with a disability for monetary or personal benefit, profit, or 
 gain.

    (2) Eligible federal grant funds.--The term ``eligible 
 Federal grant funds'' means funds received under any of the 
 following:
        (A) Title IV of the Prioritizing Resources and 
 Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 (34 
 U.S.C. 30103 et seq.) (commonly known as the 
 ``Economic, High-Technology, White Collar, and Internet 
 Crime Prevention National Training and Technical 
 Assistance Program''), including relating to the use of 
 technology to solve crimes and to facilitate 
 prosecutions (commonly known as the ``Internet of 
 Things

    (IoT) National Training and Technical Assistance 
 Program'').
        (B) Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, part 23 
 (commonly known as ``Justice Information Sharing 
 Training and Technical Assistance Program'').
            (C) Section 1401 of the Violence Against Women Act 
 Reauthorization Act of 2022 (34 U.S.C. 30107) to a 
 local law enforcement agency for enforcement of 
 cybercrimes against individuals.
            (D) Section 1701 title I of the Omnibus Crime 
 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381), 
 relating to developing and acquiring effective 
 equipment, technologies, and interoperable 
 communications that assist in responding to and 
 preventing crime (commonly known as the ``COPS 
 Technology and Equipment Program'').

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

    (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 
and grantees 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 relating 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 and 
grantee 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, submit to the Federal agency that 
provided the eligible Federal grant funds, a report 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.

 Not later than 1 year after the date of 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 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 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 
 nonbank financial institutions; and
            (ii) successful scams, including through 
 social media, online dating services, email, 
 impersonation of financial institutions and 
 nonbank financial institutions;
        (B) the number of consumers each year that lose 
 money to 1 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 nonbank financial 
 institutions; and
        (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 during 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 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, and 
nonbank 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 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 
of the Senate, the Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, and the 
Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives 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.
 <all>