HR2978-119

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception Act or the GUARD Act.

2. Definitions In this Act: 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. The term eligible Federal grant funds means funds received under the following: The Department of Justice Economic, High-Technology, White Collar, and Internet Crime Prevention National Training and Technical Assistance Program. The Department of Justice Information Sharing Training and Technical Assistance Program. The Department of Justice Internet of Things National Training and Technical Assistance Program. 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). The Department of Justice COPS Technology and Equipment Program. 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. 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. The term scam means a financial crime undertaken through the use of social engineering that uses deceptive inducement to acquire— authorized access to funds; or personal or sensitive information that can facilitate the theft of financial assets. The term State means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, and each territory of the United States.

3. Federal grants used for investigating elder financial fraud, pig butchering, and general financial fraud 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— hiring and retaining analysts, agents, experts, and other personnel; providing training specific to complex financial investigations, including training on— coordination and collaboration between State, local, Tribal, and Federal law enforcement agencies; assisting victims of financial fraud and exploitation; 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 unique aspects of fraud investigations, including transnational financial investigations and emerging technologies identified in the Critical and Emerging Technology List; obtaining software and technical tools to conduct financial fraud and exploitation investigations; encouraging improved data collection and reporting; 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 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. 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— an explanation of the amount of funds so used, and the specific purpose for which the funds were used; 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 an assessment of the ability of the law enforcement agency to deter elder financial fraud, pig butchering, and general financial fraud.

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.

5. Report on the state of scams in the United States 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— estimates— the number of financial fraud, pig butchering, elder financial fraud, and scams committed against American consumers each year, including— attempted scams, including through social media, online dating services, email, impersonation of financial institutions and non-bank financial institutions; successful scams, including through social media, online dating services, email, impersonation of financial institutions and non-bank financial institutions; the number of consumers each year that lose money to one or more scams; the dollar amount of consumer losses to scams each year; the percentage of scams each year that can be attributed to— overseas actors; and organized crime; the number of attempted scams each year that involve the impersonation of phone numbers associated with financial institutions and non-bank financial institutions; an estimate of the number of synthetic identities impersonating American consumers each year; 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— the number of such enforcement actions; an evaluation of the effectiveness of such enforcement actions; 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; an identification of the types of penalties imposed through such enforcement actions; an identification of the types of relief obtained through such enforcement actions; and the number of such enforcement actions that are connected to a Suspicious Activity Report; and 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— the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection; the Department of Justice; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Federal Communications Commission; the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board; the Federal Trade Commission; the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network; the Securities and Exchange Commission; and the Social Security Administration. 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.

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).

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.