Creates an interagency Task Force, chaired by the Secretary of State, to dismantle foreign scam compounds — primarily in Burma, Laos, and Cambodia — that use trafficked labor to run online frauds like 'pig butchering' cryptocurrency schemes against Americans, who lost at least $10 billion to these operations in 2024. State, Justice, FBI, Homeland Security, Secret Service, and Treasury (including OFAC and FinCEN) must share data and develop a comprehensive strategy within 180 days, with annual reports to Congress for six years. Within 180 days, the President must determine whether to impose Magnitsky, anti-trafficking, or transnational-crime sanctions on 32 named individuals and 11 named entities tied to the syndicates, plus any others the President identifies on credible evidence; victims of trafficking are explicitly excluded from sanctions. The Task Force is authorized to partner with banks, telecoms, crypto exchanges, social-media platforms, and dating apps to disrupt scam infrastructure, and to use offensive cyber capabilities to degrade scam centers. The bill authorizes $30 million for the State Department in each of fiscal years 2026 and 2027 to fund the strategy and victim-support programs. The Task Force terminates seven years after enactment.
Transparency & Accountability
- Annual public reports to Congress — six years of scam-loss, sanctions, and victim data required
- Seven-year sunset on the Task Force — forces a reauthorization review
- Interagency data sharing — State, DOJ, DHS, and Treasury required to pool relevant information
- Written justification for non-sanctioning — required for each named person the President declines to designate
Congressional Summary
Dismantle Foreign Scam Syndicates ActThis bill requires the President to (1) impose applicable sanctions on foreign persons (individuals or entities) responsible for online financial scams against U.S. nationals, and (2) establish an interagency task force to shut down the criminal syndicates perpetuating such scams.Under the bill, the President must determine whether 43 specified foreign persons, and any other foreign persons the President determines are responsible for or complicit in online financial scams against U.S. nationals, are subject to sanctions under specified laws and Executive Order 13581. Upon such determination, the President must impose applicable sanctions (for example, blocking the sanctioned person's property transactions within the United States).The President must also establish an interagency task force to shut down transnational criminal syndicates that use large scam centers and forced labor of trafficked persons to perpetuate mass online scams against Americans. The task force must (1) submit a comprehensive strategy to Congress to combat these scam centers and dismantle the criminal elements involved with them, and (2) coordinate and oversee implementation of the strategy. Within 360 days of submitting the strategy to Congress and annually thereafter for five years the task force must submit to Congress a report addressing various topics related to such scam centers including a list of all foreign persons sanctioned by the United States for their scam center involvement.The Department of State is authorized to provide trauma-informed care, shelter, reintegration, and support services for victims of trafficking in persons within online scam centers.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-09-18
- Date Added
- 2026-05-06
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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