The House passed the bipartisan GUARD Act, which stands for Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception, by a 414-7 vote. The measure would expand the ways state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies can use existing federal grant funding to investigate financial fraud. It would also expressly authorize federal agencies to help those authorities deploy blockchain-tracing technology, according to a Wednesday (Sept. 16) press release from the office of Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, who co-led the act alongside Reps. Zach Nunn of Iowa and Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin.
The legislation now goes to the Senate, where lawmakers have already advanced a similar measure, Legis1 reported Wednesday. The Senate version, sponsored by Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee in February but has not yet been taken up by the full Senate.
The House bill reflects growing concern in Washington over the technology and international networks behind financial scams.
“Every day, scammers are targeting our seniors, draining the hard-earned savings they spent a lifetime building, often with a single phone call or a fake investment scheme,” Gottheimer said in the Wednesday press release.
Criminals frequently “hide behind overseas networks that make them nearly impossible to track,” he added.
Under the GUARD Act, existing federal grants could pay for analysts, experts and specialized training to investigate elder financial fraud, general financial fraud and pig butchering schemes. Federal law enforcement agencies could also assist state, local and tribal authorities and fusion centers with blockchain tracing and related technologies to follow stolen money.
Pig butchering typically involves fraudsters gradually cultivating victims’ trust before persuading them to transfer increasing amounts into fictitious investments, often involving cryptocurrency.
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Nunn said in the release that the legislation grew out of a conversation with an Iowa sheriff’s deputy who said officers could see criminals stealing residents’ savings but lacked the resources to trace the perpetrators and recover the money.
“Iowa retirees spent a lifetime building their savings, and scammers are using increasingly sophisticated technology to steal it out from under them,” Nunn said in the release.
The bill that passed Tuesday is separate from the similarly named Guidelines for Use, Access, and Responsible Disclosure (GUARD) Financial Data Act. That bill would modernize the privacy provisions of the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley financial privacy act but has yet to be reported out of the House Financial Services Committee, PYMNTS reported in August.
Tuesday’s measure requires the Treasury Department, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and other federal partners to report to Congress on the scale of financial scams, including annual losses, links to overseas criminals and organized crime, and the effectiveness of federal enforcement efforts, the release said.
Financial and digital asset industry groups have backed the legislation. Kathleen Coulombe, chief advocacy officer at America’s Credit Unions, said in the release that directing investigative resources and tracing tools to local authorities would strengthen “our front lines against scammers.” Rodney Davis, head of government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in the release that the bill would provide resources needed to combat “fraud and the organized crime rings that are hurting retirees and communities.”
Crypto groups also see the bill as a way to strengthen enforcement without restricting legitimate digital asset activity. Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Hun Kim said in the release that effective consumer protection requires law enforcement to have “the tools, training, and resources necessary to identify and pursue illicit activity in digital asset markets.”
The scale of the losses helps explain the congressional attention. According to FBI figures cited in the release, internet crime losses reached $20.9 billion in 2025, up 26% from 2024. Cryptocurrency-related losses reached $11.37 billion, while investment fraud, which encompasses most pig butchering schemes, accounted for more than $8.6 billion.
For law enforcement, the GUARD Act’s significance is less the creation of a new federal enforcement regime than an effort to equip existing investigators for financial crime that crosses technological and geographic boundaries.
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