[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 132 (Thursday, July 31, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5067-S5068]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 3257. Mr. CRAPO (for himself, Mr. Warner, Mr. Moran, and Mr.
Warnock) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the
bill S. 2296, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2026 for
military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle F of title X, add the following:
SEC. 1067. 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.
[[Page S5068]]
(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, financial fraud, and pig butchering, 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).
(j) Definitions.--In this section:
(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) 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.
(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Treasury.
(4) Task force.--The term ``Task Force'' means the Task
Force on Payment Scams established under subsection (a).
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