H.R. 2978 — GUARD Act

This section defines terms for the Act, including elder financial fraud as the illegal or improper use of an elderly individual’s or adult with a disability’s money or property; pig butchering as a confidence scam that lures victims into increasing cryptocurrency investments before the perpetrator disappears; general financial fraud and scam as forms of social engineering or misrepresentation to obtain funds or sensitive information; and eligible Federal grant funds as amounts from specified programs such as the Economic, High-Technology, White Collar, and Internet Crime Prevention National Training and Technical Assistance Program and the COPS Technology and Equipment Program.

This section authorizes State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies and grantees to use eligible Federal grant funds to investigate elder financial fraud, pig butchering, and general financial fraud. Authorized uses include hiring analysts and experts, providing training on blockchain tools and transnational investigations, obtaining software and technical tools, improving data collection, conducting coordination exercises with financial institutions, and designating financial sector liaisons. Agencies must submit a report to the granting agency within one year detailing funds used, relevant fraud statistics, and an assessment of deterrence effects.

This section directs the Secretary of the Treasury, acting through the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and in consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and federal banking agencies and functional regulators, to submit a report to Congress within one year of enactment evaluating efforts to combat general financial fraud, pig butchering, elder financial fraud, and scams, along with any legislative recommendations to improve those efforts.

This section directs the Secretary of the Treasury, acting through the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, to submit a report to Congress not later than two years after enactment and every two years thereafter on financial fraud, pig butchering, elder financial fraud, and scams. The report must analyze trends from Bank Secrecy Act filings, including report volumes, aggregate dollar amounts, typologies, and the role of digital assets, and summarize law enforcement cooperation activities, including the Rapid Response Program, with data on referrals, interdiction amounts sought and recovered, and limitations.

This section requires each Federal agency providing eligible Federal grant funds for purposes specified under section 3(a) to submit an annual report to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the House Committee on Financial Services, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and the House Committee on the Judiciary containing information received from law enforcement agencies under section 3(b).