Congress targets $10B scam empire with new enforcement task force
H.R. 5490 — Dismantle Foreign Scam Syndicates Act · Filed by Jefferson Shreve (R-IN) · 72 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 18, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill creates a federal Task Force led by the State Department to combat transnational criminal syndicates running online scam operations (particularly 'pig butchering' cryptocurrency schemes) from Southeast Asia that have defrauded Americans of billions. The Task Force will develop a comprehensive strategy to dismantle scam centers, prosecute perpetrators, sanction foreign actors, recover stolen assets, and support trafficking victims forced to work in these operations—with $30 million authorized for fiscal years 2026–2027.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is law enforcement coordination and sanctions authority targeting criminal syndicates and corrupt officials. It is a public-safety and victim-protection measure, not a regulatory carve-out or subsidy.
What the text implies
- The bill names 32 specific foreign individuals and 9 entities for sanctions, creating a de facto sanctions list embedded in statute rather than through executive order—this may limit future diplomatic flexibility and require congressional action to modify.
- The Task Force's authority to 'harness offensive cyber capabilities' (Section 5(10)) is vague and could authorize offensive cyber operations against foreign targets without explicit congressional approval or oversight mechanism beyond annual reporting.
- Mandatory consultation with private sector actors (banks, social media, crypto exchanges, ISPs, app stores, search engines) may create pressure on these entities to implement content filtering or financial controls that could affect lawful users, though the bill does not explicitly mandate this.
- The bill requires the President to determine sanctions eligibility within 180 days but allows waiver on national security grounds with only 15-day congressional notice—this creates a narrow window for legislative override and may enable diplomatic exceptions without full transparency.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill directly addresses a documented $10 billion annual harm to American citizens through organized financial fraud and human trafficking. It establishes enforcement mechanisms, asset recovery, victim support, and international coordination—all public goods with no apparent private carve-outs or immunity grants. The primary beneficiaries are defrauded Americans and trafficking victims.
Named in the bill
Department of State, Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, Department of the Treasury, Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Trade Commission — and 8 more
Where it stands
72 cosponsors: 43 Republicans, 29 Democrats.
- Sep 18, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 18, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary and House Committee on Foreign Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period…”
- Dec 3, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Dec 3, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 48 - 0”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $240,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 99 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Jefferson Shreve, the sponsor, reported $316,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Fdd Action — $240,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (16,424 characters) on Jul 10, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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