Dismantle Foreign Scam Syndicates Act
Key claim: The bill would require the President to sanction foreigners who run online financial scams against Americans, create a task force to shut down overseas scam compounds that use trafficked forced labor, and authorize the State Department to help those trafficking victims.
Abstract
(HR5490 · 119th Congress) Dismantle Foreign Scam Syndicates Act This 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. Latest action (2025-12-03): Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 48 - 0.
Why this matters
The bill would create a dedicated sanctions program and interagency task force focused on foreign online-scam syndicates, tying trade/sanctions tools directly to consumer-facing financial fraud and human trafficking in overseas scam compounds. If enacted, it would expand OFAC designations into a new category of transnational criminal actor and impose new due-diligence exposure on financial intermediaries handling flows linked to those networks.