House passes GUARD Act 414–7 to help police fight fraud aimed at older Americans
The House of Representatives passed the GUARD Act on September 15, 2026, a bipartisan bill aimed at helping law enforcement combat financial fraud, including scams that target older Americans.
The measure — formally the Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception Act — cleared the House on a motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended, a procedure requiring a two-thirds majority. It passed 414 to 7, with 12 members not voting. Because it passed, the bill moves to the Senate, where it was received on September 16 and placed on the Senate legislative calendar.
The bill would let state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies use money from certain existing federal grant programs to investigate general financial fraud, elder financial fraud, and what is known as "pig butchering." Pig butchering is a form of investment fraud in which a scammer builds a relationship with a victim over weeks or months — often after making contact through social media, a dating app, or a wrong-number text — and earns their trust before steering them toward a phony investment opportunity. The victim is gradually persuaded to hand over larger and larger sums, typically in cryptocurrency, until the scammer cuts off contact and disappears with the money. The bill would also clear federal law enforcement agencies to help state, local, and tribal authorities use tracing tools for blockchain and related technology, and would require the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to report to Congress on the state of financial fraud and scams in the United States and on efforts to combat them.
The bill was introduced on April 21, 2025, by Representative Zach Nunn, an Iowa Republican. During floor debate, Nunn said that "every American knows someone who has come into contact with an AI fraud, a pig butchering scheme, a romance theft," and described a constituent in rural Iowa whom he said scammers defrauded of more than $1 million. Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat who supported the bill, said it was needed because "crypto has facilitated frauds and scams," but added that lawmakers should clarify that the measure "overlaps and augments, doesn't steal from" the grant programs it draws on — a reference to Democratic concerns that funds meant for programs such as those under the Violence Against Women Act should not be diverted.
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