August 1, 2025
Mr. Scott of Florida introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to designate certain covered organizations as Foreign Financial Threat Organizations, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Strengthening Targeting of Organized Predatory Scammers Act
or the STOP Scammers Act
.
Sec. 2. Designation of Foreign Financial Threat Organizations
(a) Designation
The Secretary of the Treasury shall designate covered organizations as Foreign Financial Threat Organizations
. The Secretary shall make the first of such designations not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(b) Procedure
(1) Notice
Before making a designation under this section, the Secretary shall notify, in writing, the Speaker and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore, the Majority Leader, and the Minority Leader of the Senate, and the members of the relevant committees of Congress of the intent to designate an organization under this section as a Foreign Financial Threat Organization and the factual basis for such designation.
(2) Publication in Federal Register
The Secretary shall publish a designation made under this section in the Federal Register not later than 7 days after providing the notification under paragraph (1).
(3) Freezing of assets
Upon notification under paragraph (1), the Secretary may require United States financial institutions possessing or controlling any assets of a Foreign Financial Threat Organization to block all financial transactions involving those asset until further direction from the Secretary of the Treasury, an Act of Congress, or an order of a court.
(4) Effect of designation
A Foreign Financial Threat Organization shall be subject to the same penalties and procedures as an organization that has been designated as a specially designated global terrorist organization by the Secretary of State or the Secretary of the Treasury, as the case may be, pursuant to Executive Order 13224 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to blocking property and prohibiting transactions with persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism).
(c) Enforcement
The Federal Government may take such actions as necessary against a Foreign Financial Threat Organization to protect the cybersecurity of the United States and limit the ability of the Foreign Financial Threat Organization to access internet or cellular services.
(d) Prohibition on contact
The Secretary of the Treasury shall take such actions as may be necessary to prevent a Foreign Financial Threat Organization from contacting United States citizens or aliens who are lawful permanent residents of the United States by phone, internet, or email.
(e) Report
(1) In general
Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the implementation of this Act.
(2) Contents
A report required by paragraph (1) shall include, for the period covered by the report—
(A)
an identification of covered organizations that have been designated as Foreign Financial Threat Organizations;
(B)
the amount of assets seized from such Foreign Financial Threat Organizations;
(C)
the actions taken by the Secretary to identify such Foreign Financial Threat Organizations; and
(D)
the amount of funds the Secretary was able to return to victims of fraud by such Foreign Financial Threat Organizations.
(3) Public availability
The Secretary shall make publicly available a version of each report required by paragraph (1) that does not include any sensitive information.
(4) Appropriate congressional committees defined
In this subsection, the term appropriate congressional committees means—
(A)
the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate; and
(B)
the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives.
(f) Covered organization defined
In this Act, the term covered organization means a foreign entity (as defined in section 800.220(a) of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations), including any subsidiary or affiliate of a foreign entity, that engages in fraudulent activity in an attempt to deceive United States citizens or aliens who are lawful permanent residents of the United States to provide cash or other assets to such foreign entity, as jointly determined by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General.