Bill aims to centralize government efforts to fight online fraud

A pair of senators plans to introduce a bill Monday that would centralize federal efforts to fight scams and help Americans obtain information about how to identify fraud.

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Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., are set to introduce the ReportScams.gov Act, which would require the federal government to establish a centralized reporting website and direct the government to create a new Federal Scams Action Plan to thwart scams and support scam victims.

“This bipartisan bill will establish a comprehensive, unified plan to thwart scammers and provide consumers with one clear user-friendly portal where they can report scams and alert law enforcement,” Hassan said in a statement announcing the bill.

According to the FBI, cyber-enabled crimes cost Americans around $21 billion in 2025 from over a million complaints — a record-setting number — as reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center. The Federal Trade Commission also recently found that Americans lost over $2 billion to scams on social media, which is the leading cause of scams, according to the FTC data.

An April 2025 report from the Government Accountability Office found that at least 13 federal agencies work to counter scams in some way, with eight separate agencies receiving complaints about scams. However, the report found that “there is no single, comprehensive, government-wide strategy for guiding efforts to counter scams.”

The FTC already operates a fraud-reporting website, reportfraud.ftc.gov , but the site only covers some types of scams. The Treasury Department has its own reporting mechanisms for tax fraud, while the FBI’s Internet Crimes Complaints Center claims it focuses on cyber-enabled crime.

The new website created by the proposed bill would aim to combine reporting mechanisms into one easy-to-use system, along with providing Americans with educational resources about how to identify and avoid scams. At a March hearing on combating scams , senior officials from the FBI and the FTC gently sparred over whose agency was the best place to report scams.

Once an individual submits evidence of a scam, the new ReportScams.gov website would then route the scam reports to the relevant federal and state law enforcement agencies, providing individuals who submit claims with a list of the agencies who received the report and a tracking number for their submission.

The rise of AI has helped fuel this surge in fraud, according to the FBI, as cheap or free tools allow scammers to create realistic replicas of trusted emails or online services.

AI systems can now reliably mimic an individual’s voice and likeness — even on a live video call . The AARP has warned about the possibility of AI-fueled fraud for years , with its director of fraud prevention programs, Kathy Stokes, calling AI an “industrial revolution for fraud criminals.”

Criminals can use AI to pretend to be celebrities and sell certain products, to create fake profiles on dating websites that can lead to romantic relationships, and create lifelike knockoffs of bank statements or financial documents that might cause an individual to send money to fraudsters.

“Fraud prevention isn’t just a financial issue,” Scott said in a statement. “It’s a matter of national security and dignity for older Americans. ReportScams.gov will create a centralized platform to report these fraudulent activities, and I’m proud to join Senator Hassan to tackle this growing problem.”