Romance Scam Prevention Act

Mr. President, each year, Americans lose roughly $1.3 billion to online romance scams. The victims are overwhelmingly senior citizens. They go online, thinking they are going to be able to find some companionship. They meet somebody. Often, this is on a dating site. They think that what they have made is a genuine connection because they are chatting online with this individual, but what is actually happening is they are communicating with a fraudster the entire time. Often, these victims--as I said, many of them are older. They are senior citizens. These victims will lose their entire lifesavings before they realize or before their friends and their family realize what has actually happened.

Here is the thing that is so important to realize. These scam artists are not amateurs. In fact, they are often part of a transnational criminal organization that traffics individuals in developing countries with the promise of getting a high-paying job. With their passports stolen, these individuals, who are victims, are often transported to what are called fraud dens, and they are forced to pay back their debt to these transnational criminal organizations by working overtime to defraud our senior citizens here in the United States.

It is really quite amazing. These are scam artists. They are part of transnational criminal organizations. They lure people into being trafficked.

They promise those individuals high-paying jobs in other countries, and then they take their passports and put them to work in these fraud dens. And there, they are defrauding U.S. citizens.

These scams are well financed, they are very sophisticated, and more often than not, they are using AI and other technology to dupe American consumers.

Scams are proliferating in the virtual space. We are seeing much of this in online dating platforms, and we do think these online dating platforms have the ability and the responsibility to notify their users when they are interacting with a bad actor.

By taking this simple step, the Romance Scam Prevention Act would protect our seniors from fraud and strike at the heart of one of the most lucrative financial streams for some of the most heinous criminal networks in the world.

I want to thank Representative Valadao and his staff for their commitment to protecting our seniors and championing this important legislation, and I thank my colleagues here in the Senate who have also supported it.

Notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 438, H.R. 2481.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2481) to require online dating service providers to provide fraud ban notifications to online dating servicemembers, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record on this particular bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2481, the Romance Scam Prevention Act, led by Representative Valadao. This legislation would require online dating platforms to notify users when they have interacted with someone who has been removed from the platform for fraudulent activity.

Online dating platforms have been around for over 30 years, and they continue to grow in popularity. While they can help people connect, their accessibility and digital format have also created new risks, unfortunately.

The FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, reported that romance scams lost victims $1.3 billion in 2022. I have constituents who were victims, unfortunately. Many of those affected were elderly individuals who lost their retirement savings. What a shame.

By requiring a fraud ban notification, we can put a stop to these senseless scams and protect vulnerable consumers.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of H.R. 2481, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from the great State of California (Mr. Valadao), a very effective Member of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this particular bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge support for my bill, the Romance Scam Prevention Act. Every year, millions of Americans from all ages and backgrounds use dating apps and websites to make connections.

For many, online dating has made it easier to build relationships. Unfortunately, there are countless stories of criminals using these sites for fraudulent activity.

While it is sadly common to see users lie about things like their age and occupation, romance scammers use fake profiles to develop connections and emotionally or financially exploit unsuspecting users. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans lost over $1.1 billion in 2023 alone, with senior citizens being the age group most at risk.

There have been countless stories of people being conned out of their entire life savings, all because they believed they had found love online. People who meet online often take their conversations to other communication platforms and might not know that they are talking to someone who has been removed from the original dating app.

This bill requires dating platforms to issue fraud ban notifications to users who have interacted with an account who has been removed for fraudulent activity.

As criminals are becoming more sophisticated when it comes to exploiting victims online, it is time to put safeguards in place to protect users from financial fraud.

I thank Chairman Guthrie and his staff at the Committee on Energy and Commerce for their work on this important bill, as well as my co-leads, Representatives Brittany Pettersen, Tom Suozzi, and Craig Goldman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 2481, the Romance Scam Prevention Act.

As more consumers report using online dating services, it is important that they are made aware of potential harms. This bill ensures that when an online dating service bans a user for fraud, it notifies all the other users who have been in contact with that banned person on the service. This will help to reduce the number of people who fall victim to identified fraudsters looking to extort money from dating app users.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is an important first step in addressing harm in the online dating space. However, there is a lot more to be done, and vulnerable consumers need a strong and independent Federal Trade Commission to prosecute fraudsters and scammers and to protect them from having their emotions exploited for financial gain.

I encourage my Republican colleagues to support this legislation as well as the bipartisan FTC that ensures consumer protection measures like this one are fully and fairly enforced for all Americans. I thank Representatives Pettersen and Valadao for their leadership on this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I will close by saying I do think this is an important bill for avoiding fraud. I am very concerned about fraud on these dating service apps. I commend Mr. Valadao for bringing this forward, and I urge everyone to support the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.