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Security Independently confirmed2 publishers 2 min read Published Updated

House votes to let existing DOJ grants buy blockchain tracing for local police

The GUARD Act, passed by the House on Tuesday, would let five existing Justice Department grant programs pay for the analysts, training and blockchain tracing software that local police say they lack in scam cases.

The Watch · Security desk

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Illustration accompanying House votes to let existing DOJ grants buy blockchain tracing for local police
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What happened

  • The House passed the Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception Act on Tuesday, a bipartisan bill from Representatives Zachary Nunn, Scott Fitzgerald and Josh Gottheimer.
  • The bill lets local agencies spend existing federal grant money on financial fraud analysts, on victim-assistance and blockchain tracing training, on investigative software, and on a bank liaison contact.
  • Americans reported a record $11.4 billion in cryptocurrency-related losses during 2025, the caseload the sponsors say local departments cannot currently work.
  • The House also passed a bill on Tuesday evening ending the tax Americans owe on money stolen from them, retroactive to victims scammed between 2021 and 2025.

Why it matters

  • What's now possible capability A detective who could not fit tracing software into a grant's allowed costs can now put the software and the analyst to run it in the same application.
  • What it limits constraint The eligibility change widens what five existing programs may fund without adding to them, so a fraud analyst competes with the equipment and overtime those awards cover today.
  • Who has to decide decision Departments have to decide whether a crypto-tracing analyst is worth more than the line items the same award has been paying for, and whether they can keep that person after the grant period.
  • What it sets up precedent Congress handled the scam enforcement gap as a purchasing question. The next fraud bill is likelier to arrive as grant eligibility language than as a new criminal statute.

The gap here is jurisdictional. One victim's pig-butchering complaint usually does not clear the threshold for a federal investigation, and the department that takes the report is not equipped to work it [7]. The operative change in the bill is what a grant dollar is allowed to buy.

Four allowed uses are named. Hiring analysts and experts in financial fraud [4]. Training officers to assist victims and to use blockchain intelligence tools that trace stolen cryptocurrency and identify perpetrators [5]. Purchasing software to run financial investigations, and designating a point of contact that banks can send information to [6].

Clark Flynt-Barr, government affairs director for financial security at AARP, described the reporting problem in a social media video last week [11]. "One of the things that we heard through AARP's Fraud Watch Network over and over from scam victims was that when they reported scams to their local police, local police didn't have the right tools... to actually investigate those crimes," she said [12]. "This will help to ensure that state and local law enforcement, who really are on the front of lines of fighting scams, have the right tools to do so" [13].

The loss figures set the scale of the caseload. Americans reported a record $11.4 billion in cryptocurrency-related losses in 2025, and investment fraud accounted for $8.6 billion of that [8][9]. That is about 75 percent of the total, leaving roughly $2.8 billion across every other category [18][19]. The bill's own language points at seniors, and at the transnational criminal groups that run these operations from overseas [10].

The money is existing money. The Record reports the funding would be drawn from five Justice Department grant programs already in place, including the Information Sharing Training and Technical Assistance Program, and does not report a new appropriation [16]. A department that puts an analyst on payroll with one of those awards is spending against what the same program funds now.

Senators Katie Britt and Kirsten Gillibrand introduced a companion bill in July 2025, with the emphasis on giving local law enforcement access to blockchain tracing technology [14]. It was added to the Senate's legislative calendar in February [15].

What to watch

  • Appropriations levels for the five Justice Department programs: a new allowable cost changes little if the programs are funded flat.
  • Whether the next round of DOJ grant solicitations lists blockchain tracing software and fraud analysts as allowable costs in writing.
  • Senate action on the scam-tax repeal, whose relief reaches back to victims scammed in 2021.

Clarity's read

What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.

Reality

Evidence68
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+5
Incentives40
Confidence70
Why these scores

Claim ledger

Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.

  1. [1]

    A bill freeing up federal funding to help local law enforcement investigate financial scams passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  2. [2]

    The bill is the Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception Act (GUARD).

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  3. [3]

    The bipartisan bill was introduced by Reps. Zachary Nunn (R-IA), Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.).

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  4. [4]

    The bill would allow law enforcement to use existing federal grant money to investigate cases involving financial fraud, including by hiring analysts and experts in such crimes.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  5. [5]

    Funds could also be used for training on how to help victims of financial fraud and exploitation and how to use blockchain intelligence tools to trace stolen cryptocurrency and identify perpetrators.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  6. [6]

    The grant money could be used to purchase software to conduct financial investigations and to designate a point of contact for financial institutions to share information with law enforcement agencies.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  7. [7]

    Victims of online scams such as pig butchering commonly complain that such cases typically do not rise to the level of a federal investigation but local law enforcement is unequipped to properly investigate them.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  8. [8]

    Cryptocurrency-related losses for Americans reached a record $11.4 billion in 2025.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  9. [9]

    Investment fraud made up $8.6 billion of the 2025 cryptocurrency-related losses.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  10. [10]

    The language of the bill specifically highlights the vulnerability of seniors to such scams, which are often carried out from overseas by transnational criminal groups.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  11. [11]

    Clark Flynt-Barr, government affairs director for financial security at the American Association of Retired Persons, praised the legislation in a social media video last week.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  12. [12]

    "One of the things that we heard through AARP's Fraud Watch Network over and over from scam victims was that when they reported scams to their local police, local police didn't have the right tools... to actually investigate those crimes," Flynt-Barr said.

    Reported Supported Source: Clark Flynt-Barr, AARPView cited source
  13. [13]

    "This will help to ensure that state and local law enforcement, who really are on the front of lines of fighting scams, have the right tools to do so," Flynt-Barr said.

    Reported Supported Source: Clark Flynt-Barr, AARPView cited source
  14. [14]

    Senators Katie Britt (R-AL) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced a companion bill in the Senate in July 2025, emphasizing the need for local law enforcement to have access to blockchain tracing technology.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  15. [15]

    The Senate companion bill was added to the Senate's legislative calendar in February.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  16. [16]

    The funding would be drawn from five existing Department of Justice grant programs, including the Information Sharing Training and Technical Assistance Program.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  17. [17]

    On Tuesday evening the House also passed a bill that would eliminate the so-called "scam tax" requiring Americans to pay taxes on funds stolen from them, applying retroactively for victims scammed between 2021 and 2025.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  18. [18]

    Investment fraud accounted for about 75 percent of 2025 cryptocurrency-related losses reported by Americans.

    Derived Supported
  19. [19]

    Categories other than investment fraud accounted for roughly $2.8 billion of the 2025 cryptocurrency-related losses.

    Derived Supported

Sources

2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.

  1. thecyberexpress.com

    1 article · September 17, 2026

    US House Passes Bill to Help Police Track Down Scammers Targeting Seniors
  2. therecord.media

    1 article · September 16, 2026

    House passes bill to equip local law enforcement with scam-fighting tools

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