New GUARD Act Funds Local Police to Fight 'Pig Butchering' and Elder Fraud with Blockchain Tools

The Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception Act, or the GUARD Act, is essentially a policy toolkit designed to help local law enforcement catch up to modern financial criminals. This bill focuses on two things: defining high-tech scams and making sure the police have the money and training to investigate them. Specifically, it allows State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies to use certain existing federal grant funds for specialized training and tools to fight financial fraud, including scams targeting older adults and the particularly nasty cryptocurrency investment scam known as "pig butchering."

The New Playbook for Financial Crime

If you’ve ever had to explain to your parents or grandparents why they shouldn't click on that email link, this bill is for you. The GUARD Act defines key terms like Elder Financial Fraud (illegally taking an older person’s assets for personal gain) and Scam (a financial crime relying on social engineering). Crucially, it formally defines Pig Butchering—that sophisticated confidence scheme where scammers lure victims, often over months, into pouring money (usually crypto) into fake investment platforms before disappearing. By defining these modern threats, the law is giving police a clear target.

Giving Local Cops Crypto-Tracing Power

Section 3 is where the rubber meets the road for local police departments. It expands what they can spend eligible Federal grant money on. They can now use these funds to hire analysts, agents, and experts specifically for financial crime investigations. More importantly, they can pay for specialized training that covers victim assistance, coordinating with financial institutions, and learning how to use blockchain intelligence tools. This means if a scammer in your town drains your savings into a crypto wallet, local police can now get the funding to hire or train the people who know how to follow that digital trail.

This section also requires agencies receiving funds to designate a financial sector liaison. Think of this person as the dedicated point of contact between the police and local banks, making it easier and faster for them to share information when a scam is underway. If you’re a victim, this liaison role could shave crucial hours off the time it takes to freeze stolen funds.

The Administrative Burden of Transparency

While the bill is great for enforcement, it also stacks up the paperwork. Any agency that uses these expanded funds must submit a detailed report back to the federal government within one year. This report must show exactly how the money was spent, provide statistics on elder fraud and pig butchering in their area, and analyze how the funding impacted those crime stats. This mandatory reporting (Section 3(b)) is designed to ensure accountability, but it also means local agencies will have a significant administrative lift to track and document everything.

Government Gets Serious About the Scale of Scams

Beyond funding local investigations, the GUARD Act demands the federal government get a handle on the true scale of the problem. Section 5 requires the Treasury Department and FinCEN to produce a massive report for Congress within two years. This report must estimate several critical metrics annually, including:

• The total number of scams (including those coming via social media and dating apps) attempted and successful.
• The total dollar amount consumers lose to scams each year.
• The percentage of scams tied to overseas actors versus organized crime groups.
• An estimate of how many fake identities are created each year.

This is a huge undertaking, requiring consultation with banks, social media companies, and phone providers. For regular people, this means that for the first time, the government will be forced to put hard numbers on the financial damage caused by digital scams, which could pave the way for more effective, targeted federal action down the line.