Why it Matters

The global scam economy cost the world an estimated $442 billion in 2025, and the Joint Economic Committee is preparing to ask whether the U.S. federal government has the tools to fight back. The committee's March 25 hearing — its first ever focused on scams — arrives just days after INTERPOL issued a stark warning that financial fraud now sits "at the centre of polycriminality, intersecting with organized crime, human trafficking and cybercrime." AI-powered schemes, transnational criminal syndicates operating out of Southeast Asian scam compounds, and an explosion of "pig butchering" crypto fraud are all converging to create a threat that existing federal frameworks were not built to handle. For American consumers — particularly seniors — the stakes are immediate and personal.

Rising Global Scams and the International Alarm Bell

The hearing's timing tracks closely with a burst of international activity. On March 16-17, INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime co-hosted a Global Fraud Summit in Vienna that drew 40 ministers, representatives from over 100 countries, and 300 industry leaders. The summit produced a joint Call to Action on Combating Fraud and a new Global Public-Private Partnership Framework, with participation from Amazon, Meta, TikTok, Chainalysis, Santander Bank, and the Global Anti-Scam Alliance.

INTERPOL's 2026 Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment, released at the summit, reported that fraud-related INTERPOL Notices and Diffusions have increased by 54 percent since 2024. A new INTERPOL Global Taskforce was launched specifically to target scam compounds, with an initial focus on dismantling criminal operations in Southeast Asia.

The UK government, which co-launched the taskforce, noted that over two-thirds of scams targeting British citizens originate from abroad — a dynamic that mirrors the American experience and underscores why the Joint Economic Committee hearing is framing this as a question of modernizing federal approaches to foreign fraudsters.

The Scam Economy in 2026: AI, Crypto, and Compound Operations

The threat landscape has shifted dramatically. According to reporting on INTERPOL's findings, AI-enhanced fraud — including agentic AI — is "revolutionizing scams" and the risk heading into 2026 remains high.

"Pig butchering" scams — crypto investment fraud schemes in which victims are groomed over weeks or months before being fleeced — continue to surge. Chainalysis's 2026 Crypto Crime Report found that pig butchering and high-yield investment programs remain dominant fraud categories, with criminal organizations leveraging AI, SMS phishing, and complex money laundering networks. The Better Business Bureau separately warned consumers about TikTok-based pig butchering crypto scams earlier in March.

UNODC has highlighted scam centers in the Philippines and Cambodia, where operations are often linked to human trafficking. The agency called for "prosecuting high-level criminals, following the money through financial investigations." One high-profile case — the arrest in Cambodia of a figure linked to scam compounds reliant on trafficked labor — illustrated the jurisdictional challenges that make online fraud prevention so difficult for any single government.

What Congress Is Doing — and Who's Lobbying

The JEC's hearing advisory flagged three core concerns: AI-driven scams targeting vulnerable Americans, organized fraud operations in Southeast Asia, and the need to modernize federal consumer protection against scams.

The hearing is chaired by Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), with Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) serving as ranking member and Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) as vice chair. The committee's 20 members span both chambers and parties.

On the legislative front, a bipartisan group of senators — including JEC member Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) — recently introduced a bill to create a federal task force within the SEC focused on combating scams targeting seniors. The bill would coordinate efforts across federal agencies, develop strategies to confront fraud aimed at older Americans, and analyze the federal response to scams.

The Lobbying Footprint Behind the Global Scam Economy Debate

Lobbying disclosures over the past year reveal sustained private-sector engagement on the issues at the center of this hearing.

Match Group — operator of dating platforms including Tinder and Hinge — has lobbied on "digital fraud and scams prevention" in every quarter since mid-2025. In December 2025, Match Group Holdings I LLC registered to lobby specifically on a suite of scam-related bills: the Romance Scams Prevention Act (S.841), the GUARD Act (S.2544), the Scam Compound Accountability and Mobilization (SCAM) Act (S.2950), the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act (S.2665), and the National Strategy for Combatting Scams Act (S.3355). That registration was amended in January 2026, continuing the focus on online dating scams and consumer protection.

Gen Digital Inc. — parent company of Norton, Avast, and LifeLock — lobbied on the Romance Scam Prevention Act (H.R. 2481) through the second and third quarters of 2025, then broadened its focus in the fourth quarter to "consumer protection issues related to cybersecurity, privacy, scams, fraud, and artificial intelligence."

Neither Match Group nor Gen Digital appears to operate a PAC that made contributions to members of Congress during the 2024-2026 cycle, suggesting both companies are channeling their influence through paid lobbying rather than direct campaign donations.

The Hearing Details

The Joint Economic Committee convenes at 5:30 p.m. on March 25, 2026, in G50 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Witnesses have not yet been publicly identified, though the hearing's scope — spanning law enforcement, consumer protection, financial systems, and technology — suggests a cross-sector panel. The bipartisan composition of the committee and the breadth of related legislative proposals point to this as a foundational session meant to shape the federal response to rising global scams heading into the second session of the 119th Congress.

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