U.S. Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), both members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today introduced the bipartisan, bicameral AI Fraud Accountability Act to protect Americans from AI scams and hold fraudsters accountable. This bill would create a new offense under the Communications Act to prohibit falsely posing as a real or imaginary individual through a highly realistic digital impersonation with the intent to defraud a person of money or other things of value. ... The AI Fraud Accountability Act would also: Direct the FTC to identify foreign countries most associated with digital impersonation fraud and to pursue international cooperation agreements to bolster enforcement against overseas actors. Establish a working group, led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and including the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, law enforcement, affected industry sectors, and technical experts, to develop best practices and recommendations for fighting digital impersonation fraud.
Introduce and advance bipartisan legislation to create criminal and civil penalties for highly realistic digital impersonation using AI with intent to defraud, and to direct the FTC and a new interagency working group to combat digital impersonation fraud.
Occurrences
Sheehy, Blunt Rochester Introduce AI Fraud Accountability Act ... U.S. SENATE – Senator Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) today introduced the bipartisan, bicameral AI Fraud Accountability Act with Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) to protect Americans from AI scams and hold fraudsters accountable. ... The AI Fraud Accountability Act would modernize federal law to ensure consumers are protected from emerging digital impersonation fraud while safeguarding legitimate speech and innovation. ... This bill would create a new offense under the Communications Act to prohibit falsely posing as a real or imaginary individual through a highly realistic digital impersonation with intent to defraud a person of money or other things of value. ... This bill would also: Direct the FTC to identify foreign countries most associated with digital impersonation fraud and to pursue international cooperation agreements to bolster enforcement against overseas actors. Establish a working group, led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and including the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, law enforcement, affected industry sectors, and technical experts, to develop best practices and recommendations for fighting digital impersonation fraud.
Evidence
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On March 4, 2026, Senators Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) introduced the bipartisan AI Fraud Accountability Act to protect Americans from AI scams and hold fraudsters accountable. The bill creates a new offense under the Communications Act to prohibit falsely posing as a real or imaginary individual through a highly realistic digital impersonation with intent to defraud. It also directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to identify foreign countries most associated with digital impersonation fraud and to pursue international cooperation agreements to bolster enforcement against overseas actors. Additionally, the bill establishes a working group, led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and including the Department of Justice, FTC, law enforcement, affected industry sectors, and technical experts, to develop best practices and recommendations for fighting digital impersonation fraud.
legacy_unverified · Source version not recorded · locator unknown
On March 4, 2026, Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) introduced the bipartisan AI Fraud Accountability Act to protect Americans from AI scams and hold fraudsters accountable. The bill creates a new offense under the Communications Act to prohibit falsely posing as a real or imaginary individual through a highly realistic digital impersonation with intent to defraud. It also directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to identify foreign countries most associated with digital impersonation fraud and to pursue international cooperation agreements to bolster enforcement against overseas actors. Additionally, the bill establishes a working group, led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and including the Department of Justice, FTC, law enforcement, affected industry sectors, and technical experts, to develop best practices and recommendations for fighting digital impersonation fraud.
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The senator's legislation page listed S.3982, AI Fraud Accountability Act of 2026, as updated 09-08-2026 with latest action: read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
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GovInfo lists S.3982 as introduced in the Senate on March 4, 2026 by Mr. Sheehy for himself and Ms. Blunt Rochester, read twice, and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The bill text establishes protections against digital impersonation fraud, including criminal penalties, FTC enforcement, a NIST-led working group, and international enforcement cooperation provisions.
Assessments
Blunt Rochester materially participated in introducing bipartisan federal legislation, S.3982, the AI Fraud Accountability Act of 2026, during her Senate term. The bill closely matches the promise: it targets highly realistic AI digital impersonation with intent to defraud, includes penalties/enforcement mechanisms, directs FTC-related action, and creates an interagency working group. However, the available status shows only introduction, second reading, and referral to the Senate Commerce Committee, with no committee passage, floor passage, enactment, or implemented penalties. That satisfies a serious same-term effort and some candidate credit, but not full delivery of the promised legislative outcome.
Blunt Rochester materially participated in introducing bipartisan, bicameral federal legislation in the same Senate term that closely matches the promised substance: criminal and civil penalties for highly realistic AI digital impersonation fraud, FTC enforcement and international-cooperation duties, and a NIST-led interagency working group. However, available bill-status evidence shows S.3982 was only introduced/read twice and referred to the Senate Commerce Committee, with no passage, enactment, or clear committee advancement by May 31, 2026. That fulfills the introduction and serious-attempt portion but not full advancement into law or beyond introduction.
Lisa Blunt Rochester introduced bipartisan legislation as promised, targeting criminal and civil penalties for AI-driven digital impersonation fraud and establishing an interagency working group, as well as directing the FTC to take specific anti-fraud actions. However, there is no evidence the legislation advanced beyond introduction or became law.