# 119-hr-7786: AI Fraud Accountability Act

119-hr-7786, AI Fraud Accountability Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Buchanan, Vern [R-FL-16] (R-FL); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-11-01).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7786
- As of: 2026-11-01
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-7786
- Congress: 119
- Title: AI Fraud Accountability Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-03-04
- Sponsor: Rep. Buchanan, Vern [R-FL-16] (R-FL)
- Cosponsors: 2
- Policy area: Commerce
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-11-01

## Summary

**Prohibits digital impersonation fraud with criminal penalties and Federal Trade Commission enforcement.** The bill defines digital impersonation, bars using online impersonation to defraud in interstate or foreign communications, and pairs criminal law with FTC authority, NIST standards work, and new steps for cross‑border cooperation. - Consumers and victims: Creates a civil enforcement route through the Federal Trade Commission and treats deceptive impersonation as an unfair or deceptive practice to help stop scams and seek remedies. - Criminal enforcement: Makes misuse of digital impersonations to defraud a federal crime with fines, up to 3 years imprisonment, and forfeiture of proceeds and tools used to commit the offense; it also applies extraterritorially. - Standards and international response: Directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to run a working group, hold at least one public workshop, and publish best practices within 1 year with annual updates and a 10‑year sunset. The bill requires identifying the top 10 foreign source countries and boosting international law‑enforcement cooperation.

## Cosponsors (2)

- Rep. Soto, Darren [D-FL-9] (D-FL), 2026-03-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Van Drew, Jefferson [R-NJ-2] (R-NJ), 2026-04-13T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Keeps First Amendment protections intact: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would say that nothing in the Act should be read to restrict parody, satire, journalism, or other rights protected by the First Amendment. This would preserve expressive protections and clarify that covered speech is not limited by the new impersonation rules.
- New criminal penalties for impersonation: benefit, medium. If enacted, this bill would make it a crime to use a digital impersonation in interstate or foreign communications to defraud someone of money, papers, documents, or other value. Penalties would include fines under title 18, up to 3 years in prison, or both. Courts would be required to order crimin…
- Federal tech group to fight impersonation: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Secretary of Commerce, through NIST, would convene a working group within 30 days to develop best practices for detecting, preventing, and tracing digital impersonations used to commit fraud. NIST would hold at least one public workshop and publish guidance on its website within 1 y…
- More consumer enforcement and international cooperation: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would let the Federal Trade Commission treat false digital impersonation in interstate or foreign commerce as an unfair or deceptive practice. The FTC would get the same enforcement powers it already has under the FTC Act. The FTC, working with the Attorney General and Secretar…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-137: TCJA Permanency Act
- 119-hr-9211: Jewish American Security Act
- 119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act
- 119-hr-3178: Save Healthcare Workers Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-7786 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7786)

## Related
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-137: TCJA Permanency Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-137)
- [119-hr-9211: Jewish American Security Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9211)
- [119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1262)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [119-hr-3178: Save Healthcare Workers Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3178)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7786 (as of 2026-11-01).