# 119-s-3982: AI Fraud Accountability Act of 2026

119-s-3982, AI Fraud Accountability Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT] (R-MT); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-10).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3982
- As of: 2026-09-10
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-3982
- Congress: 119
- Title: AI Fraud Accountability Act of 2026
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-03-04
- Sponsor: Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT] (R-MT)
- Cosponsors: 3
- Policy area: Commerce
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-10

## Summary

**criminal and civil enforcement against digital impersonation fraud**. This bill would make creating realistic fake audio or video that impersonates a real or imaginary person to steal money, documents, or other value a federal offense and give the Federal Trade Commission a civil enforcement route against the practice. - People targeted by realistic digital impersonations would gain a federal criminal remedy. Perpetrators could face fines, up to 3 years in prison, mandatory forfeiture of proceeds and property used to commit the crime, and extraterritorial federal jurisdiction would apply. The bill exempts lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activities. - The Federal Trade Commission would be able to treat digital impersonation fraud as an unfair or deceptive act and use its full FTC Act enforcement powers against violators. The law also references private industries including financial services, health care, retail and e-commerce, telecommunications, and digital platforms as participants in rule development. - The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology would convene a Working Group within 30 days to develop detection, prevention, and tracing best practices, publish a report within 1 year, and update it annually; the Working Group rules would sunset after 10 years. For cross-border enforcement, the FTC would identify the top 10 foreign source countries within 90 days and may seek cooperation agreements, and the Attorney General would review and, if needed, modify international law enforcement agreements with five-year reports. *First Amendment protections for parody, satire, journalism, and related speech are preserved.*

## Cosponsors (3)

- Sen. Blunt Rochester, Lisa [D-DE] (D-DE), 2026-03-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS] (R-MS), 2026-07-23T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM), 2026-07-23T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- International cooperation on impersonation fraud: benefit, medium. If enacted, the FTC, working with the Attorney General and Secretary of State, would identify the top 10 foreign countries that originate the most impersonation fraud against U.S. persons within 90 days. The FTC could then seek agreements with those countries to help enforce the law and must report…
- New federal AI impersonation crimes: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would make it a federal crime to use digital audio or video to pose as a real or imaginary person to defraud someone across state lines or from abroad. A person convicted would face a fine under Title 18, up to 3 years imprisonment, or both. Courts would be required to forfeit…
- NIST working group on digital impersonation: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Commerce Secretary, through the NIST Director, would convene a working group within 30 days to develop best practices to detect, prevent, and trace digital impersonations. The group would include DOJ, FTC, law enforcement, industry, and technical experts and must hold at least one p…
- First Amendment protections remain: benefit, low. 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. The provision clarifies that enforcement is not meant to limit constitutionally protected speech.
- Preserve law enforcement liability exceptions: mixed, low. If enacted, the bill would add the new digital impersonation rule to an existing Communications Act exception so that lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activities are not treated as violations. The change mainly preserves a legal defense for government agencies and for…

## Related bills

- 119-s-2296: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
- 119-s-4784: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027
- 119-s-4744: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
- 119-s-3923: Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026
- 119-s-3597: National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2026
- 119-s-3940: Access to Fair Financing for Opportunity and Resilient Development Act

## Sources
- [119-s-3982 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3982)

## Related
- [119-s-2296: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2296)
- [119-s-4784: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4784)
- [119-s-4744: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4744)
- [119-s-3923: Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3923)
- [119-s-3597: National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3597)
- [119-s-3940: Access to Fair Financing for Opportunity and Resilient Development Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3940)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3982 (as of 2026-09-10).