Fighting Internet Scams Requires Targeting Foreign Criminal Networks, Not Burdening Domestic Banks
Source: "FBI data shows Americans lost record $20.9B to internet scams in 2025 | Fox News." September 24, 2026. www.foxnews.com
The Gist
The author argues that since scam losses are mostly caused by foreign criminals tricking people into willingly sending money (not bank security failures), the solution should focus on cracking down on those overseas criminal networks rather than forcing banks to reimburse victims. Banks are already doing their part, and making them pay for scams would just raise costs for everyone without stopping the criminals.
Conclusion
The U.S. government should focus its anti-scam efforts on source-focused measures targeting foreign criminal networks and cross-sector intelligence sharing, rather than imposing reimbursement mandates that force domestic banks to cover scam losses.
Premises
- Americans lost a record $20.9 billion to internet-enabled crime in 2025, a 26% increase from the prior year, with seniors over 60 losing $7.7 billion (averaging $38,500 each).
- Most of these losses stem from scams where victims are persuaded to voluntarily transfer money, not from hacks or breached security systems, making the transactions appear legitimate to automated fraud-detection systems.
- The money largely flows to sophisticated overseas scam operations in Southeast Asia (Burma, Cambodia, Laos), often staffed by trafficked workers, meaning the root cause is foreign criminal infrastructure, not domestic bank failures.
- Banks already invest heavily in fraud prevention (an estimated $21 billion in 2025) and have proven effective partners with law enforcement, as shown by the FBI's Financial Fraud Kill Chain freezing $679 million in attempted theft.
- A prior attempt to hold banks liable for scam losses (the CFPB's 2024 lawsuit against Zelle and banks) was dismissed, which the author considers the correct outcome.
- Reimbursement mandates would raise costs for banking services relied upon by millions of households while doing nothing to stop foreign criminals from retaining stolen funds and continuing their operations.
- Source-focused approaches—such as sanctions, indictments, asset seizures, and mid-scam warnings—have already demonstrated tangible success (e.g., seizure of 127,271 Bitcoin, $401 million recovered by the Scam Center Strike Force, 8,000+ Americans warned via Operation Level Up).
Assumptions
- Banks cannot reasonably be expected to detect scams that begin through manipulation on social media, calls, or texts before the payment stage.
- Increasing costs on banks would necessarily be passed on to consumers in a way that harms more people than it helps.
- Government-led international enforcement (sanctions, indictments, terrorist designations) can effectively disrupt foreign scam operations despite jurisdictional challenges.
- Making temporary executive-order measures permanent via statute will ensure continuity and effectiveness of anti-scam efforts.
- Cross-sector intelligence sharing (telecom, social media, tech, banking, Treasury, FBI) can be implemented without significant privacy or logistical obstacles.