Social Media Fraud Mitigation Act

Social Media Fraud Mitigation Act

This bill establishes new criminal offenses for fraudulent activities involving communications through social media, email, or other electronic messages.

First, the bill makes it unlawful to post or send messages through a fake social media account or profile to cause or threaten to cause financial or physical harm to an individual. A violation is punishable by a fine, a maximum prison term of up to one year (or up to five years if the offense is a repeat offense), or both.

Second, the bill makes is unlawful to send a fraudulent email or other electronic message to deceive the recipient and cause or threaten to cause financial or physical harm to an individual. A violation is punishable by a fine, a prison term of up to one year (or up to six years if the offense is intended to solicit an emergency response), or both.