II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2636 

To criminalize Internet scams involving fraudulently obtaining personal 

information, commonly known as phishing. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 9, 2004 

Mr. LEAHY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To criminalize Internet scams involving fraudulently obtaining personal information, commonly known as phishing. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Anti-phishing Act of 

5 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) American society is increasingly dependent 

9 on the Internet for communications, entertainment, 

10 commerce, and banking. 
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1 (2) For the Internet to reach its full potential 

2 in these and other respects, it must continue to be 

3 a trustworthy medium. This means, for example, 

4 that Internet users should be able to trust the stated 

5 origin of Internet communications and the stated 

6 destination of Internet hyperlinks. 

7 (3) Internet users are increasingly subjected to 

8 scams based on misleading or false communications 

9 that trick the user into sending money, or trick the 

10 user into revealing enough information to enable 

11 various forms of identify theft that result in finan12 cial loss. 

13 (4) One class of such scams, called ‘‘phishing’’, 

14 uses false e-mail return addresses, stolen graphics, 

15 stylistic imitation, misleading or disguised 

16 hyperlinks, so-called ‘‘social engineering’’, and other 

17 artifices to trick users into revealing personally iden18 tifiable information. After obtaining this informa19 tion, the ‘‘phisher’’ then uses the information to cre20 ate unlawful identification documents and/or to un21 lawfully obtain money or property. 

22 (5) These crimes victimize not only the individ23 uals whose information is stolen, but the entire on24 line community, including millions of people who rely 
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1 on the integrity of the Internet’s system of addresses 

2 and hyperlinks. 

3 SEC. 3. CRIMINAL OFFENSE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 63 of title 18, United 

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘§ 1351. Internet fraud 

8 ‘‘(a) WEBSITE.—Whoever knowingly, with the intent 

9 to carry on any activity which would be a Federal or State 

10 crime of fraud or identity theft— 

11 ‘‘(1) creates or procures the creation of a 

12 website or domain name that represents itself as a 

13 legitimate online business, without the authority or 

14 approval of the registered owner of the actual 

15 website or domain name of the legitimate online 

16 business; and 

17 ‘‘(2) uses that website or domain name to in18 duce, request, ask, or solicit any person to transmit, 

19 submit, or provide any means of identification to an20 other; 

21 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned up to five 

22 years, or both. 

23 ‘‘(b) MESSENGER.—Whoever knowingly, with the in24 tent to carry on any activity which would be a Federal 

25 or State crime of fraud or identity theft— 
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1 ‘‘(1) falsely represents itself as being sent by a 

2 legitimate online business; 

3 ‘‘(2) includes an Internet information location 

4 tool that refers or links users to an online location 

5 on the World Wide Web that falsely purports to be6 long to or be associated with such legitimate online 

7 business; and 

8 ‘‘(3) induces, requests, asks, or solicits a recipi9 ent of the electronic mail message directly or indi10 rectly to provide, submit, or relate any means of 

11 identification to another; 

12 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned up to five 

13 years, or both. 

14 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) The term ‘domain name’ has the meaning 

16 given that term in section 46 of the Act entitled ‘An 

17 Act to provide for the registration and protection of 

18 trade-marks used in commerce, to carry out the pro19 visions of certain international conventions, and for 

20 other purposes’ (in this subsection referred to as the 

21 ‘Trademark Act of 1946’) (15 U.S.C. 1127). 

22 ‘‘(2) The term ‘Internet’ has the meaning given 

23 that term in section 230(f)(1) of the Communica24 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)(1)). 
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1 ‘‘(3) The term ‘electronic mail message’ has the 

2 meaning given that term in section 3 of the CAN– 

3 SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 7702). 

4 ‘‘(4) The term ‘initiate’ has the meaning given 

5 that term in section 3 of the CAN–SPAM Act of 

6 2003 (15 U.S.C. 7702). 

7 ‘‘(5) The term ‘procure’ means intentionally to 

8 pay or provide consideration to, or induce, another 

9 person to create a website or domain name. 

10 ‘‘(6) The term ‘recipient’ has the meaning given 

11 that term in section 3 of the CAN–SPAM Act of 

12 2003 (15 U.S.C. 7702). 

13 ‘‘(7) The term ‘Internet information location 

14 tool’ when used in this section has the meaning 

15 given that term in section 231 of the Communica16 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 231). 

17 ‘‘(8) The term ‘means of identification’ when 

18 used in this section has the meaning given that term 

19 in section 1028 of this title.’’. 

20 (b) CHAPTER ANALYSIS.—The chapter analysis for 

21 chapter 63 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

22 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘1351. Internet fraud’’. 

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