I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4988 
To authorize the President of the United States to issue letters of marque 
and reprisal with respect to acts of aggression against the United States 
a member of a criminal enterprise or any conspirator associated with 
an enterprise involved in cybercrimes, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 15, 2025 
Mr. SCHWEIKERT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To authorize the President of the United States to issue 
letters of marque and reprisal with respect to acts of 
aggression against the United States a member of a 
criminal enterprise or any conspirator associated with 
an enterprise involved in cybercrimes, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ ‘Scam Farms Marque 
and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution 
grants the Congress the power to grant letters of 
marque and reprisal to punish, deter, and prevent 
the acts of aggression and depredations and other 
acts of war committed by scam centers. 
(2) 
Criminal 
enterprises 
that 
employ 
cybercrimes and coerced labor present an unusual 
and extraordinary threat to the economic and na-
tional security of the United States. 
SEC. 3. ISSUANCE OF LETTERS OF MARQUE AND REPRISAL. 
(a) AUTHORITY OF PRESIDENT.—The President of 
the United States is authorized and requested to commis-
sion, under officially issued letters of marque and reprisal, 
so many of privately armed and equipped persons and en-
tities as, in the judgment of the President, the service may 
require, with suitable instructions to the leaders thereof, 
to employ all means reasonably necessary to seize outside 
the geographic boundaries of the United States and its 
territories the person and property of any individual or 
foreign government, as applicable, who the President de-
termines is a member of a criminal enterprise or any con-
spirator associated with an enterprise involved in 
cybercrime who is responsible for an act of aggression 
against the United States. 
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(b) SECURITY BONDS.—No letter of marque and re-
prisal shall be issued by the President without requiring 
the posting of a security bond in such amount as the 
President shall determine is sufficient to ensure that the 
letter be executed according to the terms and conditions 
thereof. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this sec-
tion— 
(1) the term ‘‘cybercrime’’ includes— 
(A) an offense under section 1030 of title 
18, United States Code; 
(B) accessing a computer without author-
ization to obtain national security information, 
including sharing or retaining such information; 
(C) accessing a computer without author-
ization to obtain personally identifiable informa-
tion; 
(D) accessing a Government computer 
without authorization; 
(E) accessing a computer without author-
ization to engage in fraud; 
(F) causing damage to a computer by 
transmitting a program, information, code, or 
command; 
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(G) trafficking in passwords or other 
means of accessing a computer without author-
ization; 
(H) a pig butchering scam; 
(I) a ransomware attack; 
(J) cryptocurrency theft; or 
(K) identity theft; and 
(2) the term ‘‘criminal enterprise’’ includes a 
foreign government. 
Æ 
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