H.R. 3810 requires two immediate actions: (1) the United States Sentencing Commission must revise the fraud guideline tied to access‑device crimes, and (2) the Attorney General, coordinating with DHS, must deliver a detailed report to Congress on Federal, State, and local efforts to prevent and prosecute access‑device fraud. The bill targets crimes commonly called card‑skimming and other forms of unauthorized use of payment credentials.
The bill matters to prosecutors, judges, financial institutions, retailers, and state and local law enforcement because it changes sentence-calculation mechanics for these offenses and forces a near‑term federal review of interagency cooperation, technology trends used by perpetrators, and practical steps for improving detection and prosecution.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill directs the Sentencing Commission to amend guideline section 2B1.1 to increase the baseline enhancement tied to access‑device fraud and to add a floor to the offense level; it also changes the guideline notes so that in cases involving 10 or more counterfeit or unauthorized access devices certain small unauthorized charges count toward ‘loss.’ Separately, the Attorney General—working with the Secretary of Homeland Security—must send Congress a multi‑part report on law enforcement cooperation, technologies used by offenders, assistance requests from state/local agencies, jurisdictions of concern, and legislative and best‑practice recommendations.
Who It Affects
Federal prosecutors, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, judges applying the federal fraud guideline, and defendants in access‑device cases face direct sentencing and procedural effects. State and local law enforcement, retailers and payment processors, and DOJ/DHS operational units will be implicated by the reporting requirement and any resulting policy changes.
Why It Matters
By changing guideline mechanics and mandating an interagency assessment, the bill raises the federal posture toward card‑skimming and related fraud: prosecutors gain greater leverage through guideline increases, and Congress gets a near‑term audit of gaps in cooperation and technology trends that may shape future funding or statutory changes.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
The bill does two discrete things. First, it orders the United States Sentencing Commission to change how federal courts calculate sentence levels for access‑device fraud.
The Commission must amend the fraud guideline so that the specific enhancement tied to access‑device schemes is larger and cannot fall below a set floor; the bill also instructs the Commission to alter its application notes so that, in cases involving many counterfeit or unauthorized devices, even small unauthorized transactions count as ‘loss’ for guideline calculations. That is a structural change: loss‑based guideline math often determines whether a defendant crosses thresholds for probation versus custody, and the bill shifts that math upward for multi‑device schemes.
Second, the Attorney General—coordinating with the Secretary of Homeland Security—must produce a report for four congressional committees about current efforts to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and sentence access‑device fraud. The report must evaluate Federal‑State cooperation on specific access‑device offenses, inventory the technologies and techniques criminals use to evade detection, give a recent accounting of state/local requests for federal assistance and whether those requests were met, identify geographic hotspots that remain underaddressed, and offer legislative and operational recommendations and best practices for law enforcement and businesses.Operationally, the changes to the Sentencing Commission’s guidance affect charging and plea strategy: prosecutors can expect tougher guideline calculations in multi‑device cases and may press for sentences that previously would have required larger monetary loss findings.
The report requirement creates a structured information flow from DOJ/DHS to Congress that could trigger follow‑on resource requests or statutory changes if the agencies identify coordination gaps or jurisdictional shortfalls. Together, the sentencing adjustment and the mandated assessment push both punishment and policy discussion toward a coordinated federal response to access‑device fraud.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill requires the Sentencing Commission to raise the specific access‑device enhancement in guideline section 2B1.1(b)(11) by 4 levels.
If the revised guideline calculation yields an offense level below 14, the bill forces the offense level up to a floor of 14.
The Commission’s application notes must state that where a case involves 10 or more counterfeit or unauthorized access devices, ‘loss’ includes any unauthorized charges made with those devices—regardless of each charge’s dollar amount.
The Attorney General, coordinating with DHS, must deliver a report to four named congressional committees within 90 days that includes, among other items, the number of state/local requests for DOJ/DHS assistance in the prior 12 months and how many requests were acted upon.
The report must assess Federal‑State cooperative operations specifically under subsections of 18 U.S.C. §1029 identified in the bill, and it must list States and counties the agencies consider underaddressed or of particular concern.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Short title
Names the measure the 'Stopping Klepto‑card and Identity Misuse Act' or 'SKIM Act.' This is purely stylistic but signals the bill’s focus for stakeholders and any implementing guidance or press materials.
Sentencing guideline revisions (USSC amendments to §2B1.1)
Directs the United States Sentencing Commission, within 30 days of enactment, to change the fraud guideline in two ways: increase the baseline enhancement found in subsection (b)(11) by four levels, and impose a minimum offense level of 14 if the adjusted calculation would otherwise be lower. It also requires an amendment to the guideline application notes to specify that where 10 or more counterfeit or unauthorized devices are involved, any unauthorized charges made with those devices count toward 'loss.' Practically, this changes how loss and enhancement interact for multi‑device offenses and reduces the chance that small per‑transaction values will produce low guideline outcomes when many devices are used.
Mandated report to Congress
Requires the Attorney General, coordinating with the Secretary of Homeland Security, to deliver a report to designated congressional committees within 90 days. The obligation compels interagency collaboration to assemble operational data and qualitative analysis on current prevention, investigation, prosecution, and sentencing practices for access‑device fraud, and it creates a formal record Congress can use for oversight or to justify legislative changes.
Required contents: operations, technologies, assistance metrics, jurisdictional hotspots, and recommendations
Sets out specific report elements: an assessment of cooperative Federal‑State investigations and prosecutions under listed parts of 18 U.S.C. §1029; an analysis of offender technologies and evasion techniques; counts of state/local requests for DOJ/DHS assistance in the preceding year and whether assistance was provided; identification of States and counties considered underaddressed or of special concern; and both legislative and best‑practice recommendations for law enforcement and business owners. These enumerated topics constrain the report’s scope and create discrete deliverables that Congress can evaluate.
Definitions and congressional recipients
Provides that 'access device' and 'counterfeit access device' take their meanings from 18 U.S.C. §1029 and names the four 'appropriate congressional committees' that will receive the report—House and Senate Judiciary Committees and the House Homeland Security Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee—ensuring the deliverable reaches committees with jurisdiction over criminal law and homeland security.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Criminal Justice across all five countries.
Explore Criminal Justice in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Federal prosecutors — The guideline increases give prosecutors stronger sentencing leverage in multi‑device cases and can increase negotiating leverage in plea discussions.
- State and local law enforcement — The mandated DOJ/DHS report and the best‑practice recommendations can deliver training, coordination protocols, and clearer pathways to federal assistance for complex access‑device investigations.
- Financial institutions and payment processors — Improved interagency assessments and recommendations may lead to stronger detection tools, shared intelligence, and clearer expectations for cooperation that reduce merchant losses over time.
- Consumers who are skimming victims — If the report prompts better prevention and more effective prosecutions, consumers could see faster remediation and fewer incidents through improved industry practices.
Who Bears the Cost
- United States Sentencing Commission — The bill forces a rapid, substantive guideline amendment within 30 days, creating a short‑term workload spike and potential need for explanatory commentary and training materials.
- Defendants charged with access‑device offenses — The guideline changes (a 4‑level increase and a level‑14 floor) will raise guideline ranges for many offenders, increasing custody exposure and collateral consequences.
- Department of Justice and DHS — Preparing a multi‑part, data‑driven report within 90 days requires staff time, interagency coordination, and compilation of operational metrics that may not be readily available.
- State and local governments and retailers — Recommendations and best practices could translate into compliance costs for merchants (e.g., upgraded payment terminals or fraud‑prevention measures) and create expectations of closer operational coordination with federal agencies.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between strengthening deterrence and prosecutorial tools versus ensuring proportionality and practical capacity: raising guideline levels and expanding what counts as loss gives federal actors more leverage against organized access‑device schemes, but it risks imposing harsher penalties on lower‑dollar conduct and stresses agencies and courts that must implement the changes quickly without additional resources.
The bill blends an immediate sentencing change with an information‑gathering exercise, but both elements carry implementation challenges. The 30‑day deadline for the Sentencing Commission is unusually short for a guideline amendment that alters both text and application notes; producing reasoned commentary, publishing draft language for comment, and preparing judges, probation officers, and practitioners for the change all take time and resources.
That compressed schedule risks technical errors or insufficiently explained guidance that could prompt litigation over guideline application.
The change to count ‘any unauthorized charges’ where 10 or more devices are involved creates a tall lever: small-dollar transactions aggregated across many devices will be treated as meaningful ‘loss’ for guideline purposes. That improves prosecutorial reach in organized skimming operations, but it also risks disproportionate sentences for defendants whose conduct produced low aggregate consumer harm.
On the reporting side, the bill identifies precise metrics—requests for assistance in the prior year, whether assistance was provided, and a list of jurisdictions of concern—but it provides no funding or standard data definitions. The report’s utility will depend on data quality and on agencies’ willingness to candidly identify coordination failures; absent standard reporting mechanisms, the output may be uneven or descriptive rather than actionable.
Try it yourself.
Ask a question in plain English, or pick a topic below. Results in seconds.