HB 1034: Georgia Tech Support Impersonation and Remote Access Protection Act; enact

Georgia currently has a law against using the internet or email to trick people into handing over personal information by pretending to be a business. This bill, called the Georgia Tech Support Impersonation and Remote Access Protection Act, expands that law to cover phone calls, text messages, and voice communications, including AI generated voices, and adds tricking someone into giving remote access to their device or accounts. It keeps the existing felony penalty of 1 to 20 years in prison and a fine between $1,000 and $500,000. The bill also requires banks, credit unions, and money transmitters to give customers a free way to lock their accounts during suspected fraud, pause suspicious transfers for up to 72 hours, and report annual fraud statistics to the state. It adds a new violation category to Georgia's consumer protection law, creates a Georgia Financial Fraud Victims Relief Fund administered by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to reimburse victims up to $10,000 per incident, and requires the Attorney General to build a fraud reporting hotline and run public training and awareness campaigns. The bill does not state a specific effective date beyond standard enactment.

• Expands Georgia's internet and email fraud law (O.C.G.A. § 16-9-109.1) to also cover phone calls, text messages, and voice communications, including AI generated voice impersonation, and to cover tricking someone into giving remote access to a device or account.
• Requires financial institutions to offer customers a free account safety lock that blocks new payees, zeroes out transfer limits, and ends active sessions until identity is reverified.
• Lets financial institutions place temporary holds of up to 72 hours (extendable once) on suspicious transfers when fraud is suspected or a remote access session is detected during a transfer.
• Adds violations of the fraud law to the list of unfair or deceptive practices under Georgia's consumer protection law (O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393), allowing the Attorney General to seek civil penalties and restitution.
• Creates the Georgia Financial Fraud Victims Relief Fund to reimburse eligible fraud victims up to $10,000 per incident and $20,000 per year, administered by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.
• Requires the Attorney General to run a fraud reporting hotline and web portal, coordinate with law enforcement, and provide annual public awareness campaigns and law enforcement training on tech enabled fraud.

Banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions operating in Georgia; consumers and fraud victims, especially older adults targeted by tech support and impersonation scams; the Attorney General's office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Banking and Finance, and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council; and businesses whose names are impersonated in fraud schemes.

Georgians who fall victim to phone or online impersonation scams, including fake tech support calls or remote access tricks, would gain new tools: bank account locks, transaction holds, a state hotline, and a relief fund covering losses up to $10,000. Financial institutions would face new operational and reporting duties.

• Section 1 gives the bill its short title, the Georgia Tech Support Impersonation and Remote Access Protection Act.
• Section 2 adds O.C.G.A. § 7-1-847, requiring financial institutions to offer free account safety locks, honor customer trusted contacts, and place emergency holds of up to 72 hours on suspicious transfers, with annual reporting to the state.
• Section 3 amends O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393 to make violations of the fraud statute an unfair or deceptive trade practice, letting the Attorney General pursue civil penalties and restitution.
• Section 4 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 16-9-109.1 to add voice and electronic communications and remote device access to the crimes of fraudulent impersonation, keeping the existing felony penalty of 1 to 20 years and a $1,000 to $500,000 fine.
• Section 5 creates O.C.G.A. § 17-15-18, establishing the Georgia Financial Fraud Victims Relief Fund with awards capped at $10,000 per incident and $20,000 per claimant per year, and a 90-day decision deadline.
• Section 6 creates O.C.G.A. § 45-15-21, requiring the Attorney General to run a fraud hotline, web portal, annual public awareness campaign, and law enforcement training on technology enabled fraud.

1. 2026-01-29House Second Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
2. 2026-01-28House First Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
3. 2026-01-27House Hopper (Cámara de Representantes)

• Sandra Scott (D, HD-076)Patrocinador principal
• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)
• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)

• consumer fraud
• financial scams
• elder fraud protection
• banking regulation
• identity theft