Before coming to the State House, I spent my career in public service with the New Castle County Police Department. Over the years, I worked across a range of assignments — from drug investigations to violent crime — and that experience shaped how I think about public safety, accountability, and the communities we serve.
Today, cybercriminals would make the job I did nearly impossible.
Last year, the FBI reported that Americans lost nearly $21 billion to online fraud and scams, over $4 billion more than the year before. More than two billion of that was the direct result of scams carried out on social media platforms.
Within our state, one scam has risen to the top, as residents have routinely received fake E-ZPass texts requesting payment on an outstanding invoice. Too many have clicked the link and handed over their bank information before they knew what hit them.
In the State House, we’ve tried to address this rise in scams. Currently, we’re considering legislation to ban crypto ATMs here in Delaware, since roughly 90 percent of the transactions run through them are tied to scams. Crypto ATMs have become cash registers for criminals. It’s also a good example of how much we can do locally, and how little that is compared to the scale of the problem.
Even with that bill, even with public warnings, even with everything local officials can do, we are struggling getting to the root of this problem.
Most of these scams don’t start in Delaware. They don’t start in the United States. They start in countries like Cambodia where criminal organizations have built what amounts to fraud factories. These compounds are large enough to house thousands of trafficked workers, sophisticated enough to run around the clock, and protected enough to operate with near impunity.
I’ve dealt with organized crime before. This is organized crime. The difference is the zip code.
Since we can’t reach them on our own, federal intervention is needed to address this, and they need to do it right.
As a former law enforcement officer, I’ve seen what misguided intervention looks like. When resources are put in the wrong place, it leaves criminals getting off scot-free while victims pick up the pieces.
As Congress weighs solutions, they need to keep this in mind. Proposals that require financial institutions and other platforms to reimburse scam victims for every loss are the types of well-meaning policy proposals that sound good, but end up hurting the people they’re meant to protect. Criminals get their misdeeds covered by someone else. Meanwhile, everyday Americans face new fees at their banks and in their apps to foot the bill.
Stopping fraud and scams requires holding criminals accountable. Congress has a few ways it can do that. They can increase resources for federal law enforcement, to ensure they have the tools and authority to pursue transnational criminal networks across borders. The U.S. can push foreign governments harder to shut down scam centers. And Congress can also pass the bipartisan TRAPS Act — legislation that Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester has championed as a co-sponsor — to bring government agencies alongside the private sector to develop real recommendations to address payment scams. Senator Blunt Rochester and I have worked closely together on issues affecting Delaware families, and her leadership on this bill reflects exactly the kind of serious, targeted approach this problem demands.
Delaware can warn residents, pass smart bills, and work at the margins. But until Washington steps up with comprehensive solutions that target the criminals themselves, the losses will keep climbing and the criminals will continue to win.
Franklin Cooke is a born-and-raised Dunlieth resident, retired New Castle County Police Officer, and the former Executive Assistant to New Castle County Executive Thomas P. Gordon. He now represents the communities of South Wilmington, Dunlieth, and Southbridge in the Delaware House of Representatives. He is a member of the Delaware Commission of Forensic Science, Vice-Chair of the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus, and previously chaired the Law Enforcement Accountability Task Force of the 151st General Assembly.
