Then-Senator Marco Rubio appears at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July 2024. As Secretary of State, Rubio has instituted new visa restrictions on those involved in cyber scams against US citizens. (Shutterstock/Maxim Elramsisy)

The US Can’t Always Arrest Cyber Scammers—but It Doesn’t Have to Let Them In

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A new policy restricting visas to those involved in scams against American citizens is unlikely to foil those scams, but it could inconvenience some of the higher-level organizers.

This month, the United States Department of State introduced a new visa restriction policy aimed at deterring and dismantling cyber scams and sextortion.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the new policy, under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, would target individuals who are suspected of being “responsible for, or complicit in, cybercrime and cyber-enabled crime.” In addition, immediate family members of those individuals could also be subjected to visa restrictions.

“The Trump Administration is deploying every tool at our disposal—sanctions, prosecutions, asset seizures, extradition requests, and international law enforcement cooperation—to dismantle criminal scam networks and impose costs on those who enable them,” Rubio said in a State Department media release.

The policy follows President Donald Trump’s March executive order to combat cybercrime and fraud. According to the US State Department, cyber scam operations cost........

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