The Federal Trade Commission testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security today about the aggressive action the agency is taking to crack down on fraud and related threats against servicemembers and the broader military community.

Testifying on behalf of the Commission, the Associate Director of the FTC’s Division of Financial Practices, Malini Mithal, said fraud against members of the military harms individual members and their families, and undermines military readiness and troop morale. Putting a stop to such nefarious practices is an essential component of the agency’s consumer protection mission, the testimony states. In 2021, the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel consumer complaint database received over 200,000 complaints from military consumers, with reported monetary harm of over $267 million.

According to the testimony, the FTC has responded with enforcement actions combating illegal practices that target military members, including:

• Illegal auto sales and financing practices. Young servicemembers are an attractive target for unscrupulous auto dealers, and representatives from the Armed Forces have repeatedly expressed concern about unscrupulous and predatory auto sales practices, including “payment packing” (slipping unwanted add-ons into a purchase agreement), bait-and-switch tactics, and extra junk fees.In June the FTC proposed a rule to ban junk fees and bait-and-switch advertising tactics and eliminate the tricks and...

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