The Federal Trade Commission testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs today about the work the agency is doing to crack down on fraud and related threats against veterans and the broader military community. The testimony discussed fraud, enforcement actions, and rulemaking initiatives involving the military community, and the FTC’s military-specific consumer education and outreach efforts.
Testifying on behalf of the Commission, the Deputy Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Monica Vaca, stressed that combating scams and unlawful tactics aimed at the military community is an important part of the Commission’s law enforcement agenda. In 2022, the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel consumer complaint database received over 195,000 complaints from the military community, including over 150,000 reports from veterans and military retirees. Military consumers reported monetary harm of over $414 million from fraud, an increase of more than 50 percent from the previous year.
According to the testimony, the FTC has responded with enforcement actions combating illegal practices that harm military consumers, including deceptive earnings claims, educational recruitment tactics, illegal auto-related and financing practices, and bogus charities.
The testimony emphasizes that while the Commission remains vigilant in combating fraud and other unlawful business practices, it continues to face difficult challenges with the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in AMG v. FTC,...
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