What This Bill Does
This bill creates a task force led by the Secretary of Defense to study and stop financial fraud targeting military members, veterans, and military families. The task force will examine current fraud schemes, evaluate existing protections, and recommend improvements to federal programs designed to fight fraud.
Who It Affects
Members of the Armed Forces, veterans, military families, the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Department of Justice, Federal Communications Commission, Postal Inspection Service, and veterans service organizations.
Key Provisions
* The Secretary of Defense, working with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, must create the task force within 90 days of the law passing (Sec. 3(a))
* The task force must include representatives from eight government agencies plus three representatives from nonprofit organizations focused on fighting military fraud (Sec. 3(b))
* The task force must meet at least three times every calendar year (Sec. 3(d))
* The task force must collect data about financial problems affecting military members, veterans, and military families, including billing, credit, and debt collection issues (Sec. 3(f)(1))
* The task force must submit a written report to Congress within 180 days of the law passing and then every year after with findings and recommendations (Sec. 3(g))
What Changes
A new interagency task force will be established to identify, prevent, and combat financial fraud schemes specifically targeting military consumers. The task force will examine fraud methods like imposter scams, fake investments, pension poaching, charity scams, predatory lending, and emerging technology risks. The task force will evaluate whether current federal laws like the Military Lending Act and Servicemembers Civil Relief Act are working effectively.
Important Definitions
None defined in bill text
Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1188
To establish a task force to protect members of the Armed Forces, veterans,
and military families, from financial fraud.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 24, 2023
Mr. LYNCH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-
fairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
the committee concerned
A BILL
To establish a task force to protect members of the Armed
Forces, veterans, and military families, from financial fraud.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Consumer
4
Protection Task Force Act of 2023’’.
5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
6
Congress finds the following:
7
(1) Members of the Armed Forces, veterans,
8
and military families continue to be disproportion-
9
VerDate Sep 11 2014
04:20 Mar 12, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1188.IH
H1188
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2
•HR 1188 IH
ately targeted and impacted by imposter scams, in-
1
vestment-related schemes, fake check scams, vet-
2
erans’ charity scams, pension poaching, and other
3
methods of financial fraud.
4
(2) Financial fraud attacks targeting members
5
of the Armed Forces, veterans, and military depend-
6
ents increased by 69 percent from 2020 to 2021.
7
(3) In 2020, more than 56,000 military con-
8
sumers submitted fraud reports to the Federal
9
Trade Commission indicating a collective fraud loss
10
of approximately $102 million; in 2021, over
11
110,000 military consumers submitted fraud reports
12
to the Federal Trade Commission indicating a collec-
13
tive fraud loss of approximately $267 million, a 162-
14
percent increase in fraud loss over 2020.
15
(4) Veterans alone reported a collective fraud
16
loss of $177 million in 2021, with members of the
17
Armed Forces reporting a nearly $60 million total
18
fraud loss in 2021.
19
(5) The exponential increase in financial fraud
20
targeting members of the Armed Forces, veterans,
21
and military families demands a robust and coordi-
22
nated interagency approach that examines current
23
and emerging fraudulent schemes to safeguard the
24
financial security of our military consumers.
25
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:24 Mar 13, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1188.IH
H1188
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3
•HR 1188 IH
SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE TO PROTECT MEM-
1
BERS, VETERANS, AND MILITARY FAMILIES
2
FROM FINANCIAL FRAUD.
3
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after
4
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
5
Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Veterans
6
Affairs, shall establish an Interagency Task Force on Fi-
7
nancial Fraud targeting members of the Armed Forces
8
and veterans (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Task
9
Force’’).
10
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Task Force established
11
under this section shall include representatives from the
12
following:
13
(1) The Department of Defense.
14
(2) The Department of Veterans Affairs.
15
(3) The Federal Trade Commission.
16
(4) The Consumer Financial Protection Bu-
17
reau.
18
(5) The Department of Justice.
19
(6) The Federal Communications Commission.
20
(7) The Postal Inspection Service.
21
(8) Three representatives, appointed by the Sec-
22
retary of Defense in consultation with the Secretary
23
of the Department of Veterans Affairs, of non-gov-
24
ernmental organizations (at least one of whom is a
25
representative of a veterans’ service organization)
26
VerDate Sep 11 2014
04:20 Mar 12, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1188.IH
H1188
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4
•HR 1188 IH
with expertise in identifying, preventing, and com-
1
batting financial fraud targeting members of the
2
Armed Forces, veterans, and military families.
3
(c) CONSULTATION.—The Task Force shall regularly
4
consult with the following:
5
(1) Members of the Armed Forces, veterans,
6
and members of military families that have been vic-
7
tims of financial fraud.
8
(2) Relevant Federal agencies and departments
9
that are not represented on the Task Force.
10
(3) Other relevant public and private sector
11
stakeholders, including State and local law enforce-
12
ment agencies, financial services providers, tech-
13
nology companies, and social media platforms.
14
(d) MEETINGS.—The Task Force shall not meet less
15
frequently than three times per calendar year.
16
(e) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Task Force is to
17
identify and examine current and developing methods of
18
financial fraud targeting members of the Armed Forces,
19
veterans, and military families and issue recommendations
20
to enhance efforts undertaken by Federal agencies to iden-
21
tify, prevent, and combat such financial fraud.
22
(f) DUTIES.—The duties of the Task Force shall in-
23
clude the following:
24
VerDate Sep 11 2014
04:20 Mar 12, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1188.IH
H1188
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5
•HR 1188 IH
(1) Collecting and reviewing robust data per-
1
taining to medical billing, credit reporting, debt col-
2
lection, and other serious financial challenges facing
3
members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and mili-
4
tary families.
5
(2) Identifying and reviewing current methods
6
of financial exploitation targeting members of the
7
Armed Forces, veterans, and military families, in-
8
cluding—
9
(A) imposter or phishing scams;
10
(B) investment-related fraud;
11
(C) pension poaching;
12
(D) veterans benefit fraud;
13
(E) fraudulent offers pertaining to employ-
14
ment or business opportunities;
15
(F) predatory lending;
16
(G) veteran charity schemes;
17
(H) foreign money offers and fake check
18
scams;
19
(I) mortgage foreclosure relief and debt
20
management fraud;
21
(J) military allotment system abuse; and
22
(K) military records fraud.
23
(3) Identifying and evaluating the new financial
24
risks that emerging financial technologies, including
25
VerDate Sep 11 2014
04:20 Mar 12, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1188.IH
H1188
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6
•HR 1188 IH
buy-now-pay-later credit and digital payment eco-
1
systems, may present to members of the Armed
2
Forces, veterans, and military families.
3
(4) Evaluating the efficacy of current Federal
4
programs, educational campaigns, policies, and stat-
5
utes, including the Military Lending Act and the
6
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, in preventing and
7
combatting financial fraud targeting members of the
8
Armed Forces, veterans, and military families.
9
(5) Developing recommendations to enhance ef-
10
forts of Federal agencies to detect, prevent, and
11
combat financial fraud targeting members of the
12
Armed Forces, veterans, and military families.
13
(g) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date
14
of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the
15
Task Force shall submit to the appropriate congressional
16
committees a report on its findings to date and rec-
17
ommendations to enhance the efforts of Federal agencies
18
to identify, prevent, and combat financial fraud targeting
19
members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and military fam-
20
ilies.
21
(h) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMITTEES
22
DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con-
23
gressional committees’’ means the following:
24
VerDate Sep 11 2014
04:20 Mar 12, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1188.IH
H1188
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7
•HR 1188 IH
(1) The Committee on Oversight and Reform of
1
the House of Representatives.
2
(2) The Committee on Armed Services of the
3
House of Representatives.
4
(3) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the
5
House of Representatives.
6
(4) The Committee on Homeland Security and
7
Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
8
(5) The Committee on Armed Services of the
9
Senate.
10
(6) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the
11
Senate.
12
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014
04:20 Mar 12, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H1188.IH
H1188
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS