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’ Affairs, 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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Consumer 

5 Protection Task Force Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Members of the Armed Forces, veterans, 

9 and military families continue to be disproportionVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Mar 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1188.IH H1188

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1 ately targeted and impacted by imposter scams, in2 vestment-related schemes, fake check scams, vet3 erans’ charity scams, pension poaching, and other 

4 methods of financial fraud. 

5 (2) Financial fraud attacks targeting members 

6 of the Armed Forces, veterans, and military depend7 ents increased by 69 percent from 2020 to 2021. 

8 (3) In 2020, more than 56,000 military con9 sumers submitted fraud reports to the Federal 

10 Trade Commission indicating a collective fraud loss 

11 of approximately $102 million; in 2021, over 

12 110,000 military consumers submitted fraud reports 

13 to the Federal Trade Commission indicating a collec14 tive fraud loss of approximately $267 million, a 162- 

15 percent increase in fraud loss over 2020. 

16 (4) Veterans alone reported a collective fraud 

17 loss of $177 million in 2021, with members of the 

18 Armed Forces reporting a nearly $60 million total 

19 fraud loss in 2021. 

20 (5) The exponential increase in financial fraud 

21 targeting members of the Armed Forces, veterans, 

22 and military families demands a robust and coordi23 nated interagency approach that examines current 

24 and emerging fraudulent schemes to safeguard the 

25 financial security of our military consumers. 


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1 SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE TO PROTECT MEM2 BERS, VETERANS, AND MILITARY FAMILIES 

3 FROM FINANCIAL FRAUD. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

6 Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Veterans 

7 Affairs, shall establish an Interagency Task Force on Fi8 nancial Fraud targeting members of the Armed Forces 

9 and veterans (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Task 

10 Force’’). 

11 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Task Force established 

12 under this section shall include representatives from the 

13 following: 

14 (1) The Department of Defense. 

15 (2) The Department of Veterans Affairs. 

16 (3) The Federal Trade Commission. 

17 (4) The Consumer Financial Protection Bu18 reau. 

19 (5) The Department of Justice. 

20 (6) The Federal Communications Commission. 

21 (7) The Postal Inspection Service. 

22 (8) Three representatives, appointed by the Sec23 retary of Defense in consultation with the Secretary 

24 of the Department of Veterans Affairs, of non-gov25 ernmental organizations (at least one of whom is a 

26 representative of a veterans’ service organization) 


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1 with expertise in identifying, preventing, and com2 batting financial fraud targeting members of the 

3 Armed Forces, veterans, and military families. 

4 (c) CONSULTATION.—The Task Force shall regularly 

5 consult with the following: 

6 (1) Members of the Armed Forces, veterans, 

7 and members of military families that have been vic8 tims of financial fraud. 

9 (2) Relevant Federal agencies and departments 

10 that are not represented on the Task Force. 

11 (3) Other relevant public and private sector 

12 stakeholders, including State and local law enforce13 ment agencies, financial services providers, tech14 nology companies, and social media platforms. 

15 (d) MEETINGS.—The Task Force shall not meet less 

16 frequently than three times per calendar year. 

17 (e) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Task Force is to 

18 identify and examine current and developing methods of 

19 financial fraud targeting members of the Armed Forces, 

20 veterans, and military families and issue recommendations 

21 to enhance efforts undertaken by Federal agencies to iden22 tify, prevent, and combat such financial fraud. 

23 (f) DUTIES.—The duties of the Task Force shall in24 clude the following: 


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1 (1) Collecting and reviewing robust data per2 taining to medical billing, credit reporting, debt col3 lection, and other serious financial challenges facing 

4 members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and mili5 tary families. 

6 (2) Identifying and reviewing current methods 

7 of financial exploitation targeting members of the 

8 Armed Forces, veterans, and military families, in9 cluding— 

10 (A) imposter or phishing scams; 

11 (B) investment-related fraud; 

12 (C) pension poaching; 

13 (D) veterans benefit fraud; 

14 (E) fraudulent offers pertaining to employ15 ment or business opportunities; 

16 (F) predatory lending; 

17 (G) veteran charity schemes; 

18 (H) foreign money offers and fake check 

19 scams; 

20 (I) mortgage foreclosure relief and debt 

21 management fraud; 

22 (J) military allotment system abuse; and 

23 (K) military records fraud. 

24 (3) Identifying and evaluating the new financial 

25 risks that emerging financial technologies, including 


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1 buy-now-pay-later credit and digital payment eco2 systems, may present to members of the Armed 

3 Forces, veterans, and military families. 

4 (4) Evaluating the efficacy of current Federal 

5 programs, educational campaigns, policies, and stat6 utes, including the Military Lending Act and the 

7 Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, in preventing and 

8 combatting financial fraud targeting members of the 

9 Armed Forces, veterans, and military families. 

10 (5) Developing recommendations to enhance ef11 forts of Federal agencies to detect, prevent, and 

12 combat financial fraud targeting members of the 

13 Armed Forces, veterans, and military families. 

14 (g) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

15 of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the 

16 Task Force shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

17 committees a report on its findings to date and rec18 ommendations to enhance the efforts of Federal agencies 

19 to identify, prevent, and combat financial fraud targeting 

20 members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and military fam21 ilies. 

22 (h) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

23 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con24 gressional committees’’ means the following: 


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1 (1) The Committee on Oversight and Reform of 

2 the House of Representatives. 

3 (2) The Committee on Armed Services of the 

4 House of Representatives. 

5 (3) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

6 House of Representatives. 

7 (4) The Committee on Homeland Security and 

8 Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 

9 (5) The Committee on Armed Services of the 

10 Senate. 

11 (6) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

12 Senate. 

Æ 


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