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-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Consumer 
Protection Task Force Act of 2023’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Members of the Armed Forces, veterans, 
and military families continue to be disproportion-
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ately targeted and impacted by imposter scams, in-
vestment-related schemes, fake check scams, vet-
erans’ charity scams, pension poaching, and other 
methods of financial fraud. 
(2) Financial fraud attacks targeting members 
of the Armed Forces, veterans, and military depend-
ents increased by 69 percent from 2020 to 2021. 
(3) In 2020, more than 56,000 military con-
sumers submitted fraud reports to the Federal 
Trade Commission indicating a collective fraud loss 
of approximately $102 million; in 2021, over 
110,000 military consumers submitted fraud reports 
to the Federal Trade Commission indicating a collec-
tive fraud loss of approximately $267 million, a 162- 
percent increase in fraud loss over 2020. 
(4) Veterans alone reported a collective fraud 
loss of $177 million in 2021, with members of the 
Armed Forces reporting a nearly $60 million total 
fraud loss in 2021. 
(5) The exponential increase in financial fraud 
targeting members of the Armed Forces, veterans, 
and military families demands a robust and coordi-
nated interagency approach that examines current 
and emerging fraudulent schemes to safeguard the 
financial security of our military consumers. 
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SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE TO PROTECT MEM-
BERS, VETERANS, AND MILITARY FAMILIES 
FROM FINANCIAL FRAUD. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs, shall establish an Interagency Task Force on Fi-
nancial Fraud targeting members of the Armed Forces 
and veterans (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Task 
Force’’). 
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Task Force established 
under this section shall include representatives from the 
following: 
(1) The Department of Defense. 
(2) The Department of Veterans Affairs. 
(3) The Federal Trade Commission. 
(4) The Consumer Financial Protection Bu-
reau. 
(5) The Department of Justice. 
(6) The Federal Communications Commission. 
(7) The Postal Inspection Service. 
(8) Three representatives, appointed by the Sec-
retary of Defense in consultation with the Secretary 
of the Department of Veterans Affairs, of non-gov-
ernmental organizations (at least one of whom is a 
representative of a veterans’ service organization) 
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with expertise in identifying, preventing, and com-
batting financial fraud targeting members of the 
Armed Forces, veterans, and military families. 
(c) CONSULTATION.—The Task Force shall regularly 
consult with the following: 
(1) Members of the Armed Forces, veterans, 
and members of military families that have been vic-
tims of financial fraud. 
(2) Relevant Federal agencies and departments 
that are not represented on the Task Force. 
(3) Other relevant public and private sector 
stakeholders, including State and local law enforce-
ment agencies, financial services providers, tech-
nology companies, and social media platforms. 
(d) MEETINGS.—The Task Force shall not meet less 
frequently than three times per calendar year. 
(e) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Task Force is to 
identify and examine current and developing methods of 
financial fraud targeting members of the Armed Forces, 
veterans, and military families and issue recommendations 
to enhance efforts undertaken by Federal agencies to iden-
tify, prevent, and combat such financial fraud. 
(f) DUTIES.—The duties of the Task Force shall in-
clude the following: 
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(1) Collecting and reviewing robust data per-
taining to medical billing, credit reporting, debt col-
lection, and other serious financial challenges facing 
members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and mili-
tary families. 
(2) Identifying and reviewing current methods 
of financial exploitation targeting members of the 
Armed Forces, veterans, and military families, in-
cluding— 
(A) imposter or phishing scams; 
(B) investment-related fraud; 
(C) pension poaching; 
(D) veterans benefit fraud; 
(E) fraudulent offers pertaining to employ-
ment or business opportunities; 
(F) predatory lending; 
(G) veteran charity schemes; 
(H) foreign money offers and fake check 
scams; 
(I) mortgage foreclosure relief and debt 
management fraud; 
(J) military allotment system abuse; and 
(K) military records fraud. 
(3) Identifying and evaluating the new financial 
risks that emerging financial technologies, including 
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buy-now-pay-later credit and digital payment eco-
systems, may present to members of the Armed 
Forces, veterans, and military families. 
(4) Evaluating the efficacy of current Federal 
programs, educational campaigns, policies, and stat-
utes, including the Military Lending Act and the 
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, in preventing and 
combatting financial fraud targeting members of the 
Armed Forces, veterans, and military families. 
(5) Developing recommendations to enhance ef-
forts of Federal agencies to detect, prevent, and 
combat financial fraud targeting members of the 
Armed Forces, veterans, and military families. 
(g) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the 
Task Force shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report on its findings to date and rec-
ommendations to enhance the efforts of Federal agencies 
to identify, prevent, and combat financial fraud targeting 
members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and military fam-
ilies. 
(h) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMITTEES 
DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con-
gressional committees’’ means the following: 
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(1) The Committee on Oversight and Reform of 
the House of Representatives. 
(2) The Committee on Armed Services of the 
House of Representatives. 
(3) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 
House of Representatives. 
(4) The Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 
(5) The Committee on Armed Services of the 
Senate. 
(6) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 
Senate. 
Æ 
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