[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1188 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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 disproportionately targeted and 
        impacted by imposter scams, investment-related schemes, fake 
        check scams, veterans' charity scams, pension poaching, and 
        other methods of financial fraud.
            (2) Financial fraud attacks targeting members of the Armed 
        Forces, veterans, and military dependents increased by 69 
        percent from 2020 to 2021.
            (3) In 2020, more than 56,000 military consumers 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 collective 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 coordinated interagency approach that 
        examines current and emerging fraudulent schemes to safeguard 
        the financial security of our military consumers.

SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE TO PROTECT MEMBERS, 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 Financial 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 Bureau.
            (5) The Department of Justice.
            (6) The Federal Communications Commission.
            (7) The Postal Inspection Service.
            (8) Three representatives, appointed by the Secretary of 
        Defense in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs, of non-governmental organizations (at least 
        one of whom is a representative of a veterans' service 
        organization) with expertise in identifying, preventing, and 
        combatting 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 victims 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 enforcement agencies, financial 
        services providers, technology 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 
identify, prevent, and combat such financial fraud.
    (f) Duties.--The duties of the Task Force shall include the 
following:
            (1) Collecting and reviewing robust data pertaining to 
        medical billing, credit reporting, debt collection, and other 
        serious financial challenges facing members of the Armed 
        Forces, veterans, and military families.
            (2) Identifying and reviewing current methods of financial 
        exploitation targeting members of the Armed Forces, veterans, 
        and military families, including--
                    (A) imposter or phishing scams;
                    (B) investment-related fraud;
                    (C) pension poaching;
                    (D) veterans benefit fraud;
                    (E) fraudulent offers pertaining to employment 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 buy-now-pay-later 
        credit and digital payment ecosystems, may present to members 
        of the Armed Forces, veterans, and military families.
            (4) Evaluating the efficacy of current Federal programs, 
        educational campaigns, policies, and statutes, 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 efforts 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 recommendations to enhance the efforts of Federal 
agencies to identify, prevent, and combat financial fraud targeting 
members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and military families.
    (h) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the following:
            (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.
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