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) In 2023, financial fraud targeting military consumers resulted in an estimated $477,000,000 in total losses, an increase of approximately $63,000,000 over 2022. (3) In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission received more than 74,000 fraud complaints from veterans and military retirees that resulted in approximately $350,000,000 in total losses. (4) In 2024, financial fraud targeting military consumers resulted in an estimated $584,000,000 in total losses, an increase of approximately $107,000,000 over 2023. (5) In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission received nearly 80,000 fraud complaints from veterans and military retirees that resulted in approximately $419,000,000 in total losses. (6) 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.