The FTC’s mission is to protect consumers. And one group of consumers who can face specific kinds of challenges? Our military community. For many young servicemembers, time in the service is their first full-time job. Military families may move around regularly as they change duty stations. In 2012, the FTC received 42,200 fraud complaints from the military community. The top complaint categories were: debt collection, imposter scams, fraud involving prize offers, sweepstakes or gifts, unlawful banking or lending practices, and scams that offer mortgage foreclosure relief or debt management services. The concerns of military consumers generally mirror those of their civilian counterparts, and the categories of their complaints overlap with some of the FTC’s highest consumer protection priorities.
If you want to know more about the FTC’s initiatives to prevent fraud against our servicemembers, check out yesterday’s testimony, delivered to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. You may want to take a look at our consumer tips and resources for Military Families, too.
