# Veterans and Servicemember Consumer Protection Act of 2021

This bill creates a new position at the Federal Trade Commission specifically focused on protecting military veterans and active-duty servicemembers from fraud and scams. Right now, scammers target these groups with fake investment schemes, phony military benefits offers, and other cons delivered through mail, phone calls, robocalls, TV ads, and online. This bill says the FTC needs to have someone whose job is dedicated entirely to stopping these scams before they happen and helping victims when they do.

The coordinator will work to catch fraudsters by monitoring where scams are coming from and what tactics they're using. They'll team up with other government agencies like the Veterans Affairs Department, the FBI, state attorneys general, and postal inspectors to share information and coordinate enforcement actions. More importantly, the coordinator will create educational materials and a dedicated website to help veterans, servicemembers, and their families recognize common scams and know how to report them. This includes spreading the word about the FTC's complaint system so that when someone gets scammed, their report goes directly to law enforcement who can actually investigate and prosecute the criminals.

The bill also requires the FTC to keep a public dashboard showing trends in complaints from veterans—what types of scams are most common, which methods scammers are using most, and where the problems are happening. This transparency helps veterans stay alert to emerging threats. The coordinator will also make sure that when veterans file complaints, they get processed quickly and shared with the right law enforcement agencies. The whole system is designed to make it harder for scammers to target this vulnerable population and easier for victims to get help and justice.

Veterans and Servicemember Consumer Protection Act of 2021

Rice, Kathleen M.

Veterans and Servicemember Consumer Protection Act of 2021 This bill directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to designate a coordinator within the Bureau of Consumer Protection to advise the FTC on preventing fraud targeting military veterans and service members and to assist the FTC in monitoring the market for mail, television, internet, telemarketing, and recorded message telephone call (robocall) fraud targeting those individuals. The coordinator must (1) disseminate to veterans, service members, and their families and caregivers information about the most common fraud schemes, including methods of reporting complaints to the FTC; (2) make complaints immediately available to relevant law enforcement authorities; (3) publish information regarding the FTC's enforcement actions; and (4) maintain a website as a resource for information on fraud targeting those individuals.