“Rampant attempts to defraud troops warrants crack down, advocates say” is a recent Military Times/Air Force Times report describing how scams against service members, veterans, and their families have become so widespread that experts are urging a new, more aggressive enforcement strategy.
What the article is about
-
Advocates told a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Democratic roundtable that fraud targeting the military community is “rampant” and systemic.
-
They argued that existing enforcement by federal agencies alone is not working and that policy needs to be “rethought” to address root causes, not just individual scammers.
Types of scams hitting troops
-
Identity theft, romance scams, education scams, cryptocurrency scams, disability-claims scams, job scams, and predatory auto sales were all cited as common schemes aimed at troops, spouses, and veterans.
-
Some for‑profit schools allegedly make misleading promises to capture GI Bill money, with several of the largest GI Bill recipients drawing high complaint volumes and state enforcement actions.
How bad the losses are
-
In 2024 the Federal Trade Commission received roughly 210,000 fraud complaints from service members and their families, totaling nearly 600 million dollars in losses.
-
One advocacy group’s internal data put median losses in crypto scams at about 230,000 dollars per victim and in romance scams at about 130,000 dollars per victim in the military community.
What advocates want changed
-
Former CFPB director Rohit Chopra suggested giving state attorneys general more authority to enforce protections for troops and veterans and allowing private citizens to bring more legal actions.
-
Advocates also called for stronger regulation of tech companies, including requirements to detect and warn users about scams and to curb data brokers that sell detailed information on service members to fraudsters.
Why troops are such a target
-
Speakers noted that social media and data brokers make it easy for scammers to identify which service members are lonely, car‑shopping, or under financial stress and then tailor scams to those vulnerabilities.
-
They warned that professional scammers adapt quickly to new rules, so any crackdown must address the underlying incentives and data flows that make the military community so attractive to fraud.
