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Attention all military families and veterans! The Federal
Trade Commission logged more than 60,000 complaints from service members,
veterans, and spouses about experiences in the marketplace in 2012.
The many challenges of the military lifestyle—including
frequent relocation, separation from friends and family, and stress of a loved
one being deployed—make military families ripe targets for scammers.
Because of this, the FTC and partners—like the Washington Attorney General Bob
Ferguson— are sponsoring
the first annual Military Consumer Protection Day on July 17, 2013.
Military members and veterans are consumers, too—and
critical to the economy. There are 1.4 million men and women on active duty and
1.1 million in the National Guard and Reserve forces— and this doesn’t include family members.
This day—July 17, 2013—is
a fantastic day to empower military and veteran communities with information
against consumer fraud.
Be sure to take a look at military.ncpw.gov
for free tips and tools from the FTC, Department of Defense, Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau, Military Saves, plus many more state and federal agencies,
consumer advocates and military support groups—including
Washington
Attorney General Bob Ferguson. All of these organizations have
joined together to distribute resources that can help you avoid scams, invest
wisely, manage money and credit, as well as deal with debt.
You can also visit military.ncpw.gov
to help spread the word any time throughout the year. This toolkit includes
sample press releases, newsletter articles, event flyers, social media posts,
and many more outreach tools.
If you’re into social media, don’t miss the upcoming Twitter
chat, hosted on July 10, 2013 at 2 pm
with Department of Defense, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of
Servicemember Affairs and Military Saves. During this chat, staff will answer
questions for one hour on the subject of protection personal information and
recovering stolen identities.
To participate this Twitter
chat, follow @FTC and tweet your questions with the hashtag #mcpd.