The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has a new weapon in its arsenal to fight consumer financial frauds directed at military members, veterans and their families. On Jan. 25, the CFPB, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Defense unveiled plans to create a database intended to track completed enforcement actions against companies and individuals who repeatedly scam military personnel.
CFPB Director Richard Cordray said the Repeat Offenders Against Military (ROAM) database will help law enforcement crack down on frauds that cross state lines.
“As a former Ohio attorney general, I know how frustrating it is to expose a scam and then see it take root in another state,” Cordray said at a press conference. “ROAM is a huge step forward in our mission to improve consumer protection for the military community.”
Law enforcement from across the country, including state attorneys general, U.S. attorneys, and judge advocates from all five branches of the armed forces, will be able to search the ROAM database for publicly available information about completed civil and criminal legal actions against perpetrators of financial scams against military personnel, veterans and their families.
“During my visits to military communities across the country, I continue to hear stories of service members and veterans being defrauded by businesses that see our troops as easy targets for a quick profit,” said Holly Petraeus, the CFPB's assistant director for the Office of Service Member Affairs. “This database will help law enforcers stop some of the worst offenders ”“”“ those that have made a practice of targeting our men and women in uniform and our veterans.”
The ROAM database will complement the Consumer Sentinel Network, which the FTC created to gather consumer complaints from all over the country. FTC Commissioner Julie Brill praised the creation of the new database.
“The FTC has long seen the value in sharing information to enhance consumer protection efforts,” Brill said. “We see ROAM and Consumer Sentinel as complementary bookends: Consumer Sentinel at the beginning of the enforcement process, and the ROAM database at the end. I expect that the FTC will be eager to use the bureau's new data base and contribute information to make our consumer protection actions as effective as possible.”
Law enforcement officials can contribute data and request access to the database by sending an email to [email protected].
The database should be up and running in early February.
More CFPB news
Affordable reprints of this article are available. Click here for more information.
Comment Box - October Research is not responsible for the comments posted on its web sites by readers. We will do our best to remove comments that include profanity, personal attacks or other inappropriate remarks.