Today, Congressman Jose E. Serrano applauded the release of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) comprehensive plan to combat fraud in African-American and Latino communities. Serrano inserted language in the report accompanying the fiscal year 2016 Financial Services Appropriations bill requiring the FTC to develop the plan.
"I thank the FTC for developing this comprehensive strategy to address fraud in minority communities," said Congressman Serrano. "I asked for this report in last year's appropriations bill because numerous studies show that minority communities, particularly African-American and Latino communities, experience fraud at much higher rates than the population as a whole. From auto loans, to debt related scams, to immigration related fraud, minority communities are disproportionately targeted by bad actors. This report is an effort to look at the commonalities across all of these diverse areas of fraud, and to develop policies that help our communities detect, report, and stop fraud efforts. This is an important step forward by the FTC, and I look forward to working with them to ensure this plan can be fully implemented."
The report, available here, develops a comprehensive strategy to address fraud affecting minority communities, including expanded efforts to improve awareness and reporting of fraud, increased law enforcement against fraud efforts focused on minority communities, and enhanced outreach to African-American and Latino communities.
According to the FTC Fraud Survey released in 2013, African-American and Latino communities are disproportionately targeted for, and victims of, fraud efforts. Additionally, studies have shown that there is significant underreporting of fraud in minority communities. The strategy released today helps to address both issues.