Identity theft is hard enough. That’s why we keep working to make recovering from it easier. It’s also why we’re happy to let you know about an innovative project by the FTC and IRS that lets people report tax-related identity theft to the IRS online, using the FTC’s IdentityTheft.gov website to file IRS Form 14039.

Last week, we gave you an overview of the latest Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book. Today, let’s look a bit more closely at the data from military consumers. We got more than 113,000 reports from military consumers in 2017. Although not all of them gave details about their military status,more than 28,000 are servicemembers, their family members, and inactive Reserve or National Guard, and more than 78,000 are military retirees or veterans. Here are a few interesting take-aways.

As the nation’s consumer protection agency, the FTC stands up for consumer rights. Every day, we work to shut down scammers and protect consumers everywhere. But we care just as much about empowering you. That’s why National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW), now in its 20^th year, is so important. We hope you’ll join us to spread the word about consumer protection in your community. Read on to find out what you can do – and how we can help.

During National Consumer Protection Week 2018, March 4-10, the FTC will co-host four Facebook Live chats (including one in Spanish) with other federal partners. Tune in to find out how to avoid frauds and scams, including imposter scams, and what you can do about identity theft.