Military Scams: Consumer Protection Data Reveals the Fraud Threats Facing the Military

If you’ve spent any time on military Reddit or Facebook groups, or watched mandatory cyber awareness training, you’ve probably seen the warnings:

“Don’t get catfished. That woman you met online is only after your money.“

“Don’t respond to emails asking for your personal data.“

“Be wary of strangers who seem overly interested in what you do in the military.“

Those scams absolutely exist—and they can be devastating for the people they target.

According to Federal Trade Commission data, business impersonation scams, employment scams, identity theft, and financial fraud generate significantly more reports than stereotypical scams among military consumers.

While romance scams and inheritance emails from a foreign prince often generate headlines, military consumers are far more likely to encounter fraudulent businesses, fake employers, identity theft, and financial scams that look like everyday transactions. 

Common Consumer Protection Myths vs. Military Realities

               

Source: FTC 2025 Military Top Reports 

July is Military Consumer Month at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network collects fraud and identity theft reports from consumers across the country, including reports submitted by active-duty service members, military spouses, dependents, veterans, National Guard members, and Reservists.

The agency’s military dashboard, which tracks reports from 2021 through 2025, shows a remarkably consistent trend: military families continue to experience a steady volume of fraud complaints each year. Here are some common myths and the data that explain what is really happening to military service members, veterans, and families.

Myth: Romance Scams Are the Biggest Threat to Military Service Members

Imposter scams are the most commonly reported cases for both military and civilian personnel alike. And it’s easy to understand why romance scams receive so much attention.

Military life naturally lends itself to stories involving deployments and long-distance relationships. Is being taken advantage of by a would-be suitor a legitimate lingering fear, fueled by Dear John letters sent during wartime, or based on Netflix movies, based on the premise that people may marry a service member to get health insurance? Or does it feel more common because of its personal nature? Either way, these catfishing cases are far less common than other documented types of fraud. 

               

For instance, in 2025, consumers reported far more complaints about businesses than about classic romance scams. Business imposter scams accounted for more than 485,000 reports—nearly seven times the number of romance scam reports (around 70,000). Friends and family impersonation scams were reported even less frequently, with about 34,000 cases, about half the number of romance scam reports.

While romance scams can result in significant financial losses for individual victims, they’re only one piece of a much larger fraud landscape.

What Military Families Worry About vs. What the Data Shows

Scam Type	Total Cases in 2025	Difference
Business Imposters	485,365	7x more common than Romance Scams & 14x more common than Friends & Family Imposters
Romance Scams	70,120	2x more common than Friends & Family Imposters
Friends & Family Imposters	34,519	Baseline

The lesson isn’t to stop worrying about someone impersonating your grandma or the new love interest after your health care. It’s to recognize that the biggest financial risks often arrive disguised as legitimate businesses rather than those with more intimate connections.

Military Spouse Employment Is Hard, Scams Make It Harder

Browse military spouse communities on Reddit, and a different concern quickly emerges. Instead of discussing romance scams or someone impersonating their great aunt Sally, many military spouses are asking questions like:

These concerns reflect the realities of military life. Frequent PCS moves, overseas assignments, childcare challenges, and licensing barriers often push military spouses toward flexible or remote employment. Unfortunately, scammers know this.

Unlike romance scams and catfishing, military spouses actually appear to be facing more scams than one might expect. 

Fake recruiters, reshipping schemes, mystery shopper offers, and employers requesting upfront payments have become increasingly common across the country. The FTC has reported significant growth in job and business opportunity scams in recent years, with consumers losing hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Military spouses may be especially likely to encounter these scams simply because they’re actively searching for portable employment that can move with them from one duty station to the next. And the data helps explain their Reddit concerns.

Employment scams were the number 4 concern nationwide in 2025, but the number 3 concern for military-connected personnel. And their losses are higher too, to the tune of $1,000.

Who Is Losing Money from Military Scams?

And when we look at who is filing complaints, we discover that active-duty spouses and dependents experienced the highest rate of financial loss among all military groups analyzed.

Status	# of Reports	# of Fraud Reports	% Reporting Fraud Loss	Total Fraud Loss	Median Fraud Loss
Active-Duty Service Member	22,661	9,753	34%	$64M	$699
Retiree/ Veteran	170,203	92,027	29%	$522M	$700
Reserve/ National Guard	12,729	6,951	31%	$49M	$600
Spouse/ child of Active-Duty Member	14,475	8,547	40%	$49M	$433

Four in ten reports from military spouses and dependents involved money being lost, compared with about one-third of reports from active-duty service members and fewer than three in ten reports from veterans.

That’s a meaningful finding because it aligns with the unique circumstances military spouses often face, such as frequent job searches, PCS moves, housing transitions, and managing household finances. While the data doesn’t establish why spouses report financial losses at a higher rate, it does suggest they may face distinct fraud risks that warrant targeted consumer education.

Active-Duty Families File More Reports Than Guard and Reserve Families

Another interesting pattern in the FTC dashboard is who is reporting fraud.

Active-duty service members, military spouses, and military dependents collectively submit substantially more fraud reports than members of the National Guard or Reserve.

That doesn’t necessarily mean active-duty families are more susceptible to scams. Instead, active-duty life creates more opportunities for scammers to exploit periods of transition.

Military families routinely:

• Move across the country through PCS orders.
• Search for new housing.
• Open new utility accounts.
• Shop online for household goods.
• Search for employment after each move.
• Manage deployments and temporary separations.

Each of these life events creates opportunities for fraudsters posing as landlords, employers, movers, lenders, or businesses.

How Military Scams Are Changing

One of the more interesting findings in the FTC dashboard isn’t that complaint totals are dramatically increasing. They aren’t.

Instead, the categories of complaints appear to be shifting.

While traditional fraud categories remain relatively stable, reports involving banks, lenders, and other financial institutions have become increasingly prominent in recent years. Criminals are becoming more sophisticated, frequently impersonating banks, fraud departments, payment processors, mortgage companies, and lenders in an effort to convince consumers to transfer money or disclose sensitive financial information.

Today’s scams often don’t look like scams at all.

Instead of receiving an email from a foreign prince, consumers are more likely to receive what appears to be a fraud alert from their bank or a text message warning of suspicious account activity.

The sophistication of these scams makes them significantly harder to recognize.

Why Haven’t Military Fraud Reports Increased Dramatically?

One encouraging takeaway from the FTC data is that overall complaint volumes among military consumers have remained relatively steady between 2021 and 2025, even as fraud losses nationwide have continued to climb.

It’s hard to know exactly why.

Military families today have access to more fraud education than ever before. Installation financial readiness programs, consumer protection resources, Military OneSource, command messaging, nonprofit organizations, and financial education websites like The Military Wallet all publish information equipping service members, veterans, and families about how to recognize scams.

Greater awareness may help military families recognize suspicious activity before becoming victims. At the same time, scammers continue adapting their tactics, shifting toward more sophisticated financial impersonation and employment schemes.

The result is an ongoing race between consumer education and increasingly convincing fraud. Security experts increasingly warn that generative AI may make fraud more convincing by enabling scammers to create realistic emails, voices, images, and videos.

How Military Families Can Protect Themselves

The FTC’s data suggests today’s biggest threats aren’t always dramatic; they’re ordinary interactions that suddenly become suspicious.

Military families can reduce their risk by:

• Verifying employers before accepting remote work opportunities.
• Never pay upfront fees for a job.
• Contacting banks directly using official phone numbers instead of responding to unsolicited calls or texts.
• Researching unfamiliar businesses before making purchases. And read reviews from independent sites.
• Monitor credit reports and financial accounts regularly.
• Reporting suspected fraud to the FTC, even if no money was lost.

Frequently Asked Questions About Military Scams and Consumer Protection

What are the most common scams targeting military families?

According to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Consumer Sentinel data, military families most frequently report business imposter scams, employment scams, identity theft, and financial fraud. While romance scams receive significant media attention, FTC data suggests business impersonation scams generate far more reports. Military families should be especially cautious when interacting with unfamiliar businesses, online sellers, recruiters, and financial institutions.

Are romance scams the biggest threat to military families?

No. Romance scams can cause devastating emotional and financial harm, but they are not the most commonly reported scam affecting military consumers. FTC data shows business imposter scams generate nearly seven times as many reports as romance scams. Military families are more likely to encounter fraud involving fake businesses, employment opportunities, financial institutions, and identity theft.

Why are military spouses frequently targeted by employment scams?

Military spouses often seek flexible, portable careers because of frequent PCS moves, deployments, and childcare responsibilities. Scammers exploit this by advertising fake remote jobs, reshipping positions, mystery shopper opportunities, or employers that require applicants to pay for equipment or training. Legitimate employers will never ask you to pay up front to begin working.

Why do active-duty spouses report financial losses more often?

FTC data shows that 40% of reports filed by active-duty spouses and dependents involved a financial loss, the highest percentage among military groups analyzed. The data does not explain why this occurs, but military spouses often navigate frequent moves, housing transitions, and employment searches, all of which create opportunities for scammers to target them.

What should I do if I think I’ve been targeted by a scam?

If you suspect you’ve encountered a scam, stop communicating with the individual or company immediately. Contact your bank or credit card issuer if financial information was shared, change compromised passwords, monitor your credit reports, and report the incident to the Federal Trade Commission through ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Reporting scams helps investigators identify trends and warn other consumers.

How can I tell if a job offer is a scam?

Be cautious if an employer offers unusually high pay for little experience, conducts interviews only through text messages or encrypted apps, asks you to purchase equipment, requests payment before hiring, or wants to deposit a check for you to redistribute funds. Research the company independently and verify job listings through official websites before accepting an offer.

How can military service members and families protect themselves from scams?

Military families can reduce their risk by verifying businesses before making purchases, researching employers, monitoring financial accounts regularly, using strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, and contacting organizations through official phone numbers rather than responding to unsolicited emails, texts, or phone calls. Staying informed about common fraud tactics is one of the best ways to avoid becoming a victim.

Where can military families report fraud or identity theft?

Military consumers can report scams to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and report identity theft at IdentityTheft.gov. Service members and military families may also find assistance through installation legal assistance offices, financial readiness programs, Military OneSource, or their financial institution if accounts have been compromised.

The Bottom Line

When you move around a lot, you often have to trust people quickly. This opens military personnel and their families up to scams. But it is important for service members, veterans, and families to recognize the documented threats, not just the sensational scams that go viral.

The next fraud attempt is just as likely to come from someone pretending to be an employer, a bank representative, an online retailer, or a lender as it is from someone claiming to need money from you while you’re stationed overseas.

Understanding how scams are changing—and where military consumers are actually losing money—can help families focus on the threats that matter most.

Where to Report Military-Related Fraud

If you believe you’ve been targeted by a scam or experienced identity theft, report it as soon as possible.

• Federal Trade Commission: ReportFraud.ftc.gov
• Identity theft assistance: IdentityTheft.gov
• Notify your financial institution immediately if you believe your accounts have been compromised.
• Service members and military families can also seek assistance through their installation’s legal assistance office or financial readiness program if they need help responding to fraud.