Feb. 14, 2012 – The Consumer Protection Working Group of the president’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force held its first meeting Friday to discuss efforts to address consumer-related fraud, including schemes targeting vulnerable populations.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in an announcement, said the working group will address, among other things, payday lending and other high-pressure telemarketing or Internet scams, business opportunity schemes, for-profit schools that engage in fraud or misrepresentation and fraudulent third party payment processors that facilitate payments on behalf of other fraudsters without customers’ permission.
At Friday’s meeting, the group set priorities, discussed collaborative steps to further identify and prosecute consumer fraud and fraud prevention through outreach and education. The new working group plans to establish a best-practices tool kit, legislative, regulatory and policy initiatives and an information sharing structure, Holder said.
The working group includes representatives of more than a dozen federal law enforcement and financial regulatory agencies – the Justice Department, FBI, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Education Department, NCUA, FDIC, Federal Reserve Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau among them. The group is co-chaired by state attorneys general are also represented on the panel. It has five co-chairs, including a representative of the CFPB.