{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pappas.house.gov/media/press-releases/pappas-leads-bipartisan-demand-for-action-to-stop-claim-sharks-scamming-veterans-following-npr-report", "Pappas Leads Bipartisan Demand for Action to Stop Claim Sharks Scamming Veterans Following NPR Report", "2025-12-10", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "House", "NH", "Chris Pappas", "P000614", "pappas.house.gov", "pappas", "https://pappas.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Today Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), Ranking Member of the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee of the House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee, led a bipartisan group of more than 40 members in sending a letter to the Department of Veterans\u2019 Affairs, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau highlighting the disturbing and escalatory tactics of claim sharks, including those in recent reporting from NPR, and demanding the agencies immediately investigate and take meaningful action to curb these practices and protect veterans.\n\n\u201c19 years ago, Congress voted to let claim sharks off the hook. Now unaccredited companies are ripping off veterans and using their private, personal information to charge veterans tens of thousands of dollars, in some cases for help they didn\u2019t even provide,\u201d said Congressman Pappas. \u201cI have repeatedly raised alarm about the rise of unaccredited claims consultants profiting from veterans\u2019 disability claims, and the profiteering exposed by this article is outrageous. No one can deny that predatory companies are exploiting legal loopholes to defraud veterans. I am demanding answers from the administration about their knowledge of these tactics and am calling on them to take every possible action to protect veterans from being defrauded.\n\n\u201cIt is already illegal to exploit veterans looking for claims help but VA lacks an enforcement mechanism. It\u2019s time to pass my GUARD VA Benefits Act, reinstate VA\u2019s enforcement authority, and finally hold these companies accountable for the harm they are causing.\n\nBackground:\n\nUnaccredited claims representatives, or claim sharks, are not subject to VA standards. They strategically advertise their services to avoid regulatory oversight and as a result, may engage in predatory and unethical practices that target veterans and rob them of their VA benefits. Federal laws and regulations prohibit anyone from assisting a veteran in the preparation, presentation, or prosecution of a VA benefit claim, or charging a fee for this assistance, without accreditation from VA. However, VA and other federal agencies are limited in their ability to enforce existing law because explicit criminal penalties were stripped from statute nearly two decades ago. This has contributed to the proliferation of unaccredited claims representatives in recent years, a troubling development especially as more veterans receive the benefits they\u2019re owed thanks to the Honoring Our PACT Act.\n\nPappas\u2019s Governing Unaccredited Representatives Defrauding (GUARD) VA Benefits Act would reinstate criminal penalties for unaccredited claim representatives who charge unauthorized fees while assisting veterans with filing a claim for VA disability compensation benefits. This legislation will discourage for-profit companies from operating outside the bounds of federal law, and will give VA and other agencies an additional tool to protect veteran claimants from predatory practices.\n\nPappas has been working to raise awareness of and protect veterans from the predatory practices of claims sharks since 2021, calling on VA to improve awareness, chairing an oversight hearing on the topic, and introducing the GUARD VA Act in both the 117th, 118th, and 119th Congresses.\n\nRead the full text of the letter here and below:\n\nDear Secretary Collins, Chair Ferguson, and Acting Director Vought:\n\nWe write to express serious concern regarding a recent NPR investigation documenting predatory practices by unaccredited claims representatives and providing new evidence of escalating, disturbing tactics used to systematically target and illegally charge veterans tens of thousands of dollars for assistance with their Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability claims.\n\nFor years, we have warned that unaccredited representatives \u2013 commonly known as claim sharks \u2013 charge illegal fees, misrepresent their services, and exploit a loophole in federal law to escape accountability. This is why we support H.R. 1732, the GUARD VA Benefits Act, which would simply reinstate the enforcement mechanism VA needs to finally hold these bad actors accountable. However, as the NPR investigation makes clear, aggressive and coordinated federal action is needed now. Claim sharks\u2019 predatory practices grow more nefarious and efficient with each passing day, robbing veterans of the benefits they earned and diverting taxpayer dollars into their own pockets.\n\nAccording to NPR\u2019s reporting, Trajector and potentially other companies are now using automated data-extraction tools that allow them to monitor veterans\u2019 personal financial information and VA claims data, track when a claim is approved and VA benefits are deposited, and automatically issue an invoice to the veteran. In many cases, this appears to be done by requiring veterans to provide sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers. This information is then fed into automated systems capable of identifying any increase in a veteran\u2019s disability compensation and immediately sending an invoice to the veteran, even if the unaccredited representative played no role in the successful claim.\n\nThese practices represent a deeply disturbing escalation in claim shark industry tactics and raise serious questions about data privacy, informed consent, financial security, and whether these companies are accessing or leveraging sensitive VA-related information in ways that may violate federal laws related to consumer protection, privacy, and unauthorized access to government systems or data. This is in addition to the prohibition on unaccredited representatives preparing, presenting, or prosecuting VA claims.\n\nThese revelations further underscore regulatory and enforcement gaps that have enabled claim sharks to proliferate. VA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have acknowledged that their ability to curb these activities is limited due to the lack of an enforcement statute \u2013 precisely the authority the GUARD VA Benefits Act would restore. This long-standing and well-known gap has allowed claim sharks to expand their operations, refine predatory practices, and aggressively lobby Congress to oppose federal legislation to close this loophole.\n\nUnaccredited representatives cannot continue to operate with impunity. While Congress works to restore VA\u2019s enforcement authority through the GUARD VA Benefits Act, we expect VA, FTC, and other relevant agencies to use every available authority to investigate these practices, enforce current statutes, and prevent further harm. The practices outlined in the NPR report demand an immediate response, a coordinated, multi-agency investigation, and meaningful federal action.\n\nAdditionally, we request written responses to the following questions no later than December 18, 2025:\n\n1. Has VA, FTC, CFPB, or any related federal entity previously identified, investigated, or received complaints regarding the use of automated or robotic tools by Trajector or similar companies to track VA benefit payments or claim approvals? If so, have any enforcement actions been taken?\n\n2. What information do your agencies have regarding how these companies obtain, store, use, or transmit veterans\u2019 personal data? Have you found any indication that entities are improperly accessing VA.gov, eBenefits, claim-status interfaces, or other VA data systems directly or through automated tools?\n\n3. Has the FTC or CFPB opened any inquiries, civil investigative demands, enforcement actions, or reviews related to Trajector or any similar company?\n\n4. What interagency coordination mechanisms currently exist among VA, FTC, CFPB, and state attorneys general to monitor and respond to these practices?\n\n5. What additional authorities, resources, or statutory changes would allow your agencies to fully investigate these practices and protect veterans from unauthorized data collection or financial exploitation?\n\nVeterans deserve clear, lawful, and trustworthy assistance when seeking the benefits they have earned. The conduct described in this recent investigation represents an unacceptable threat to their privacy and financial security and demands immediate, meaningful federal action.\n\nWe appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your response.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pappas.house.gov/media/press-releases/pappas-leads-bipartisan-demand-for-action-to-stop-claim-sharks-scamming-veterans-following-npr-report"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.398441080003977, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}