The Federal Trade Commission is launching a new initiative aimed at partnering with community legal aid organizations to expand its outreach to lower-income communities to encourage them to report fraud and provide them with advice to help recover.

The Community Advocate Center initiative will provide a new way for organizations that provide free and low-cost legal services to report fraud and other illegal business practices their clients have experienced directly to the FTC on behalf of their clients.

“It is a top priority to ensure that FTC resources are available to those who most need them,” said Acting FTC Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. “The goal of the Community Advocate Center is to build the bridges between underserved communities, their advocates, and the FTC in order to fight fraud and try to recover money lost.”

By participating with the FTC’s Community Advocate Center, organizations can connect members of their communities to specific, concrete steps they can take to try to get their money back. They also will receive aggregated data detailing the types of fraud and other illegal business practices affecting their communities, such as the methods scammers use to defraud consumers, methods they use to demand payment, and the amount of money consumers report losing.

For more information about the Community Advocate Center and to sign up to participate, visit ReportFraud.ftc.gov/community.

The FTC thanks the Legal Services Corporation, Inc., the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, the National Consumer Law Center, and the National Association of Consumer Advocates for their support of this initiative.