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New Federal Task Force Aims To Deter Consumer Fraud

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create an anti-fraud task force that the government says will help protect American consumers.
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The Trump administration is launching a new multi-agency task force that it says aims to combat consumer fraud.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made the announcement Wednesday, and said the initiative will focus on protecting vulnerable Americans from schemes, especially the elderly, service members and veterans. 

According to Rosenstein, the task force will combine government resources to identify and stop fraudulent activity before it starts, with an emphasis on health care and financial schemes. The acting associate attorney general clarified that the U.S. government will still prosecute for those crimes. 

The task force, which was created via an executive order from President Donald Trump, comes after recent federal moves to crackdown on other types of fraud. In June, the DOJ and HHS charged hundreds of people in what it called the "largest ever health care fraud" takedown, with some of those cases being opioid-related.  

Additional reporting from Newsy Affiliate CNN