NORFOLK, Va. — Veterans Day, which is this Saturday, is a time when we honor our service members, but it's also a time when our actions need to match our words.
So, I am looking into how to protect veterans, their money, and their benefits as criminals try to take it.
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Bartlett, a U.S. Marine, knows firsthand what it is like to be targeted and taken advantage of. He says he was going home on leave and got something in the mail saying that he had been approved for a loan that he recently applied for.
"They gave me a check, which I deposited in my bank account. I was able to withdraw the funds that day and about three days later, I ended up finding out it was a scam they sent out and it was negative a few thousand dollars from my bank account,” he says.
Staff Sgt. Barlett’s story is one of many.
"Unfortunately, veterans are one of the most targeted communities,” says Denzel Glover.
Denzel Glover is the Director of Mission United at the United Way of South Hampton Roads. The organization supports and advocates for all service members.
“We're seeing a high number of veterans that are being scammed or being attempted to be scammed. We're trying to get ahead of that,” Glover says.
Glover knows all about being proactive in order to help the next person. He served in the Army for 10 years, so he tells me he has seen it all, like imposters pretending to be representatives from banks like USAA and Navy Federal Credit Union.
He says he's even seen people say they are with the federal government to try to take veterans' disability payments.
This week, Duke University shared an extensive study about people in the military. I looked through it, and it says that service members' personal information, like health conditions and addresses, is being sold online.
I asked Glover if he was surprised to learn about the report’s findings.
“It's not surprising to me and unfortunately that is the age we are living in now," said Glover.
While it may be the age we are living in now, from the local to the federal level, advocates say it doesn't have to be.
Monica Rivera is the chief stakeholder for engagement and organizational change management. She is also part of the fraud prevention program with the Veterans Benefits Administration.
"As a country, we want to make sure that our veterans are taken care of when they come home,” she says.
Rivera says that starts by calling out the problem when we see it.
Scams that target veterans present themselves in a variety of ways, including romance and friendship scams and predatory companies promising veterans they will get them a 100% rating on their disability for a price.
“This is absolutely unethical, it's wrong. This is a service at the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs provides at no cost,” Rivera says.
So be careful about what you put online and who you talk to on the phone. If you are not sure if something is a scam or not, ask someone, like a staff member at Mission United.
“At the end of the day, we're here to serve people that have served us,” says Glover.
