I often joke the Department of Veterans Affairs does its part to keep the United States Postal Service in business. When your paperwork has been received, you get a VA letter. When your claim is being worked on, you get a VA letter. When your claim has been resolved, you get a letter. VA sends a lot of paper correspondence containing often overlooked content. I am going to share what you may have missed.
I found the following topic, of the same title as this article, tucked into a recent VA letter. The letter was a decision notification for a Veteran that assumed I was a scammer when calling to provide the good news about the new disability rating and large retroactive payment. Maybe I should have waited to call until after this article.
Please contact the VA immediately at 1-800- 827 -1000 if you suspect your information is compromised. You receive correspondence from VA concerning a claim, and you don’t remember filing a claim contact the VA at 1-800-827-1000. You receive correspondence requesting a processing fee prior to releasing benefit payments contact the VA at 1-800-827-1000.
VA may check in with you by phone, email, or text message. The VA will never ask for personal information via email. This includes verification of your SSN, address, and/or bank information. If you are unsure about any call, email, or text,
confirm details directly with the VA.
VA does not threaten claimants with jail or lawsuits. Be cautions of telephone numbers on caller ID. Scammers may change the telephone number (spoofing) to make a call appear to come from a different person or place. When in doubt, hang up and call VA directly at 1-800-827-1000, or call your Power of Attorney representative (DAV, VFW, etc.).
Do not ignore emails or letters from the VA notifying you of an update to direct deposit or eBenefits account information. If you don’t remember making changes, it could be the first sign your information was compromised.
Use secure, unique passwords, and two factor identification where available. To establish a more secure logon for Vets.gov and ebenefits.va.gov with two factor identification create an account via ID.me at https://api.id.me/en/registration/new
Monitor your accounts regularly, respond to fraud alerts and report unauthorized transactions promptly. To learn more about protecting yourself from fraud, and how to report it visit https://www. va.gov/oig/hotline/default.asp, or go to VA.gov and search “Office of Inspector General”.
For more details on how to avoid scams go to https://www.fcc.gov/veteranstargeted-benefits-scams Download free financial scam awareness resources at https://www.consumerfinance.gov/aboutus/blog/helping-prevent-scamstargeted-veterans/ Get up-to-date information on fraud and scams from the Federal Trade Commission https://public.tableau.com/profile/federal.trade.commission
Brad Anderson and Melissa Crandall are the Lake County Veterans Service Officers and can be reached at 218.834.8326 or cvso@co.lake.mn.us
Karen Christianson is the Cook County Veterans Service Officer and can be reached at 218.387.3639, or karen.christianson@co.cook.mn.us
