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Tuesday, December 10, 2024
HomeCommunityFRAUD PREVENTION: PROTECT YOUR BENEFITS

FRAUD PREVENTION: PROTECT YOUR BENEFITS

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

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