While there are programs run by the VA to help veterans avoid getting taken advantage of, the GAO says it's not doing enough. (Photo: Shutterstock)
You'd think that leaving a battle zone would eliminate the target on a GI's back—but you'd be wrong.
Especially if said GI came home with federal benefits.
A report in Greenville Online details some of the financial schemes that target veterans and military retirees, preying on their assets—government benefits, pensions, disability payments, etc.—and using their weaknesses—lack of financial sophistication, even PTSD—to do it.
The report cites a Government Accountability Office report highlighting a problem that many servicemembers may be unaware of: veterans with disabilities are often easy prey for financial fraudsters, who see those lifetime income streams guaranteed by the government and home in on the vets who receive them.
Never mind that it's against the law—both state and federal.
Never mind that these vets have incurred those disabilities by serving their country.
And never mind that some of those disabilities might make it easier for a vet to fall prey to financial schemes by impairing their ability to manage their finances.
Nope, to financial fraudsters vets are quarry, and they hunt them as eagerly as a bear might go after a run of salmon. They're kin to the payday loan centers, pawnshops and other high-cost "services" that lurk outside every military base.
Whether it's a "loan" against future benefits, with sky-high interest rates that only drive the vet deeper into debt, or a "purchase" of future benefits by payment of a lump sum up front (accompanied by high fees for the "service"), financial fraudsters' schemes are illegal and take advantage of veterans who are in a tough spot financially.
And there are vet victims on the other end of the scheme, too, with the "investors" in the lump sum payouts often having served their country as well—but get suckered in to such illegal schemes nonetheless.
While there are programs run by the VA to help veterans avoid getting taken advantage of, the GAO report said it's not doing enough.
Specifically, says the report, the scams that con vets into selling their benefits for cash. It quotes the GAO: "VA does not centrally collect and analyze information, such as complaints made against companies, that could show the prevalence of these scams, help VA target outreach to veterans, and help law enforcement go after scammers."
And it's not just the schemers who rip off vets outright by "buying" their benefits or advancing them cash against them. The report also cites the Better Business Bureau saying that "[v]eterans also are susceptible to unscrupulous car dealers, online retailers, collection agencies and even furniture stores…"
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
And if there's any doubt, vets should go to the VA for the services it does offer—call centers where they can report scams, lawyers who can help them file claims for benefits and a program that will connect vets with individuals or organizations who can help them manage their benefits.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
