Veterans Battle Surprise Attacks from Fraud and Scams
Veterans Battle Surprise Attacks from Fraud and Scams Economic Security and Work
See Also Consistent with a this current research found that more active-duty service members and veterans than civilians continue to receive many fraudulent solicitations and are significantly more likely to lose money to a scam than civilians. Fraudulent service-related offers also continue to plague active duty military and veterans and have resulted in one-third of them losing money to at least one of the offers listed in the survey question. Robocalls, spam email, suspicious text or instant messages are common ways in which con artists attempt to contact consumers, and both military/veterans and civilians report receiving too many of each per week. Yet, too many respondents in both samples are not making use of some helpful prevention measures such as blocking services, the National Do Not Call Registry, security freezes on credit reports, or inquiring about the allocation of a donation. AARP’s has been working with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) on Operation Protect Veterans — a public awareness initiative to help veterans and military families fight back and protect themselves and their loved ones by raising visibility to the most current. These 2021 AARP survey findings indicate a strong need for additional media and public attention to keep veterans, military, and their families informed, so they can more easily detect and fend off a “scambush”—surprise attacks from scams and fraud.
Veterans Battle Surprise Attacks from Fraud and Scams
Read the Detailed Findings
(Report, PDF) (PDF) (PDF)See Also Consistent with a this current research found that more active-duty service members and veterans than civilians continue to receive many fraudulent solicitations and are significantly more likely to lose money to a scam than civilians. Fraudulent service-related offers also continue to plague active duty military and veterans and have resulted in one-third of them losing money to at least one of the offers listed in the survey question. Robocalls, spam email, suspicious text or instant messages are common ways in which con artists attempt to contact consumers, and both military/veterans and civilians report receiving too many of each per week. Yet, too many respondents in both samples are not making use of some helpful prevention measures such as blocking services, the National Do Not Call Registry, security freezes on credit reports, or inquiring about the allocation of a donation. AARP’s has been working with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) on Operation Protect Veterans — a public awareness initiative to help veterans and military families fight back and protect themselves and their loved ones by raising visibility to the most current. These 2021 AARP survey findings indicate a strong need for additional media and public attention to keep veterans, military, and their families informed, so they can more easily detect and fend off a “scambush”—surprise attacks from scams and fraud.