Va announces new website and call center to protect veterans from fraud

Scams are rampant these days, and members of the veteran community are favorite targets of scammers; veterans, military personnel and their spouses reported $477 million in losses from scams

last year — up $63 million in 2022 — according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).   In response, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the White House have announced the

launch of VSAFE.gov and 833-38V-SAFE (833-388-7233). The new website and call center is meant to coordinate efforts across the federal government to protect veterans, service members and

their families from fraud and scams. “At the end of the day, we want to better arm [veterans], so to speak, and their families with better ways to identify these fraudulent behaviors so

they can protect themselves,” says John Boerstler, chief veterans experience officer at the VA. And the goal is to keep it simple, with “one single digital front door at VSAFE.gov and then

one single telephonic front door,” through the call center. The website includes resources on identity theft and the most common scams targeting veterans, including romance scams and other

impostor scams, fake job offers and bogus investment schemes. The call center, meanwhile, offers a simplified way for reporting different scams. In the past it has been confusing for scam

victims to know where to report fraud. “Depending on the kind of issue facing the caller, callers will be routed to the correct federal agency to address their specific concerns,” according

to the announcement. And if victims do call an individual agency rather than the central call center, all agencies will have “common call center training materials” so the caller is sent to

the correct place for assistance. The effort, led by the White House VSAFE (veterans, service members and families fraud evasion) interagency policy council, includes the departments of

Defense, Education and State, the FTC, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security

Administration, and the Office of Management and Budget.