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Why scammers target veterans and how to fight back

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This Memorial Day, while the rest of the country pauses to honor the fallen, scammers are doing something else entirely. They’re running searches.

They’re pulling military records. Cross-referencing VA enrollment data. Mapping disability ratings. And building detailed profiles on the men and women who served this country, then using that information to steal from them.

It’s not a side hustle. It’s an industry. And veterans, because of the very nature of their service, are uniquely exposed to it. Here’s exactly what’s happening and what you can do to stop it.

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META MEDICARE SCAM ADS TARGETING SENIORS FACE SCRUTINY

Most people don’t realize how much information military service generates and how much of it is semi-public.

When you serve, your records include:

Much of this sits in federal databases, discharge paperwork, and public-facing records that data brokers have learned to scrape, package, and resell. The result: before a scammer ever picks up the phone, they already know more about a veteran than most of the veteran’s neighbors do.

If you’ve served in the U.S. military, you have a DD-214. It’s your Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, and it contains nearly everything a fraudster could want.

Full name. Social Security number (on older forms). Dates of service. Character of discharge. Job specialty codes. Awards and decorations. Last duty station.

The DD-214 is required for veterans’ benefits, employment, and housing applications. That means millions of veterans have submitted it to dozens of agencies, employers, and financial institutions over the years.

It also means copies of it can be sitting in more databases than most veterans ever imagined. Data brokers don’t need to hack anything. They pull from public records requests, digitized government filings, and third-party aggregators. Once your DD-214 data is in the broker ecosystem, it gets bought, sold, and refreshed, appearing on people-search sites you’ve never heard of. And scammers buy it for a few dollars.

The numbers are devastating. According to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2024 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book, military consumers, including veterans, service members and their families, reported $584 million in fraud losses in 2024. That is up nearly 25% from the year before. Veterans and retirees reported the largest share of those losses, at $419 million. The median fraud loss for veterans was $700, which was higher than the $497 median across all FTC complaints.

AARP’s 2025 research adds another troubling layer. It found that 27% of veterans, or more than 5 million people, have lost money to fraud. It also found that 39% of veterans have received solicitations from someone claiming to be from the VA or another government agency, and 28% believe their veteran status made them a target.

The VA has also warned that scammers are increasingly targeting veterans because of their government benefits and personal information. These scams often include government impostors, direct deposit fraud, phishing, identity theft, payment redirection and social media scams.

The takeaway is clear: this problem is getting worse, not better. Veterans are not being targeted randomly. Scammers know many have benefits, official records and a long-standing trust relationship with the VA. That makes a fake VA call or benefits message feel more believable, especially when the scammer already has pieces of personal information.

Here’s what the process actually looks like from a scammer’s perspective.

It starts exactly where it starts with any target. They type your name into Spokeo, BeenVerified, Whitepages, or any of dozens of similar sites.

Within seconds, they see your age, home address, phone numbers, and the names of your relatives. For veterans, some profiles also surface military affiliation pulled from public records, LinkedIn, local news coverage of VA events, or obituaries.

That confirms you’re the right person. That’s the seed. 

VA benefit enrollment information isn’t entirely private. Mailing addresses tied to VA correspondence, enrollment in VA healthcare, and participation in VA community programs generate public footprints.

Data brokers specifically package “military consumer” and “veterans” audience segments and sell them to marketers and, as federal prosecutors have proven, sometimes directly to fraudsters.

A scammer who buys one of these lists knows they’re calling a veteran. They know roughly what branch. In some cases, they know the disability rating category.

Data broker profiles don’t stop at you. They include your spouse, your adult children, and your elderly parents.

For veterans, this matters enormously. Many older veterans live alone. Their spouses may be named beneficiaries on pension and survivor benefit plans. A scammer mapping your profile is also identifying your most vulnerable family members and their contact information.

This is where veteran scams get more personal. Scammers often build their pitch around military benefits.

A veteran with VA disability enrollment may get a fake “benefits upgrade” call. An older veteran with pension income may be targeted by a pension-poaching scheme. A recently discharged veteran may get targeted with a fake GI Bill or education offer.

That is what makes these scams so dangerous. The caller may already know enough to sound official. They do not guess. They target.

Here are the scams hitting veterans hardest right now, and the red flags that should make you pause before sharing personal or financial information.

This is one of the most common scams targeting veterans.

A caller claims to be from the Department of Veterans Affairs. They may say your benefits are being reviewed, upgraded or suspended. Then they ask you to “verify” your information.

They may ask for your Social Security number, bank account details or date of birth. In many cases, they already have some of that information. They just need you to confirm the rest.

The VA does not call veterans out of the blue to ask for personal information. If you receive this kind of call, hang up. Then call the VA directly.

The DOJ charged a nationwide fraud ring that used VA impersonation calls to steal more than $7.6 million from veterans across 20 states. Prosecutors said the ring used purchased data lists to find targets. They also used scripts designed to sound like official government outreach.

TURNING 65? MONTH-BY-MONTH PLAN TO PROTECT YOURSELF

This one is slower and more sophisticated, plus it costs veterans far more.

A “financial advisor” or “veterans benefits consultant” contacts you (often through mail or a community event) and offers to help you maximize your VA pension or Aid and Attendance benefits. They charge upfront fees, sometimes $5,000 to $20,000, for “restructuring” your assets to qualify for benefits you may already be entitled to for free.

In many cases, the restructuring involves transferring assets in ways that trigger Medicaid penalties or leave veterans financially stranded.

The VA explicitly prohibits charging fees to help veterans file claims. Anyone who charges you for this service is, at a minimum, violating federal law and often committing outright fraud.

Veterans leaving the military can become prime targets for fraudulent schools. These schools may promise fast training, job placement or help using GI Bill benefits.

A May 2025 report from Veterans Education Success showed how serious the problem can get. In Texas, the Retail Ready Career Center defrauded the VA of $72 million in GI Bill funds. Its CEO was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison.

In Georgia, House of Prayer Bible College ran a $22 million fraud scheme against the VA for 11 years. Investigators said the school kept operating even after internal reports raised serious concerns.

In both cases, VA oversight failures allowed the fraud to continue for years. The lesson is simple. Predatory schools actively target veterans, and the safety nets have real holes.

If someone offers to help you “maximize” your GI Bill benefits for a fee, walk away. Then contact the VA directly before sharing any personal information.

A caller tells you the VA has approved you for a new grant, a cost-of-living adjustment, or a benefit you haven’t been receiving. To release the funds, they need your bank account information to “direct deposit” the payment.

There is no unclaimed VA grant that requires you to provide banking information to a caller. This is a bank account takeover scam dressed in patriotic language.

I know what you are thinking, “But I never signed up for any data broker sites.” You didn’t have to. Military records are public records. Property filings are public records. Court documents are public records. Your address on a VA mailing list can be pulled from localized government databases. Your social media profiles, even those you haven’t updated in years, are constantly indexed and scraped.

And the VA, like most government agencies, shares data with contractor systems that have their own security vulnerabilities. Once your information enters the data broker ecosystem, it gets bought and sold dozens of times legally. It appears on people-search sites, marketing lists, and “military consumer” segments sold directly to telemarketers and, as we’ve seen in federal prosecutions, to fraudsters. The only way to fight this is to actively remove your information.

You cannot stop every scammer from trying, but you can make it much harder for them to use your personal information against you.

Go to Spokeo.com, BeenVerified.com, Whitepages.com or even Google and type your name. See exactly what a scammer sees before they call. Pay attention to whether your address, relatives’ names, and phone numbers are listed. That’s your starting point.

Every major data broker is legally required to honor removal requests. The problem is that there are hundreds of them. Each one has its own opt-out process, and many re-list your information over time.

You can remove your information manually by visiting each data broker’s opt-out page. Start with the big people-search sites, then check again every few months to see whether your name, address, phone number or relatives have reappeared.

You can also use a reputable data removal service to handle the process for you. These services send removal requests to data brokers on your behalf and keep monitoring for reappearing listings.

That ongoing protection matters for families, too. The scam that starts with a search of your name can quickly turn into a call to an elderly parent or a text to an adult child. Protecting yourself helps, but protecting your household gives scammers fewer ways in.

You can also run a free exposure scan online to see where your personal information appears. Results often show whether your address, phone number, relatives or other details are already circulating on people-search sites.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com

The VA does not call you out of the blue to confirm your information, upgrade your benefits, or release a grant. If you get this call, hang up and call the VA directly at 1-800-827-1000.

 If your bank still uses “mother’s maiden name,” “city of birth,” or “branch of military service” as verification questions, those answers are probably on a data broker site right now. Switch to nonsense answers only you’d know and store them in a password manager.

Tell your family members that if anyone claims to be you in an emergency, you have a word that proves it. Scammers use panic to bypass critical thinking. A simple code word breaks that spell.

Report VA impersonation to the VA OIG at 1-800-488-8244. Report pension scams and fake benefits calls to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Your report helps investigators build cases against active fraud rings.

YOUR 401(K) IS THE NEW IDENTITY THEFT TARGET

The people who served this country deserve better than to spend their retirement watching out for criminals. Military discharge records, VA enrollment details and disability information can expose veterans in ways many families never realize. Scammers use that data to sound believable. They impersonate the VA, push fake benefit upgrades and run pension-poaching schemes that can drain savings fast. The VA will not call out of the blue to ask for personal information or banking details. If a call feels urgent, threatening or too good to be true, hang up. Then contact the VA directly. Removing your information from data broker sites can help reduce your exposure. However, it needs ongoing attention because personal details often reappear. That protection can matter even more for elderly relatives, spouses and family members who scammers may contact next. You served. You held up your end. Make sure the data economy does not turn that service into an opening for fraud. Search your name today. See what is out there. Then take steps to remove it. This Memorial Day, one of the best ways to honor veterans is to help make it harder for scammers to target them.

Should the VA, data brokers and lawmakers be doing more to keep veterans from becoming easy targets for scammers? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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Supreme Court Delivers Emergency Decision – It’s Finally Happening

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Supreme Court Delivers Emergency Decision – It’s Finally Happening

President Donald Trump scored another significant legal victory Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with his administration in a case challenging controversial Biden-era energy regulations that critics say would have reduced consumer choice and driven popular appliances out of the marketplace.

The ruling marks the latest setback for former President Joe Biden’s regulatory agenda and comes as the Trump administration continues working to roll back federal rules that conservatives argue placed unnecessary burdens on businesses and American consumers.

In *American Gas Association v. Department of Energy*, the Supreme Court vacated a lower court ruling that had upheld Biden administration regulations targeting non-condensing furnaces and commercial water heaters. The decision sends the case back for further review and opens the door for the Trump administration to pursue a different approach.

At the center of the dispute were Department of Energy efficiency standards that industry groups argued would effectively eliminate certain categories of gas-powered appliances by making compliance nearly impossible.

The American Gas Association and a coalition of trade organizations challenged the regulations, contending that the federal government had exceeded its authority and ignored statutory protections designed to preserve consumer choice.

Solicitor General John Sauer, representing the Trump administration, argued that federal law does not permit regulators to wipe out entire classes of products through aggressive efficiency mandates.

“The Department may not adopt standards that effectively eliminate from the market products that have distinct ‘performance characteristics,’” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in a brief to the high court.

The Supreme Court ultimately agreed that the lower court should reconsider its ruling, delivering an important win for businesses, manufacturers, and consumers who opposed the regulations.

The Trump administration has already indicated that it intends to revisit the rules entirely.

“The Department has determined that the rules at issue are factually and legally flawed, and the agency is considering a new rulemaking in which it would correct those errors,” Sauer wrote.

The decision represents another major blow to Biden’s environmental and energy agenda, which frequently sought to use federal agencies to push stricter efficiency standards across a broad range of household products and appliances.

The legal victory comes just days after Republicans in the House of Representatives approved legislation targeting another Biden-era regulation that became a symbol of government overreach for many Americans.

Lawmakers voted 226-197 to pass the Saving Homeowners from Overregulation with Exceptional Rinsing Act, commonly known as the SHOWER Act.

The legislation attracted support from 11 Democrats and aims to reverse restrictions affecting multi-nozzle shower systems.

Republicans argued that Biden administration regulations unnecessarily reduced water pressure by limiting the combined flow rate of multiple shower heads connected to a single fixture.

Representative Russell Fry of South Carolina, who introduced the legislation, framed the issue as one of personal freedom and consumer choice.

“Washington bureaucrats have gone too far in dictating what happens in Americans’ own homes,” said Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) who sponsored the legislation.

“This is about defending consumer choice, pushing back on regulatory overreach, and standing up for commonsense policy,” Fry added.

Supporters of the legislation argued that the rule reflected a broader pattern of federal agencies attempting to regulate everyday aspects of American life.

“It seems like the Democrats want to tax you out of existence and overregulate you,” said Rep. John McGuire (R-VA). “So, this is a step in the right direction. Less regulation.”

The SHOWER Act would permanently codify an executive order signed by President Trump that restored a more consumer-friendly interpretation of federal law. Under Trump’s order, each nozzle in a multi-head shower system is treated individually rather than having all nozzles combined under a single flow-rate limit.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie praised the legislation as a practical solution that returns decision-making power to consumers.

“By codifying how different nozzles are categorized, the SHOWER Act offers a commonsense fix that will allow households to choose what meets their needs, not what Washington mandates,” said Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Fry echoed those concerns and argued that the Biden administration’s approach had become a symbol of excessive federal interference.

He said, “The SHOWER Act reaffirms that each nozzle is a shower head — plain and simple — and that homeowners, not the federal government, should decide how much water pressure they want.”

Taken together, the Supreme Court’s ruling and the House vote represent major victories for President Trump’s broader effort to reduce federal regulations, expand consumer choice, and rein in what supporters view as years of bureaucratic overreach by Washington agencies.

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Trump Sends Haters Into Full Meltdown With Who He Brought To NBA Game

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Trump Sends Haters Into Full Meltdown With Who He Brought To NBA Game

President Donald Trump made a high-profile appearance Monday night at Madison Square Garden as the New York Knicks hosted Game 3 of the NBA Finals, bringing national attention to an already historic evening for New York City.

The Knicks entered the game with a commanding 2-0 series lead over the San Antonio Spurs and stood just two victories away from capturing their first NBA championship in decades. The matchup marked the first NBA Finals game played at Madison Square Garden since 1999, creating enormous excitement throughout the city.

Security around the arena was significantly heightened as President Trump attended the game alongside members of his administration, close advisers, and longtime allies. The increased security presence came just one day after six people were injured during a stabbing incident at nearby Penn Station, located directly beneath Madison Square Garden.

The president arrived to a packed arena and watched the game from a private suite alongside a number of prominent administration officials and advisers.

Among those reportedly attending with the president were:

Sec. Sean Duffy

Sec. Doug Burgum

Administrator Lee Zeldin

Deputy COS Dan Scavino

Jared Kushner

Envoy Steve Witkoff

Walt Nauta

Boris Epshteyn

Natalie Harp

The appearance highlighted Trump’s continued visibility on the national stage while also underscoring his deep connection to New York City, where he built his business career long before entering politics.

Meanwhile, as the president attended one of the biggest sporting events of the year, he continued drawing attention to another issue that has become a central focus of his administration: election integrity.

Trump has repeatedly criticized California’s election system as state officials continue counting ballots from last week’s primary elections. The prolonged counting process has reignited debate over election administration and voter confidence in the nation’s most populous state.

The controversy intensified after U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli disclosed that the Department of Justice has spent more than a year attempting to review California’s voter registration records.

“For over a year, the Department of Justice has been trying to audit California’s voter rolls,” Essayli said.

“Federal law gives the Attorney General the authority to review state voter files and confirm that only eligible U.S. citizens are voting in federal elections,” he added.

The dispute comes as California election officials continue processing large numbers of ballots days after polls closed. Unlike many states that report nearly complete election results within hours, California’s system routinely requires days or even weeks to finalize outcomes.

The lengthy process has fueled concerns among many voters who question why election results remain unresolved long after Election Day.

Essayli also highlighted several aspects of California’s voter registration policies that have attracted attention from federal officials.

Among the forms of identification accepted for certain voter registration purposes are gym membership cards, employer identification cards, credit and debit cards, prescription drug labels, and insurance cards.

Critics argue that such policies deserve closer scrutiny, while supporters maintain that safeguards are already in place to protect election integrity.

The issue has also renewed discussion surrounding the SAVE America Act, legislation supported by many Republicans that would establish nationwide proof-of-citizenship requirements for federal voter registration.

California officials continue to defend the state’s election system and insist that existing safeguards adequately protect the voting process. They also maintain that there is no evidence that widespread non-citizen voting has affected election outcomes.

Nevertheless, the Justice Department’s ongoing efforts suggest that federal scrutiny of California’s election practices is likely to continue in the months ahead.

As President Trump watched the Knicks pursue a championship before a national audience, the broader debate over election security, voter roll maintenance, and ballot-counting procedures remained front and center in American politics.

For the administration, both issues reflect themes that have become central to Trump’s presidency: public safety, government accountability, and restoring confidence in institutions that many Americans believe deserve greater transparency.

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Iran Makes Shocking Admission About Trump’s Strike On Ayatollah

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Iran Makes Shocking Admission About Trump’s Strike On Ayatollah

New details released by Iran’s own foreign minister are shedding light on the operation that eliminated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and reshaped the balance of power in the Middle East.

The account, offered by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a televised interview, provides one of the clearest descriptions yet of the strike that launched Operation Epic Fury. According to counterterrorism experts, the remarks serve as powerful evidence that the joint U.S.-Israeli operation was not designed to indiscriminately destroy an entire complex but instead to surgically target the leadership at the center of Iran’s regime.

Araghchi revealed that he survived the February 28 strike because he was located in a different section of Khamenei’s compound when the attack occurred.

“Well, the building we were sitting in was targeted, but the wing we were in remained intact while the other wing of the building was destroyed,” Araghchi said in an interview that aired June 4 on the Lebanon-based, Hezbollah-backed Al Mayadeen television network.

The revelation immediately drew attention from military analysts, who pointed to the extraordinary accuracy required to destroy one section of a heavily protected compound while leaving another standing.

According to Araghchi, Khamenei was in his office at the time of the attack. Other officials inside portions of the compound also survived because they were not located in the targeted area.

Dr. Omar Mohammed, a counterterrorism expert and director of the Antisemitism Research Initiative at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, said the description confirms what many military observers suspected from the beginning.

“In the Arabic version, Araghchi says he was in a different wing of the compound, briefing another official, and his wing survived while the leader’s office was destroyed,” Mohammed explained.

Araghchi also disclosed that he had arrived at the compound for a meeting related to negotiations in Geneva and indicated that Khamenei was expected to be present in his office according to standard procedures.

Based on those details, Mohammed argued that the operation demonstrated an unprecedented level of intelligence gathering and precision targeting.

“They did not flatten a building; they took one wing and left the one next to it standing. That is President Trump’s whole doctrine in a single strike — he does not want a war of occupation, he wants to show the United States can reach the center of a hostile regime with precision and then offer it a way out,” Mohammed said.

Military officials later confirmed that the strike involved Israeli aircraft employing dozens of precision-guided munitions alongside advanced air-launched ballistic missiles. The attack reportedly killed Khamenei, Defense Minister Amir Nasirzadeh, IRGC Commander Mohammed Pakpour, and several additional senior security officials.

President Trump later publicly acknowledged U.S. involvement in the operation.

“He was unable to avoid our intelligence and highly sophisticated tracking systems, and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he or the other leaders killed alongside him could do,” the president wrote.

Mohammed believes the strike sent a message that Tehran should have immediately understood.

“Iran was handed the clearest message an adversary can get — we can reach your leader in his own office, and here is the off-ramp,” Mohammed noted. “A rational state takes the exit. Tehran did the opposite. It fired on Israel, killed a civilian in Bahrain, struck Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and closed the Strait of Hormuz, setting off a global energy crisis. The surgical strike was American. The months-long war that followed was Iran’s choice.”

Following Khamenei’s death, leadership passed to his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, a transition that Mohammed believes revealed deeper contradictions within Iran’s political system.

“In Arabic, Araghchi calls the new leader ‘the young Khamenei in place of the elderly Khamenei.’ That is the language of a monarchy, not a republic of clerics,” Mohammed observed. “They are rewriting the theology on air to fit a son who lacks the religious rank, who was wounded in the same strike and who then vanished for weeks. A revolution that came to power by ending a monarchy is handing the throne from father to son.”

For many analysts, the operation has become a defining example of President Trump’s national security philosophy: use overwhelming precision to neutralize threats, avoid prolonged military occupations, and leave adversaries with a clear opportunity to de-escalate.

“The real story is not that Iran is strong,” Mohammed continued. “It was shown the precision of American power and the door was held open, and it chose to widen the war instead.”

Araghchi’s account appears to reinforce what American and Israeli officials have maintained from the start. The strike was not an act of indiscriminate destruction. It was a carefully planned operation aimed directly at the leadership of one of America’s most persistent adversaries, demonstrating both the reach and precision of modern U.S. military capabilities.

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