Identity Theft Used to Lure Veterans into Telephone Scam

Fraudsters will go to no end in order to trick people out of their money. Now they are using the "fear" of identity theft to lure veterans into paying $9.99 a minute for "identity theft services."

KATU in Portland Oregon is reporting:

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is warning all veterans of a telephone scam regarding the recent data loss by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Kevin Doyle, a V.A. Police Operations Team Leader, says the scam works like this: The caller talks the veterans into believing that they have a resource to assist them with the lost veteran data.

The veteran is talked into calling a 1-800 number. Once the veteran calls the 1-800 number, the veteran is directed to call a 1-900 number. That is when the vet incurs a $9.99 per-minute charge.

Link to story, here.

900 numbers always cost, most telephone companies have 900 blocking - which is a good thing to have - especially if you have children.

I went to the VA website to see if there was any additional information, but couldn't find anything yet.

I did find another recent alert warning about a "telephone scam," where a company called "Paitent Care Group" is calling veterans and asking for a credit card number so they can have their prescriptions filled.

Link to VA alert, here.

To protect yourself from this - never give out any information when solicited by an unknown source. Before telling them anything of a personal nature - verify who you are communicating with a third party means - such as a telephone directory.