Most U.S. military veterans are unaware that they can get help to claim a new benefit, but fraudsters know only too well and are taking advantage of the knowledge gap.
The Department of Veterans Affairs says that the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, or the PACT Act, is "perhaps the largest health care and benefit expansion in VA history" and expands the list of presumptive conditions for which veterans can claim without having to prove their disability resulted from their military service.
Free assistance is available for claims, but two-thirds of veterans surveyed by AARP said they were not aware of this, leaving them open to criminals who are targeting potential claimants offering help with the process and promising lucrative benefits, a telltale sign of a scam.
“Our nation’s veterans should not have to worry about being exploited by financial predators,” said Troy Broussard, senior advisor for the AARP Veterans and Military Families Initiative and U.S. Army Desert Storm veteran. “Scammers have a playbook to get us into a heightened emotional state that gets in the way of our ability to think logically. Knowing about these specific scams makes it far less likely that anyone will engage with them.”
Around 5 million veterans of the Vietnam, Gulf War and Post-9/11 eras, and their survivors, exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances, are eligible to make a PACT Act claim.
The AARP poll found that scammers target veterans due to an assumption of steady income and benefits, frequent moves and deployments, and tight-knit culture that criminals can exploit to gain unwarranted trust.
Previous research from the nonprofit organization found that veterans/military adults are 40% more likely to lose money to scams and fraud than the civilian population.
Advisors can help their clients recognize veteran-specific frauds using tips from the AARP Fraud Watch Network:
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