Study: Veterans twice as likely to become scam victims, organizations teaming up to help

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – New research shows veterans are twice as likely as the general public to become scam victims. AARP found over the last five years, 16% of veterans lost money to a scam whereas only 8% of non-veterans did.

Now,  two big organizations are teaming up to try to stop that. AARP and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service just launched “Operation Protect Veterans.”

CBS 58’s Jessica Tighe spoke with AARP’s fraud expert to find out why veterans are more likely to become victims.

Veterans Day Scam Warning from CBS 58 News on Vimeo.

Flyers warning about scams are up in post offices across the country. One of those scams is the VA phishing scam where people pretending to be from the VA call veterans and say they need to update their records and get personal  information like bank account and social security numbers.

The other is “pension poaching” where scammers will call unsuspecting victims and offer a lump sum cash payment for the remainder of disability or pension benefits.