GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – As Veterans will be honored this Veterans Day, scammers are going to great lengths to target their money and benefits.
Veteran scams are common this time of year.
Susan Bach of the Better Busines Bureau of Northeast Wisconsin says scams come in multiple forms, including scamming those who are trying to help Veterans.
“They donate to them thinking that they are going to donate to a good cause and help Veterans, when in fact they are not reputable charities.”
Bach says it is important to know who you are donating to before you send the money off.
“There are a lot of charities out there that we just consider to be copycat charities and they are just taking advantage of the word Veteran.”
Examples of scams that have been identified are:
Expensive Life Insurance Policies: Members of the military are often targets. Solicitors will make false statements regarding the benefits of their policies.
VA Phising: Someone calls or emails the Veteran claiming to be from the Department of Veterans Affairs. They claim to be reaching out to update information in their files. They claim they need social security numbers, bank account numbers and other personal information for the purpose of identity theft.
Fake Charities: They have real-sounding names and have the purpose of swindling good people looking to help Veterans.
The BBB says you should look for Copycats that have similar names to other organizations, Vague descriptions, and aggressive telemarketers.
The BBB offers a couple of sites to research the charity before sending money.
“It will tell you how it rates compared to our 20 standards of charity accountability.”
They are www.give.org and www.charitynavigator.org
