WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Biden-Harris Administration announced the launch of VSAFE.gov and 1-833-38V-SAFE (1-833-388-7233) — a new government-wide website and call center designed to protect Veterans, service members, and their families from fraud and scams.
These new resources will help inform Veterans and their families of common fraud schemes, give them tools to protect themselves, and provide an outlet for reporting and further assistance. Launched as part of the White House VSAFE (Veterans, Servicemembers, and Families Fraud Evasion) interagency Policy Council effort, the call center and website combine resources from the Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of State, Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, and the Office of Management & Budget to ensure that there is no “wrong door” approach for Veterans and service members to access reporting tools and resources to combat fraud.
Fraud prevention resources are particularly critical at a time when VA is delivering more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before under the PACT Act, which was signed into law by President Biden two years ago tomorrow. This influx of new benefits may make Veterans, service members, and families targets for bad actors. VA and the entire Biden-Harris Administration are laser-focused on getting these heroes the tools they need to avoid fraud and scams.
“This new call center and website are a one-stop-shop for Veterans, service members, and their families to help avoid fraud and scams,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “We know that more Veterans than ever before are now receiving VA benefits, which sadly means that more bad actors are trying to steal those benefits. That’s why we’re launching these tools: to give these heroes every tool at the federal government’s disposal to protect themselves and their families.”
“Predatory actors are constantly looking for new ways to exploit new and evolving technologies to target service members, compromising their personal data and financial stability as well as their military readiness,” said Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra. “The VSAFE initiative is a key component of a whole-of-government collaboration to protect veterans from fraudsters and scammers, and the CFPB is committed to working with our partners in this important effort.”
“Under President Biden, the Department of Education has taken seriously its role in preventing and responding to scams and fraud targeting servicemembers, veterans, and their families in the federal student aid programs. We have stepped up enforcement efforts, expanded partnerships with other state and federal agencies, and issued a number of new regulations—including closing the 90/10 loophole that encouraged predatory colleges to target veterans and servicemembers. Today, we are pleased to join the White House and other partner agencies across the federal government in standing up a new central hub for servicemembers and veterans to report fraud and connect with the proper agency to assist them,” said Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal.
“The White House’s scam and fraud evasion campaign has provided the Department of Defense an opportunity to connect with twenty-six federal agencies to coordinate, collaborate and create long term partnerships to identify and prevent scams and fraud. The comprehensive website and toll-free helpline will provide centralized, vetted, information from across the Federal government for Service members, veterans and their families,” said Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Ashish Vazirani.
“This initiative will bring together the expertise from across the federal government in support of veterans, service members, and their families. The FCC is proud to be a part of this important work to combat fraud that too often targets these households,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “To that end, the FCC continues to work with its federal partners to protect veterans, service members, and their families from scammers pushing misleading ‘debt relief’ robocalls. We have put these bad actors on notice that they can’t target people with this junk and take advantage of their efforts to build a better financial future for themselves.”
“The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ establishment of this essential website and hotline is a proactive measure to help protect veterans, service members, their families, and consumers alike from vicious scams. These centralized resources will help consumers better safeguard their assets, obtain accurate information, and report fraud,” said Acting Social Security Administration Inspector General Michelle Anderson. “In collaboration with SSA, the Office of the Inspector General is excited support this initiative and collaborate across government, as we have successfully done with our Slam the Scam Day initiative over the last five years. We know firsthand that partnerships exponentially increase public awareness and significantly help to combat scams and fraud.”
“The FTC stands shoulder to shoulder with its sister agencies, fully committed to serving veterans, servicemembers, and their families. Protecting military consumers from fraud and other illegal practices has long been a priority for the Commission — from cases like Harris Jewelry and Career Step, to rulemakings to address scams and illegal business practices that target those who serve our nation, to data analysis of military reports to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel, to our education and outreach work at MilitaryConsumer.gov and co-leading Military Consumer Month with DoD’s Office of Financial Readiness and the CFPB’s Office of Servicemember Affairs. We’re proud of the Agency’s work with our VSAFE partners. By collaborating to create a centralized hub for fraud prevention resources, we’re ensuring veterans, servicemembers, their families, caregivers, and survivors get the access to the help they need right when they need it. We look forward to these efforts deepening the ability of all member agencies to better serve the military community,” said FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine.
“The Internal Revenue Service is proud to partner with other agencies to help veterans and their families impacted by fraud or identity theft. Making it easier for those who have served and sacrificed is the right thing to do. We look forward to the ongoing collaboration and partnership,” said IRS Taxpayer Services Chief Ken Corbin.
Key new resources include:
Launching a centralized website for support and reporting: VSAFE.gov is a fraud prevention, response, and reporting information hub. Information from across federal agencies can be accessed in one place, making it easy for Veterans, service members, and their families to find out more about different kinds of fraud, to get assistance, and to report.
Opening a centralized call line for Veteran and service member complaints: VSAFE is standing up a single shared call line, 833-38V-SAFE, to aid in the “no wrong door” approach. Veterans, service members, and their families and survivors can call one single number to get help with fraud, scam, and predatory practice related concerns. Depending on the kind of issue facing the caller, callers will be routed to the correct federal agency to address their specific concerns.
Creating common call center training materials to ensure Veterans and service members are routed to the relevant agency no matter which federal agency they initially call: Even if individuals do not utilize the centralized call line, all VSAFE agency fraud call centers have been trained to connect callers to the best agency to handle their report and provide help. These coordinated responses are guided by joint reference materials utilized by agency representatives. This approach minimizes confusion, and gets Veterans, service members, and their family members routed to the best support as effectively and efficiently as possible.
VA encourages Veterans, transitioning service members, and their families to remember they do not need to pay anything to apply for VA health care or benefits. Instead, at no cost, they can safely apply directly with VA through VA.gov or with a VA-accredited service representative.
This is just one component of the government-wide effort to protect Veterans from fraud. VA is also launching a strategic communications campaign to spread awareness of the rising threat of claims predators and conduct outreach to Veterans, and their family members, caregivers, and survivors in order to equip them with information and guidance to protect their earned benefits. Additionally, VA is sending cease and desist letters to predatory actors, conducting public outreach to educate Veterans about the risks, launching this new one-stop-shop resource page for Veterans, creating a Veteran fraud protection resource kit, and much more.
All Veterans, service members, and their families are encouraged to visit VSAFE.gov to learn more and what to do if experiencing fraud.
