By: Helen Galván, Chairwoman, American GI Forum of California Women
Veterans defended our freedom. We need to defend their finances.
Almost 100,000. That’s an estimated number of scams targeting military service members, veterans, and their families reported to the Federal Trade Commission last year.
$584 million. That’s how much these scams cost — in 2024 alone. Hundreds of millions of dollars from our nation’s veterans and service members whose hard-earned savings, pensions, retirement funds, and 401(k)s have been siphoned off by criminals who prey on them.
These statistics are deeply concerning and should give us all pause. The victims are heroes — men and women who have worn the uniform, served our country, and are now being targeted by scammers who exploit their benefits, bond of service, and sense of duty.
Scammers and fraudsters frequently pose as affiliates of the military to gain the trust of their targets, steal their private information, and cause financial harm.
At the American GI Forum, where I serve as a chairwoman and board member, we’ve seen firsthand how devastating these scams can be for military families. Service members and veterans are often considered prime targets for sophisticated and malicious scams. Access to government resources and benefits makes the military a vulnerable group to scammers, but these criminals also count on exploiting the trust shared among those with military ties.
According to data from AARP, nearly nine in ten service members and veterans report encountering at least one service-related scam in the past year. These cold-hearted schemes are varied and often hard to identify before it’s too late. From imposter to charity scams, criminals often create fake identities and make phony appeals to their targets – asking for donations to fake military causes, or presenting veterans with unsubstantiated post-service job opportunities. These criminals often exploit veterans by taking advantage of their vulnerability during the difficult transition to civilian life.
For even the most digitally savvy, these scams can still be deceptively convincing – particularly if families are navigating deployments and cross-country relocations. But for the senior generation of veterans who grew up answering every phone call, these coordinated crimes can be especially devastating. Scammers anticipate seniors may be more inclined to take their calls and are targeting senior veterans, posing as “financial planners” or “veterans’ advocates” to exploit their trust and manipulate them into giving up part or all of their veterans’ benefits. This needs to be addressed.
Thankfully, it seems like our policymakers are beginning to pay attention. Just last month, California Attorney General Bonta issued a consumer alert with guidance on protecting California servicemembers, veterans, and their families from scams. It’s heartening to see this issue getting the attention it deserves, but this alone is unlikely to resolve the problem.
If our lawmakers are serious about protecting veterans, they need to address the source: the criminals making substantial profits by targeting them and the digital platforms where they operate. According to an FTC report, the more often someone is targeted, the more likely they are to eventually lower their guard and lose money. The best way to protect our veterans is to focus on stopping scams at the source on online platforms and ensure stronger prosecution of the criminals involved.
This starts by focusing on social media platforms and telecommunications companies, where many of these scams are known to originate. Big Tech and telecom companies could be doing more to rein in the criminals running rampant on their pages and systems.
Earlier this year, a bipartisan coalition of 51 state attorneys general sent a letter to nine telecom companies urging them to do more to protect consumers from predatory robocalls used to scam unsuspecting individuals. This letter was followed by 42 attorneys general calling on Meta to take further steps in vetting scam content and advertisements on its platform. These are important steps – ones that our lawmakers must continue to build upon to hold these platforms and companies accountable.
A necessary second step is ensuring our law enforcement officers have the support they need to stop scammers before they act – including additional resources to pursue these criminals directly. In fact, a recent grand jury report in Sacramento County found that 97 percent of financial elder abuse cases remain unaddressed, due in large part to a lack of funding and staffing issues for local law enforcement. Scams require specialized investigation and prosecution tools; law enforcement agencies must have adequate funding to identify patterns, ensure proper staffing, and raise community awareness in an effort to shut scammers down before they strike.
Veteran scams are a growing crisis, and it’s clear our legislators are eager to do more to address the issue. To create real change, they need to focus on prevention before scams even occur by holding social media and telecom companies accountable and dedicating more resources to law enforcement.
Our veterans protected us. Now, it’s time for us to protect them.
