8/21/2024
VA’s New Website/Call Center to Protect Veterans from Fraud
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs has 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 are designed to 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 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 the VA is delivering more care and more benefits to more veterans than ever before under the PACT Act. This influx of new benefits may make veterans, service members, and families targets for bad actors.
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.
The 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 state, county, or tribal veterans service officers.
The 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, the 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.
Article Credit: SD Dept. of Veterans Affairs
