Veterans warned of wrong number dialed for VA

Marketers Using Bogus VA Numbers to Target Vets
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Nov 25, 2013

The chief policy officer with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America called a marketing company's use of phone numbers closely matching Department of Veterans Affairs' national call centers a "disgusting" example of people looking to prey on the country's veterans.

"These people should be in jail," Tom Tarantino said.

Veterans reaching the bogus numbers by accident are "trying to get help or trying to manage their benefits and services. It's frustrating enough to deal with VA's actual call centers, but then to be preyed on by unscrupulous marking firms -- It's disgusting," Tarantino said.

The VA issued warnings through emails and social media late last week that veterans trying to reach the VA's National Call Center or the GI Bill Call Center risked connecting to two fraudulent numbers differing from the legitimate numbers by a single digit.

"If the fraudulent number is dialed by mistake, the answering party will offer a gift card and try to obtain personal and financial information, including credit card information, from the caller," the VA said in its Facebook posting. "The answering party may even transfer the caller to the VA after the caller's information is obtained."
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