January News Letter 2016

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Judith E. Bell. Scam National Veterans Services. Digital image. Flicker. N.p., 15 Aug. 2014. Web.Access Date 26 Aug. 2015.https://www.flickr.com/photos/jhandbell/14741147759.

Spotting Veterans Fundraising Scams

It seems like everywhere you look these days, there’s a sketchy character with a sub-regulation haircut and 5 o’clock shadow and standing on a median at a traffic light, carrying a bucket of cash, and wearing ACUs with patches removed and usually the wrong kind of boots.

They’ll say they’re collecting money for veteran’s organizations and charities. I’ve never given them a cent, and it turns out my suspicions may have been justified:

Acting on a tip earlier this month, law enforcement traced a suspect to a bar in Portland, Oregon. He was wanted in Ohio for embezzling up to $100 million in charitable donations, which he collected primarily from Navy veterans. The scam is an old one: Analysts refer to it as “affinity fraud.” This is a common form of fraud in which the criminal gains the victims’ trust by exploiting supposed commonalities – a shared racial, ethnic or religious heritage, membership in the same church, or in this case, an affiliation with the military and veterans.

Bobby Thompson – an alias (authorities still aren’t certain of the suspect’s real name), is accused of stealing millions in small contributions, mostly to the U.S. Navy Veteran’s Association, a legitimate charity in Tampa, Florida. The alleged crime spanned some 40 states. Donors thought their donations – often from $5 to $50 – were going to help needy veterans. Instead, prosecutors say, they simply lined Thompson’s pockets.

Veterans Affinity Fraud

Veterans tend to trust other veterans over just about anyone else. And most of us live up to that trust. In some cases, however, veterans are hired as sales representatives, specifically to gain the trust of other veterans. These recently retired officers and NCOs then go back to their former colleagues and leverage the trust and bond others have with them to form business relationships. In 99.9 percent of the cases, there is no fraud going on. Other times, there is, but the veteran may not be in on the game. Perhaps he just used his own influence to gather other veterans together in a seminar, and then turned it over to a guest speaker.

In other cases, the veteran is in on the scam.

And in still other cases, the con-man is lying about being a veteran.

The tragedy is this: So many legitimate veterans support organizations are doing terrific work in many niches. The criminals make it much more difficult for the legitimate operators to raise the much needed money for these charities to function.

Fraud Prevention

There are really two levels of fraud you have to worry about: The first is agent-level fraud. This occurs when you have a legitimate charity that hired a bad, dishonest agent or representative. The agent then pockets some or all cash donations, and may launder other donations or misdirect them to his own bank account.

In other cases, the whole organization may be corrupt. You can have a hard-working, honest representative, but the charity’s executive director may be corrupt or incompetent. She could be stealing money from the organization, or she may be a weak executive who has failed to implement the necessary accounting controls within the organization.

To guard against agent-level fraud, give directly to the organizations, rather than via an agent, if at all possible. For example, a credit card donation on a secure website of a reputable and well-known charity is better and safer than a cash donation, handed to an agent you may barely even know.

http://links.gecweb.mkt6426.com/ctt?kn=6&ms=MjQ1MTc3NzQS1&r=NzU1MzkwMDU2OTUS1&b=0&j=NzIyNzU1MTYzS0&mt=1&rt=0

To guard against organizational fraud, stick to charities you are already familiar with – particularly agencies whose effective work you’ve seen first-hand.

You can also use CharityNavigator.com, an online resource for investigating and evaluating charity organizations.

A few other tips:

- Don’t give directly to a telethon or other pitch that involves a middleman or intermediary. A significant portion of your donation will go to the cost of the event or fundraising drive itself. Instead, do your own investigation, and give directly.

- Be careful of charities with names that sound very close, but not quite alike. Unscrupulous people will attempt to exploit donor confusion by naming themselves very similarly to established and reputable charities.

- Verify the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status of charitable organizations independently.

- Compare executive compensation to the mission. Executive director salaries at the average charity that CharityNavigator.com tracks exceeds $150,000 per year. In some cases, large charities can warrant paying a capable and experienced executive competitively with the private sector. A huge salary for the director of a small and/or inefficient charity should be a yellow flag – your money may be better donated elsewhere.

Contributed by Jason Van Steenwyk

Flag and Stethoscope. Digital image. The American Legion. Veterans Benefit Center, 08 Aug. 2013. Web.Access Date 26 Aug. 2015.http://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/216824/veterans-eligible-retroactive-benefits.

VA's "Fully-Developed Claim" Program Allows for Retroactive Payment of Disability Benefits

Much has been made of the stubborn backlog of benefits claims at the Veterans Administration. When a veteran submits an incomplete claim, the clock starts ticking, and keeps ticking even if the documentation the veteran submitted is incomplete and the VA claims processor has to send it back with a request for additional information.

The VA is now addressing this with a new incentive program: For original claims submitted between August 6th, 2013 and August 5th, 2015, the VA is paying a higher benefit to those who do the paperwork right the first time.

The bonus compensation does not apply to “supplemental” claims; that is, to claims submitted by veterans already receiving benefits because their medical condition or disability status has changed.

Under the VA’s Fully-Developed Claim Program, however, veterans who have all their ducks in a row when they do initiate a claim may qualify for up to one year retroactive disability benefits – going back to the date they submitted that fully-developed claim.

Furthermore, the VA, to its credit, has developed a system to make it much easier for veterans to file fully-documented new claims:

- Log onto eBenefits at www.eBenefits.va.gov

- Click on Apply for Benefits.

- Click Apply for Disability Compensation.

- Answer the questions about you claim.

- To preserve the date in the system, click SAVE and Continue. This establishes the day from which the VA may be able to pay you retroactively if your claim is approved.

You have one year from the start date to gather your evidence and submit your claim. The VA will not process your claim until you hit Submit.

You should be prepared to tell the VA the following information:

- Where you have been treated at VA medical facilities and when.

- Whether you receive Social Security (SSI) benefits for a service-related condition or disability.

- Where your treatment records or DoD personnel records are located. However, if you have these records, submit them yourself.

Also, gather up all relevant records of private treatment. If you are in the Reserve Component (National Guard or Reserves), you must also identify and submit all relevant private medical treatment records.

You should also submit supporting statements of family, friends, clergy, medical professionals, etc., if you don’t believe the incident resulting in your disability is recorded in your records.

Scan all your documents, and, in the eBenefits section of the VA website, select Upload Documents, then Manage Files. From here, you can upload the documents you scanned into the VA system.

The VA recommends that you have a Veterans Service Officer, or VSO, review your application for completion. Once you have everything uploaded, you can let a VSO look at your file and advise you on anything missing that could delay or endanger your claim.

The National Care Planning Council – not a federal agency – maintains a listing of state and county Veterans Services Officers here.

Once you have had a VSO look at your claim – or you have elected not to appoint a VSO, click No More Evidence and Submit.

A more detailed checklist is available here.

Again, once you initiate your claim via the Fully Developed Claim program, you have a year to complete it. If your claim is successful, the VA will pay benefits retroactively to the date you initiated your claim.

For more information, see this brochure published by the VA.

2016 Printed Handbooks Coming Soon!

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