The Department of Veterans Affairs is warning its callers of a marketing scam that is targeting veterans, announced the Defense Department. The VA learned of a marketing company that had purchased two telephone numbers each off by one digit from the VA National Call Center and the GI Bill Center, according to a Dec. 6 release. If either number is dialed, “the answering party will offer a gift card and try to obtain personal and financial information, including credit card information from the caller,” wrote the VA in a recent Facebook post. The answering party may even transfer the caller to the VA after the caller’s information is obtained.” The VA asserts it “will never ask for credit card or banking information over the phone.”
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.