Memorial Day is a time to honor veterans and active duty military for their service to our country. Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is alerting soldiers, veterans and their families to scams tied to or targeting the military.

“We can never give veterans and active soldiers enough thanks for their service,” said Kim States, BBB President. “Unfortunately, scammers also take advantage of soldiers who are being deployed. Some scammers wrap their scams in patriotic themes designed to play on Americans’ debt of gratitude to veterans.”

Some common scams that target military personnel include:

• High-priced military loans – Purveyors of loans may make guarantees, promise instant approval or say their loans are available without credit checks. But the loans often include hidden fees or extremely high interest rates. Legitimate lenders will not guarantee a loan before you apply. Loans that require upfront fees are usually scams.
• Veterans’ benefits buyout plans – Cash payments may be offered in exchange for a disabled veteran’s future benefits or pension payments. However, the cash is just 30 to 40 percent of what the veteran is entitled to. Buyout plans can be structured in different ways, so research thoroughly before signing anything over.
• Fake rental properties – Stolen photos of legitimate rental properties may be used in ads that promise military discounts or other incentives. Service members must pay security payments or fees via wire transfer to obtain a key. In the end, they receive nothing.
• Phony jury duty summons – A caller clams to work for the local court system and states that the service member did not show up for jury duty and now has a warrant out for their arrest. When the victim says they never got a summons, the caller will ask for a credit card number or Social Security number to clear up the matter.
• Misleading car sales – Websites posting classified ads will offer false discounts for military personnel or claim to be from soldiers who need to sell their vehicle fast since they are being deployed.  Fees will be required via wire transfer. Then there’s either no car or the vehicle will have problems after purchase.
• Expensive life insurance policies – Members of the military often are targets of high-pressure sales pitches that offer unnecessary, expensive life insurance policies. Solicitors may make false statements regarding the benefits that these policies offer.

BBB advice for veterans, military or other consumers includes:

• Do your research. Get as much information as you can about a business or charity before you pay. Check out a business’ BBB Business Review or a charity’s Charity Review at www.bbb.org.
• Don’t wire transfer money to anyone you don’t know. Money sent via wire transfer is practically impossible to track. Pay by credit card whenever possible, since you can dispute charges easily.
• Protect your computer. Don’t click on links within unsolicited emails. Don’t enter personal information on unfamiliar websites. Make sure that you have updated anti-virus software installed and use a firewall at all times.
• Put an “active duty” alert on your credit reports when deployed. Doing so will minimize the risk of identity theft because creditors and businesses cannot issue or grant credit until they verify identity.

As University of Arizona students prepare to head back to campus next week, fighting fraud may not be at the top of their list of priorities. College students are susceptible to identity theft, however, and Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona recommends that they take seven simple steps to protect themselves on campus.

“Identity thieves don’t care if you’re a struggling student and don’t have a penny to your name,” said Kim States, BBB President. “Sometimes all they want is to exploit your clean credit record. By establishing good habits for monitoring and detecting fraud, students can lay a path for healthy financial practices for the rest of their lives.”

Last year, 8.1 million American adults became victims of ID theft, with losses totaling $37 billion, according to a report from Javelin Strategy and Research. Young adults aged 18-24 are among the last to detect identity theft when compared to other age groups. It took them 132 days on average to spot it, and their average loss was roughly five times more than the amount lost by other age groups.

BBB recommends that college-bound students take the following seven steps to fight identity theft on campus:

• Send sensitive mail to your parents’ home or a post office box. School mailboxes are not always secure and often can be accessed easily in a dorm or apartment.
• Important documents should be stored under lock and key. This includes your Social Security card, passport and bank and credit card statements. Shred credit card offers and any paper documents that have sensitive financial information rather than just tossing them out.
• Never lend your credit or debit card to anyone. Just say no if your friend wants to borrow your card or asks you to co-sign for a loan or financing for items like a TV.
• Make sure your computer has up-to-date antivirus and spyware software. Always (more…)

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray announced Friday that a nationwide arrest warrant for identity fraud has been issued for the man claiming to be “Bobby Thompson,” director of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association (USNVA), a supposed charity based in Florida.

The charity- which according to Cordray has raised “tens of millions of dollars” in the past 7 years- is registered with the Arizona Department of State to solicit donations in Arizona, although BBB does not yet know how much money has been raised from Arizona consumers.

“Thompson” disappeared in June amid a growing number of state investigations into the organization’s fundraising and spending, including revelations that the man who appears to have orchestrated this sham charity made hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions to candidates throughout the United States.

“Our investigators have determined that this individual stole the identity of someone else and used that as the centerpiece of an apparent scam that has continued for seven years and involved tens of millions of dollars,” Cordray said. “The real Bobby Thompson, whose identity was stolen, including his Social Security number and date of birth, has absolutely no connection to the U.S. Navy Veterans Association. We don’t know who this individual is yet, but we do know that he is not Bobby Thompson.”

The Ohio arrest warrant is based on evidence that “Thompson” used a false identity in the process of renting a UPS mailbox in Cincinnati in 2003. The mailbox was used as a collection point for donations to the charity.

On May 28, Cordray ordered the USNVA to stop contacting Ohio residents for contributions after determining that the group’s registration documents were plagued with irregularities. Those documents contain false and misleading information, including the names of association officers who also appear to be fictional.

In recent weeks, the Charitable Law section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office has obtained court orders freezing the Ohio bank accounts of the USNVA as well as the organization’s UPS mailboxes in Hamilton and Fairfield counties.

There appears to be very little evidence that the organization spent money actually helping veterans or their families. Yet public records do show hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions to various candidates made by “Bobby Thompson” personally or through the political action committee he created and to which he was the sole contributor, NAVPAC.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, USNVA raised $99.6 million between 2009 and 2002, when the organization was granted tax-exempt status by the IRS. When asked to confirm the St. Petersburg Times number, a spokesperson from the Ohio States Attorney General’s Office said they haven’t finished an independent review of all of USVNA’s tax filings, but they have “no reason to doubt the newspaper’s numbers.”

In its tax filings, the organization reports an Arizona branch office located at 122 N 2^nd St. #A-407, in Phoenix. A phone call placed by BBB to the USNVA’s Arizona office was not immediately returned.

Anyone with information about this individual or his whereabouts is asked to contact the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation at (740) 845-2224 or (800) 282-3784.

If you live in Arizona and have donated to USNVA in the past, please contact the Arizona Attorney General’s Office at (800)352-8431 or www.azag.gov.

If located and arrested outside of Ohio, the Ohio Attorney General’s office will pursue extradition proceedings to have this individual returned to Ohio.

Copies of the arrest warrant, of “Bobby Thompson” and additional background materials are available at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/USNavyVetsMaterials.