A military advocacy group has issued warnings about scams targeting the military community after fraud led to a lost $684 million in 2025.
Kevin Lilley, a senior digital content manager at the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), said in a video published online that a scam targeting veterans and military members involves nefarious actors posing as people offering credit-monitoring services.
The new scam, he said, involved scammers telling those in the military community that they can protect them from other scams. But, they do just the opposite and take the service member’s information and use it to take out lines of credit or loans in a service member’s name.
He said military members should not respond to unsolicited emails or texts. He also cautioned against communications asking service members to “act quickly.”
“If you’re being asked to act quickly, it’s probably a scammer trying to keep you from doing your research,” Lilley said.
Rise of Scams Targeting Veterans
It comes amid rising concerns about scammers targeting veterans.
Citing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data, Lilley said that military members, veterans and military families reported losing $684 million to fraud in 2025.
“The military community is at higher risk of fraud of all types,” he said.
According to a 2025 survey by AARP Research, 39% of veterans had been solicited by someone claiming to represent the VA or another government agency. Another 28% believed their veteran status made them a target.
More than a quarter said they had lost money to fraud, with most losing over $500.
AARP also found veterans are more likely than non-veterans to receive repeated robocalls, phishing attempts, and fraudulent “benefit assistance” offers that exploit their service background and access to federal programs.
To combat issues like these, the VA joined eight federal partners in August 2024 to launch VSAFE.gov, which came with a companion hotline at 1-833-38V-SAFE. Veterans can also file a report at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
Meanwhile, last month, the federal government issued guidance to veterans to help them avoid scammers who target recipients of benefit schemes.
In a memo posted by the FTC, the agency warned veterans against those posing as staff from the VA, seizing veterans’ money and data and providing them with go-to red flags to ascertain real VA staffers from scammers.
“Scammers know that applying for veterans benefits is at the top of the to-do list when you’re getting ready to leave the military,” said the memo, published Monday. “That’s why they pretend to be with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and offer to help you apply for benefits if you pay them, even though it’s free to apply with the VA.”
Read the full article here