On Wednesday, May 3, a laptop computer was stolen from a home in the Washington, DC suburbs. The repercussions are being felt locally. The connection: the computer contained data on 26.5 million military veterans, including some in Lake County.
On Monday, May 22, the Veterans Administration publicly admitted the data loss, which they said included birth dates and Social Security numbers. They also said the data didn”t include any veterans prior to 1976, and that there was no evidence the data had been used fraudulently.
On Friday, June 2, Vietnam Veterans of America National President John Rowan addressed the VVA California State Convention in San Jose on this issue. He noted there were only 24 million living veterans, and mentioned that disability codes, home addresses and spouse”s names were also included in the loss. He recounted that when he contacted the Veterans Administration, he was told every veteran should individually contact the Social Security Administration. His reply was that Veterans Administration had made the mistake and VA should contact Social Security.
He then pledged that Vietnam Veterans of America would sue under the Privacy Act. “Not that we think we”ll get any money,” he said, “but we want to know just what the hell they were doing. They had no apparent need for some of that information.”
Disability codes are crucial for veterans” disability compensation. There can be no conceivable need for the Veterans Administration to have home addresses and spouse”s names.
The same weekend, the VA admitted data on 50,000 active duty service people was included in the loss. By Tuesday, June 6, after comparing data bases with other agencies, they had amended that to admit the data loss of 2.2 million 9 80 percent 9 of all personnel presently serving. June 6 was also when veterans began to receive official notice by mail of the data loss. It was also the day Vietnam Veterans of America filed its suit.
During the week of Monday, June 5 through Friday, June 9, the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers held a training session in Reno. Lake County Veterans Service Representative Robert Penny attended. He reports that two attendees had suffered recent financial loss and that a Veterans Administration representative promised to investigate.
Another local veterans representative states that two local veterans have recently lost $3,000 apiece. One of the victimized veterans served before 1976.
On Wednesday, June 21, the Veterans Administration announced it would provide free credit monitoring for a year to affected veterans who requested it. This service will be available once the VA completes the bidding process for contracting out the monitoring. The VA will then send affected veterans an application to fill out.
In the meantime, veterans can monitor their own credit. President Dean Gotham and Margaret “Peg” McCown described the process at the June meeting of Lake County Chapter 951 of Vietnam Veterans of America.
Her first point was, don”t just sit back and wait for the bank statement. If you do, you won”t learn about your loss until the month after it happens. Although scrutinizing your bank and credit card statements is helpful, question any suspicious financial activity immediately upon noticing it.
First, close any accounts that have been tampered with, or opened fraudulently by the thief.
Second, the veteran can take preventive measures by calling the three major credit bureaus. All the phone numbers are toll free: TransUnion”s number is (800) 680-7289; Experian”s is (888) 397-3742; Equifax”s number is (800) 525-6285.
Once in contact, the veteran will be walked through the process of reporting a potential identity theft. McCown said it took her about 15 minutes.
Besides reporting identity theft, a veteran may want to request a credit freeze. A credit freeze is exactly what it sounds like; it freezes all credit transactions until the creditor lifts the freeze. While this is a theft preventative, it also deprives the creditor from opening new credit lines. However, it does not freeze existing credit.
Third, file a police report with your local police department and/or with the police department where the fraud took place.
Fourth, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Their toll free number is (877) 438-4338. Online, they are at www.consumer.gov/idtheft. Their mail address is Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580.
Meanwhile, as this is written, the stolen laptop has been recovered. Perhaps the Veterans Administration can now ascertain exactly whose identities have been compromised and which data was lost. Until that happens, and the credit monitoring kicks in, it”s strictly creditor beware.
Editor”s Note: George Dorner is a member of Vietnam Veterans of America, Lake County Chapter No. 951.
