If not for Hero’s Bridge advocacy, our Army veteran may never have noticed his VA deposits had been redirected from his account to an unknown one.
Field Battle Buddy, Sean Hagerty, received an email stating the deposit account for a VA benefit pension had been changed. Hagerty received the email because Hero’s Bridge was listed as a contact for VA correspondence with the senior facility.
Fortunately, the deposit account change was made early enough in the month that no funds were redirected. But if not for the email, it may have taken months for our Army Veteran to notice. “He lives in an assisted living facility and only withdraws a minimal amount each month. Since he doesn’t have a computer, it could have taken a very long time for him to notice the missing money,” he said.
After several hours on the phone with the VA, the deposits were redirected to the correct account, all mailing addresses were changed, and security passwords were built into the profile to deter this from happening again. Finally, a fraud alert with the VA was filed.
Hagerty alerted the local sheriff’s department and expects the perpetrator to be identified in short order.