For Vets and anyone who knows a vet

[Vrede too]

I don't really see the logic here. At worst, it's an out-of-date warning,

An out-of-date scam warning ain't a warning. Scams change.

but everthing about it otherwise seems legit to me.

You or someone else stuck "August 30, 2019" on it, which is a lie.

How could warning veterans about such calls be a bad thing? However, you do have a point in that I should have spotted that 2016 date, so it's not (necessarily) a CURRENT scam.

But I think you're implying that the purpose of this warning is to get unwary vets to click on the link at the bottom, where they will go to the original site and ... what?

They want to send "marketing emails" to you. Idk what other purposes they may have.

Do you have any reason to believe this organization is phoney? It's definitely a commercial site, like websites which advise young people on how to pass college-entrance exams and apply for college, ie not a charity and not a government site, but a quick look at the site doesn't seem to show anything sinister ... and lots of their information looks useful.

Any search program can add "useful" information that contains "veteran".

But if you have reason to think otherwise, for sure tell me! And I'll go to the other places I've posted this and warn everyone about this site. So what's your evidence?

I told you above in detail, don't embarrass us both by making me repeat it.

One reason I have to think this is legit is that it was sent to me by a veteran friend of mine who is very active in veterans' affairs, and who hates the phonies who try to exploit vets. For instance, here's a link from a post I got from him a year or so ago:
https://publicintegrity.org/2018/04/18/ ... ns-charity

Irrelevant to whether he was duped this time.

As for the misspelling. So what? It's true that when you get emails with very poor English and lots of misspelling, you can be certain that they're scams. But I don't think one misspelling means much, although it certainly doesn't reflect well on what is presumably a commercial site. (And while looking at that site, I found another misspelling.) There is a wide distribution of education among people, and there are many very decent people who are poor spellers. So we ought to be very tactful when we spot a misspelling. I personally never call someone out on a misspelling in online forums, although I might spell the misspelled word correctly if I quote them.

No way does a headline misspelling persist for THREE YEARS if the outfit is legit. Are you really this gullible?

But ... I think you are right that if I'm going to include their website address, I should have checked up on them a bit. (Actually, I should have just deleted it, as it serves no particular purpose.)

I found the origin first by googling your headline, before seeing that you'd posted the same url. We would be having this discussion regardless.

Doing a WhoIS search shows that their domain has been registered for twelve years. All the scams I've ever checked, and I've had a lot of experience with them, have had websites that were just a few months old, at most. So that would indicate that they're legitimate, (if you consider a commercial organization legitimate). However, it would be better now to take the time to update the various scam approaches -- doing some web searches I've found other ways that vets can be targetted.

Idk that it's technically a scam, but I do know that there's zero reason to think that it's legit.

But then the question becomes, is it legitimate, or worthwhile, to warn veterans about scams? Are there particular scams targetting vets?

O Really discussed the basics of scam avoidance, something that can be found thousands of places online. The issue is that this one is hinky.

There certainly are, some of them within the last year. My own web search revealed the following links:

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/ ... erans.html
Scams Targeting Veterans

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/ ... arity.html
Veterans Charity Scam

https://www.oit.va.gov/news/article/?re ... nating-ogc
Bulletin: Scam Calls Impersonating the VA Office of General Counsel

https://www.fcc.gov/veterans-targeted-benefits-scams
Veterans Targeted in Benefits Scams

https://www.oit.va.gov/news/article/?re ... nating-ogc
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/ ... 945c817b89

There you go, credible orgs., including the VA that knows nothing about the group and supposed scam that you feature. THAT is the way to warn people.

It's easy to tell people just to hang up on such calls, but I know that many people will still fall for a plausible line. So I think it's worthwhile to actually spell out some of the dialogue that the scammers use. And if I were in charge of the education system, I'd include an hour in social studies class (or whatever the equivalent is today) to let the kids hear recordings of some of the typical scam calls they're likely to receive.

So... to summarize. Yes, I should have checked that website. It's a commercial site, probably legit but no reason to include it.

Click-bait is scam-lite.

Otherwise, this message, or, better yet, a synthesis of it and more recent warnings such as those from the AARP and VA itself, is definitely worth posting in forums that vets, or people in touch with them, are likely to read.

As for the suggestion that I am trying to scam anyone myself, it's really beneath contempt.

It was either you or them and you've been here for all of 9 days, without having introduced yourself in any way, and it's YOUR post. Why should I be any less skeptical of you than I am a cold caller?

[Doug1943]

If someone gets on the board and says, 'send me money', then you have a right to be suspicious.
I'm trying to warn vets about a scam. It's clear you couldn't give a toss about them.
Read my posts and it's obvious I'm a political person. Obvious to an honest person, anyway.
And if you think a scammer would introduce himself by saying "Hey, I'm a scammer"... well, nothing I can say to that.
Or maybe I should: a smart scammer would get on, cater to the the people here by echoing all the lefty talking
points, and after a few weeks, bait the hook. You know bloody well I'm not a scammer.
As I said, beneath contempt.

[Vrede too]

If someone gets on the board and says, 'send me money', then you have a right to be suspicious.
I'm trying to warn vets about a THREE YEAR old supposed scam posing as 2 months old and unprofessionally posted to a click-bait commercial site. FTFY. It's clear you couldn't give a toss about them.

Wussy straw man. I'm the one that alerted them to your funky site when, as you then listed, there are legit outfits warning vets.

Read my posts and it's obvious I'm a political person. Obvious to an honest person, anyway.

Again, 18 posts is nothing for saying one knows a person, and there are plenty of "political" trolls online.

And if you think a scammer would introduce himself by saying "Hey, I'm a scammer"... well, nothing I can say to that.
Or maybe I should: a smart scammer would get on, cater to the the people here by echoing all the lefty talking
points, and after a few weeks, bait the hook. You know bloody well I'm not a scammer.
As I said, beneath contempt.

Get off your high horse, I explicitly left room for you to be a scammer, a childish troll or just a dupe.

Again: Why should I be any less skeptical of you than I am a cold caller?

You screwed up, as you sort of admit. It's time to stop whining at me for noticing.

[billy.pilgrim]

If someone gets on the board and says, 'send me money', then you have a right to be suspicious.
I'm trying to warn vets about a scam. It's clear you couldn't give a toss about them.
Read my posts and it's obvious I'm a political person. Obvious to an honest person, anyway.
And if you think a scammer would introduce himself by saying "Hey, I'm a scammer"... well, nothing I can say to that.
Or maybe I should: a smart scammer would get on, cater to the the people here by echoing all the lefty talking
points, and after a few weeks, bait the hook. You know bloody well I'm not a scammer.
As I said, beneath contempt.

Your efforts spent with this warning could be much better spent doing something that matters for the elderly in general - vet, spouses of vets and just plain ordinary people.
Or focus on vets, fine, but do something that matters.

[billy.pilgrim]

Dougie, as I told you at lnf. You have to be way stupid to give out your social security number over the phone. Every living person in this country has heard this a thousand times.
On 2nd thought, could be that those who couldn't get a job on their own may need additional reminding.

Got it leo, let's all run out and educate those with dementia.
They stole thousands from my mother - Alzheimers.
She was very educated.
Laws would work. Have leos do their jobs and find these crooks. But that would take away from harassing kids for smoking pot or being black.

Ironic you bashed Doug1943's and my posts, then turned around telling us about your mother (RIP) losing everything.
Who do you think you impressed? Not me.

Ironic that you and dougie propose educating those with Alzheimer's and dementia, rather than stopping the scammers.
Strange to that you two only consider helping vets and not the elderly.

[billy.pilgrim]

Is this elder abuse?

Joe Willie comes on tv touting lies from some insurance company looking to get between you and Medicare and squeeze some profits out of a good system that's already in place.

"Joe Namath here and if you're on Medicare This is Important
You're now Entitled to Eliminate Co-pays
Get
Dental Care
Dentures
Eyeglasses
Prescription Coverage
I Home Aides
Unlimited Transportation
and get
Home Delivered Meals
All at No Additional Cost
Plus your zip code may have coverage with the
The Give Back Benifit that adds money to Your Social Security check Every Month"

Then the testimonials
"I called to get Everything I'm Entitled to"

Joe Willie step back in to say, "with this virus uncertainty, you need to get everything you're Entitled to.

Don't Delay Get What you're Entitled to

Call Now

[O Really]

No, not elder abuse, just the standard spiel by the Medicare "Advantage" hucksters. The stated benefits are more or less real, but to get them you give up your standard reliable Medicare (good anywhere in the US) for a closed-panel HMO style plan good only at specified providers except for what they are willing to call an "emergency." And if you don't find it suitable, it's not that easy to get back into Medicare. Joe Willie should have stuck with shaving creme.

[billy.pilgrim]

No, not elder abuse, just the standard spiel by the Medicare "Advantage" hucksters. The stated benefits are more or less real, but to get them you give up your standard reliable Medicare (good anywhere in the US) for a closed-panel HMO style plan good only at specified providers except for what they are willing to call an "emergency." And if you don't find it suitable, it's not that easy to get back into Medicare. Joe Willie should have stuck with shaving creme.

The reason I tacked this onto the thread from the vet guy and the Leo post - although many elders have good mental awareness, RGB and Jimmy Carter types are the exception. My Dad was one, Mom was bonkers by 86 and living alone. Keeping her out of trouble was more than her Assisted Living place and I could do.

While hers expenditures were probably close to $50,000 for fake coins, multiple sets of Great Classics literature, etc. She had 17 memberships in one discount book club. She knew she wasn't suppose to buy the stuff but couldn’t help herself. Stuff was hidden everywhere. She had several million, so not that big of a deal, but for some that's everything or even into debt.

That's why I was so snarky to the vet guy and Leo is just an asshole looking to find fault. Our vets, while there's always better, are some of the most provided for of all our elderly by law and by services. Far more helpful would be tough consumer laws that prevent advertisers from being so benign seeming.
Elderly vets and cops are a sub-set of the elderly.
Long term contracts like insurance shouldn't be sold by Alex Trebek and Happy Joe over tv and phone.

I still can't figure out why the car extended warranty people call me at least once a day. Maybe someday - after I lose the ability to drive I'll buy some.

[O Really]

Long term contracts like insurance shouldn't be sold by Alex Trebek and Happy Joe over tv and phone.

True that. Actually, IMNVHO Medicare "substitutes" shouldn't be sold by private profit-oriented sales agents, if there should be any at all, which I think there shouldn't. Supplement plans, OK. Substitute plans, ripoff for anyone who is not that expert on plan design/needs analysis.

[neoplacebo]

I see that Joe Namath spiel several times a week. It makes me wish some big linebacker would swoop in from the left and tackle his old ass. And I'd think that even if I weren't a veteran.