About Veteran’s Information

Last month it was revealed that the personal information of more then 20 million veterans was stolen. A worker took a disk that contained the information to his residence and it was stolen when the home was robbed. At this point there is no indication that the robber knew what he took or that it will be used for identity theft. However, all the news reports have enlightened the criminal and he is probably trying to find a buyer for this information. The VA has been slow to respond with any safeguards.

My friend Bosun has written about this at his blog and to representatives of the VA. The replies he received put the onus of clean up of the mess on the veterans themselves. This is totally unacceptable and the VA should be doing more to protect the people who protected this country. Most veterans are aging and might not have the ability to go on line and request credit monitoring. The government caused the mess and it has a duty to clean it up.

The VA needs to put a credit watch on the SSN of every veteran whose information was stolen. There is a potential for more than 20 million instances of identity theft to occur and the people who caused this need to make it right. At the end of this post I will provide the contact for each credit agency as well as the government website. This will help some people who are able to tend to these things on their own. This is certainly not enough and veterans need to pressure their elected officials to be more proactive on this issue.

To visit the website:
http://www.firstgov.gov/veteransinfo

To send a message:
http://answers.firstgov.gov/

Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
Phone: 1-800-525-6285
www.equifax.com

Experian
P.O. Box 9532
Allen, TX 75013
Phone: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)
www.experian.com

TransUnion
Fraud Victim Assistance Division
P.O. Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
Phone: 1-800-680-7289
www.transunion.com

If you are aware of a friend or family member who might need special help, please take the time to assist. This issue threatens a very large segment of the population. Continue to pressure Congress and the VA to make this right. We expect them to do what they would force a private company to do if the shoe were on the other foot.

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One Response to “About Veteran’s Information”

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