Members of the armed services are being targeted across the country by a scam that seeks hundreds of dollars in return for the bogus promise to provide benefits in case of death, according to the Pentagon. Military men and women have received a letter or email on what appears to be official Defense Department letterhead soliciting $350 in order to be “registered” with the Defense Finance and Accounting Services, a Pentagon office that disburses funds to a fiancee in the event that the service member dies. The letter looks authentic at a glance, but is riddled with typos and misspellings.
Still, an undetermined number of people across the country have fallen for the scam, said DFAS senior spokesman Tom LaRock. “We never send unsolicited emails to folks asking them to send money,” LaRock said.
Once the defense accounting office was notified of the scam, it immediately posted warnings on the department’s official Facebook page last Tuesday, LaRock said. Within days, word spread to military bases and a number of military support groups throughout the United States.
U.S. Southern Command sent emails as an added precaution Thursday warning troops, including injured service members, and their families about the scam.
“Even with the typos and mistakes in the letter, people will still fall for it,” the Southern Command email warned. “If a [service member] and/or family member receives a notice or request from ‘DFAS’ and is told to send them money, they need to make contact with DFAS to validate the debt/issue.”
The odds of catching the thieves are low because they left little evidence in the wake of the scam, he said. “This is the first time where they are actually trying to solicit money from people with us,” LaRock said. “We have to make sure our men and women in uniform know that this is not true and please don’t send any money to anyone soliciting in our name.”
Sara A. Carter is The Washington Examiner’s national security correspondent. She can be reached at [email protected].
