{"id":776,"date":"2023-08-04T10:14:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T14:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/?p=776"},"modified":"2023-10-26T12:17:50","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T16:17:50","slug":"scams-that-target-military-personnel-and-their-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/scams-that-target-military-personnel-and-their-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Scams That Target Military Personnel and Their Families"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Scam artists who prey on members of the military and their loved ones have no shame. But there\u00a0are ways to avoid getting ripped off by these heartless crooks.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Never pay up-front to get a loan or a credit card<\/b><\/p>\n

You may have seen advertisements promising easy access to loans, even if you have bad credit.\u00a0These =advance fee= loan scams try to get you to pay for their help getting a loan, but once you\u00a0pay, the loan never materializes. To steer clear of advance fee loan scams, watch out for loan\u00a0brokers who promise or suggest that they can get a loan for you if you pay a fee first. In many States, it\u2019s illegal for a loan broker to charge an advance fee to obtain a loan or a\u00a0credit card for a consumer.<\/p>\n

Legitimate lenders will not charge you money upfront. Typically, advance fee loan schemes\u00a0claim that you must make the first and last monthly payments or pay five percent of the principal\u00a0so that you won\u2019t lose the loan to others who are competing for it. Don\u2019t agree to pay anything\u00a0until after the loan has closed. And steer clear of advance fee credit card offers, too. Scammers\u00a0may offer credit cards with a pre-approved limit and low interest rates for an upfront fee. They\u2019ll\u00a0ask for your bank account information and so they can authorize an electronic draft to pay the\u00a0fee. In most cases, they simply take money from your account and you never get a credit card.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Watch out for people who try to exploit a military connection<\/b><\/p>\n

Scammers are always looking for ways to get a potential victim to lower their guard. Some will\u00a0try to gain your trust by claiming a connection to the military. Just because a business puts a\u00a0military reference or term in its name doesn\u2019t mean it provides good service to military\u00a0personnel. If someone seems to be using your shared military service to get you to purchase a\u00a0product or make an investment, be wary. Don\u2019t let anyone exploit your patriotism or cause you\u00a0to set aside your healthy skepticism about spending or investing your money.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b>Avoid self-serving \u201cFinancial Planners\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Deployment pay\u2026 a reenlistment bonus\u2026 retirement pay. <\/i>Any event that puts cash into the\u00a0hands of a service man or woman represents an opportunity for an unscrupulous investment\u00a0advisor. Despite recent crackdowns on companies that target members of the military for\u00a0investments that carry high fees, military personnel remain at risk. Roth IRAs and the military\u2019s\u00a0Savings Deposit Program are among the safest ways to protect your hard-earned dollars.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Get insurance you need, not what someone wants to sell you<\/b><\/p>\n

Some insurance agents try to use high-pressure tactics to maneuver military personnel into\u00a0purchasing insurance they don\u2019t need. Agents are now barred from trying to sell insurance at\u00a0mandatory-attendance meetings on base, and they can\u2019t use senior personnel to help them pitch\u00a0their policies. But outside the gates, many insurance agents still try to convince service personnel\u00a0to buy inappropriate insurance. Instead, max out your government-provided insurance. The\u00a0Servicemember\u2019s Group Life Insurance (SGLI) provides outstanding insurance at a great price.<\/p>\n

DMCC is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization committed to educating consumers on financial issues and providing personal assistance to consumers who have become overextended with debt.\u00a0 Education is provided free of charge to consumers, as well as personal counseling to identify the best options for the repayment of their debt. To speak to a certified credit counselor, call toll-free 866-618-3328 or email\u00a0<\/em>contact@dmcconline.org<\/em><\/a>.DMCC is located at 1330 SE 4th Ave, Suite F, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Scam artists who prey on members of the military and their loved ones have no shame. But there\u00a0are ways to avoid getting ripped off by these heartless crooks.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5shu1-cw","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1984,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions\/1984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}