Scammers nabbed by the VAOIG

#Middlebury #VeteransPost

Quite often thieves are not that bright. Or maybe they have a sense of entitlement and assume they won’t get caught, or that they’re somehow deserving. What they don’t count on is the VAOIG – the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. The VAOIG is everywhere, and they’re very good.

Florida: A veteran was indicted on grounds of theft after claiming benefits for 100 percent disability for blindness. He’d collected those benefits for 16 years. So, how did he get caught? He had a driver’s license and was recorded doing yard work, washing his vehicle … and yes, driving. He applied for a different license and handed over a doctor certificate saying his vision was 20/50. He could get up to 10 years in the federal pen for stealing over a half-million dollars in benefits.

Kansas: At least the Florida man wasn’t as stupid as this one. The scammer (also a veteran, unfortunately) claimed severe vision problems and collected benefits. He also drove to and from his medical appointments, with his wife switching seats with him a few blocks from the hospital.

Missouri: A salesman submitted over $600,000 in phony invoices to a Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility for tools and other commercial products. This went on for three years, which raises the question: How could he hand over that many invoices without it raising some alarms?

New York: A trusted fiduciary stole $71,000 from a 73-year-old disabled veteran over the course of three years. The job of a fiduciary is to spend the benefit money only on the care of the veteran. The veteran had once lived on the fiduciary’s property, but even after he went into a veteran’s home, the fiduciary kept collecting and spending the money – on himself. This could get him 10 years in prison.

(c) 2018 King Features Synd. Inc.