Fraud Alert For All Veterans – Don’T Carry Your Va Card In Your Wallet

[Proudvet]

I saw the following below on another website I was following and thought I'd pass this valuable information on.

November 8, 2013 – If you are a veteran and you have been issued a VA card, you need to start treating it like your social security card. When you don’t have anything on your calendar requiring it – like an appointment at the VA – leave it at home. An ABC News affiliate in Florida has discovered that every single VA card issued since 2004 contains the social security number of the person the card was issued to in a bar-code on the front of the card. More importantly, the bar code can be deciphered by anyone who has a free bar-code-reader on their smart phone.

According to the report, the VA has known about this issue for years but has failed to correct it. And they haven’t been proactively notifying veterans about the issue. They claim to be working on a new generation of their card but it will not be available until sometime next year.

Any veteran who has lost their VA card should be concerned. Not only could they be subject to financial identity theft but it is also possible that they could be targeted for healthcare ID theft. That’s because the VA handles both medical and retirement benefits for veterans.

[Notorious Kelly]

Thanks for the heads up - here's the link http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/money/consumer/taking_action_for_you/VA-cards-put-veterans-at-risk-scanners-reveal-social-security-numbers-

What troubles me more is how healthcare providers, not just VA, broadcast all of your info out loud within earshot of many people. A scammer can sit there with a recorder garnering massive info.

Example: "John Smith!" They have your name when you're called.

"Last four?" They've got 4 digits of your 9 digit SSN

"Date of birth?" They have everything they need to steal your id except 5 numbers.

Now they chat you up in waiting room and get around to "Where are you from?" 'North Carolina'

They go here http://www.mrfa.org/ssn.htm and determine NC SSN prefix is 232.

They are 2 numbers from your full identity in 1 sitting. And they can spend the day in the waiting room doing this without being challenged.

This seems a clear violation of HIPAA but they still do it.

Just a heads up!

[carlie]

Even credit cards for things like gas - say a Shell credit card

has lots of your private info in the black strip.

When I stay at a hotel, I usually destroy my key card because it also

contains the info on exactly, how you paid for your accommodations.

[infantry10]

Thanks for sharing! I didn't know any of this and always have my VA card in my wallet. Not no more! Its coming out today!!

[63SIERRA]

they can read your card out of your wallet with a card reader., while still in your back pocket unless you have a metal lined wallet or purse. they sell little metal credit card jackets.

anyone wonder what is on the bar code on the back of drivers liscenses?

Edited December 1, 2013 by 63SIERRA

[63SIERRA]

something interesting also every printer inserts a tiny code on every piece of paper it prints, from that code, it can be determined where the printer was bought, and basically a trail, to the owner. thats how they catch alot of idiots who send threating letter to people. The bk Killer sent a letter from a college he was attending. yet they couldnt see exactly who used the printer at the exact time.

Also even if u completely file serial numbers off of a gun, they found a way to " raise " the number. What happens is when the numbers get stamped in, they leave an impression in the metal deep down, below what can be seen. The kind of glaze off the top and read the impressions underneath. So dont file, bury. haha or toss in river,, lol