Veterans lost over $560M to scams in the last five years

While the majority of Americans are appreciative of the service that military veterans gave to their countries, criminals have been taking advantage of veterans and their families through hundreds of thousands of scams.

According to data presented by Atlas VPN, U.S. veterans lost $563 million to scams in the last five years. Military retirees reported 556,807 cases of fraud during this period, with most of the losses coming from investment scams that cost veterans $105.5 million since 2018.

Business impostors stole $71.2 million from veterans in the last five years while fake prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries resulted in $62.1 million in losses. Government impostors scammed $60.9 million out of veterans, with romance scams vacuuming up $53.5 million and tech support scams costing veterans $41.7 million.

More losses were incurred with online shopping scams ($34.2 million), timeshare sale scams ($9.5 million), real estate scams ($9 million), fake art, gems or rare coin investments ($5.9 million), investment seminars and advice ($4.8 million) and foreign money and inheritance scams ($1.4 million).