A postcard mailed to veterans and their spouses promises extra monthly benefits through a “Veterans Savings Program,” and the Federal Trade Commission says the program does not exist. In an August 24, 2026 consumer alert, the FTC described the card as a way to collect Social Security numbers and bank account details, written to look like it comes from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The name is the giveaway. A veteran holding the card can match it word for word against the alert.
The postcard’s wording and the real programs it borrows
The FTC’s alert says the mailer claims recipients qualify for extra monthly benefits, may list the recipient’s state, and mentions genuine VA programs such as CHAMPVA and TRICARE For Life to appear credible. Those are real health coverage programs, which is the point of using them: a card that names two things a veteran or spouse has heard of borrows credibility from both.
The Department of Veterans Affairs raised the alarm before the FTC did. ConsumerAffairs reported on July 7, 2026 that the VA had warned about the same postcards and said no such program exists. The agency’s warning, as carried by The American Legion, describes cards claiming up to $185 a month in extra VA benefits, or added coverage including CHAMPVA, TRICARE and dental, regardless of disability rating, with recipients pushed to call within five days.
The timing suggests a mailing that keeps circulating rather than a single wave. The VA warning was reported in July, the FTC alert followed on August 24, and a local station was still warning its viewers on September 23, a span of about eleven weeks with the same fake program name in each report.
The red flags the FTC lists
The alert names four warning signs: a claim of eligibility for a benefit program that does not exist, pressure to respond immediately or risk losing the benefit, a phone number in the mailer that recipients are told to call, and requests for sensitive details such as Social Security numbers or bank account information. The VA and the FTC describe the same sequence. Urgency comes first, flattery about military service builds trust, and the request for identifying data arrives once the call is under way.
The FTC’s rule of thumb is that legitimate VA communications will not pressure recipients to respond immediately or ask for sensitive information over the phone. The postcard fails that test on its face, since the whole design depends on getting a live conversation started.
Verified phone numbers versus the one printed on the card
What a call to the number on the card leads to is spelled out in a local report. In North Alabama, WAFF reported on September 23, 2026 that recipients who called were reaching someone presenting as an independent agent, who asked for Medicare or Social Security numbers in order to process the benefits. Those numbers can be used for identity theft and fraudulent medical billing. Karen Reeves, president and chief executive of the Better Business Bureau of North Alabama, told the station that “knowledge is power” when it comes to recognizing scams.
The safe route runs the other way, through numbers that were not printed on the card. The FTC and the VA both point to the VA Benefits Hotline at 1-800-827-1000 for real benefit questions. Suspected fraud can be reported to the VA at VSAFE.gov or 1-833-38V-SAFE, and to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. A veteran who has already given out a Social Security number or account number should follow the FTC’s guidance on what to do after a scam, which directs people who shared personal information to IdentityTheft.gov.
The FTC’s alert closes with a request that readers share the information with others in their community, and the reason is structural. The mailing goes to households, and spouses are named as targets alongside veterans, so a surviving spouse or an older parent may be the person holding the card while a family member elsewhere never sees it. The FTC also lists MilitaryConsumer.gov as a place for scam updates aimed at service members and veterans.
Beware one real mailing that could be confused with the fake. The American Legion’s California department noted on August 27 that the VA was sending genuine “Choose VA” postcards between August 13 and September 11 to roughly 3.8 million unenrolled veterans, with real health-care enrollment information. A legitimate card does not ask for a Social Security number or bank details over the phone.
The alert offers no count of how many postcards were mailed or how many veterans called. The one local number available is small: as of September 23, the BBB in North Alabama had at least one report of the mailers.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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