Veterans Targeted in Military Benefits Scam, Part 1

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[00:00:01] Bob: This week on The Perfect Scam.

[00:00:04] I was in a bad situation financially. I ju--, I couldn't make the payments anymore. Cost of living had gone up, I wasn't earning a lot of money, I mean just one thing after another. And I think that I may have just run some internet searches, run some Google searches for financial relief for veterans to see what was available and one of the results was for a company called Voyager Financial Group.

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[00:00:39] Bob: Welcome back to The Perfect Scam. I'm your host, Bob Sullivan. There are roughly 16 million veterans in the US today, and they all deserve our unending gratitude and protection. Our veterans are targeted by criminals in terrible and revolting ways for reasons I hope you'll understand better after today's episode. We're going to meet Michael Haring, who served in the Iraq War and now lives about 90 minutes north of Denver, CO. He was targeted by a criminal specifically because he's a veteran and because he had PTSD and was getting a disability payment which is just enough to make anyone's blood boil. But Michael is just one of many. Before we get to the scam, we're going to talk for a bit about Michael's time in Iraq because we should always listen to our vets and because it really is an important part of the crime. So here's Michael who signed up like so many did after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

[00:01:48] Michael Haring: Well I'd always had kind of a desire uh to join the military. I, I can't really explain it in one particular reason. Naturally, after 9/11 I think a lot of people were hit with a sense of patriotic duty. Aside from that, my family has a, a distinguished history of military service, so my uh grandfather was uh in the Army in World War II. He fought in the Pacific Theater around the Philippines and New Guinea. I had two uncles on either side in the Vietnam era. I served in the US Army in Iraq and my son is actually is serving in the Army Reserve presently as well. Yeah, yeah, four, four generations now and it's a, something to be proud of for sure.

[00:02:50] Bob: Back when Michael joined, his paperwork didn't actually go through until 2003. Recruits generally saw action right away.

[00:03:00] Michael Haring: They were backlogged with recruits so I ended up shipping out to Fort Sill for basic training later that year in November.

[00:03:10] Bob: And you found yourself uh in, in action over in the sandbox pretty soon after, right?

[00:03:15] Michael Haring: Oh sure, sure. I mean when you graduated basic training then, I mean this was in the thick of the Iraq War. So wherever you got your orders to go, just put slash Iraq, you know or slash Afghanistan depending on the unit. But I got sent to Germany, so it was Germany/Iraq.

[00:03:37] Bob: And what were you doing in Iraq?

[00:03:41] Michael Haring: Understand that by trade I was an artilleryman. I actually worked the fire direction center. So that for like targeting systems uh for field artillery and uh, combined arms operations. But when we got to Iraq, naturally we were all infantry. So we connected with uh 810 Cavalry, and they made cav scouts out of us. And when that cavalry unit had finished their tour, we were just, you know with our own taskforce uh which was uh 26 Infantry, the Second Brigade 1st Armored Division, and we were all infantry. Although I was artillery by trade, the only artillery I ever saw in combat was incoming. Go figure.

[00:04:30] Bob: Um, you were part of a team searching or clearing IEDs, no?

[00:04:34] Michael Haring: Yes, yeah, that was what we did most of our days so generally, we would do about two patrols a day; each patrol from the time you're prepping to the after-action review was generally about 11 hours. And most of what we did was uh called Counter IED Recon, which is really just a fancy way of saying, drive around and get blown up, you know. (chuckles) That's just kind of how life was at that point during the conflict.

[00:05:11] Bob: IEDs. Improvised Explosive Devices. Homemade bombs. Michael spent his days driving around looking for unexploded IEDs in and around Baghdad to help make travel safe for other troops.

[00:05:27] Michael Haring: So half of the time in Iraq, uh we were in Baghdad proper for a while which was, actually it was an area just south of Baghdad. It was a forward operating base called FOB Falcon. And so half of the time we were there and our, our patrols would originate and uh we had an area of operations, depending on the day and depending on which way the wind was blowing, we might patrol, you know, one of the main arteries around Baghdad. We might patrol the neighborhoods, you know if there was some sort of conflict going on we would naturally concentrate our attention to wherever it was needed at the time, and uh, the other half of the time when we weren't based out of uh Forward Operating Base Falcon, we were in a tiny little, and I mean tiny, little outpost. It was about maybe 100 meters in diameter, and it was in the rural western part of Baghdad, and that was called OP San Juan. OP for outpost. And that was a super rural area, but I can tell you everybody around there hated us. Everybody! So the vast majority of IED encounters that I had were around that outpost.

[00:06:56] Bob: And so as you're driving around, are you using some kind of electronics to try to detect metal? Or, or how do you do this?

[00:07:03] Michael Haring: Oh no, so (chuckles) at the time it was all based on training. We had things that we had to look out for. So naturally, we're in a patrol of generally three Humvees, and as luck would have it, I want to say about 85% of the time I was driving the lead truck. I was always on point. It drove me nuts; I, I raised a stink about it, "I'm always on point, I'm tired of it." So we would just, you know, drive around between 5 and 10 miles an hour for hours on end, and if there was something that looked suspicious, then we would approach it with caution. We didn't really have any specific counter IED equipment. It was just our own eyes, our own feelings, and our own training.

[00:07:54] Bob: So just give me a for instance of when you spotted something and were able to disarm it safely. You, you see a pile of dirt on the side of the road that looks suspicious? Or how, how does that work?

[00:08:04] Michael Haring: Well then that makes me think of the one single IED that I found before it found me. So all told I hit six IEDs during my tour. Six of them found me before I found it. But it was that last one that I found first, and incidentally, it was the one that would have done me in. So what had happened is it was late in the evening. It was getting dark. And we were finishing up the patrol, and our patrol was just essentially a long stretch of the main artery in southern central Baghdad. It was called Route Jackson. And because it was nearing the end of our patrol, we had to head back to the base. We did kind of a short loop. And the entire time we were patrolling, there was a line of probably about half a dozen semi-trucks that were on the side of the road near a, a pedestrian overpass. And we did that short loop at the very end and we turned around and we started approaching this pedestrian overpass that had all these trucks lined up next to it. And then all of a sudden, those trucks were gone. Like they just disappeared. And it was dark at this point, and as we rolled up to this pedestrian overpass, again, it was nighttime by now, visibility wasn't that great, but I could both see and sense that something was off. And so we rolled up really, really, really slow on this overpass and I saw what appeared to be just a bump, a slight lump, a slight bump in the black pavement of this road, and it wasn't until I had rolled up right next to it, and I looked out my window and sure enough, there's wires coming out of the ground with a bunch of pressure plate sensors. It appeared to be like a, almost like a Christmas tree light, but instead of lights, there were a bunch of small little pressure plate sensors. And that was kind of sticking out a little bit, and the rest was covered up with a, a black cloth. And the, the wheel of my truck was, I want to say probably about 9 to 12 inches away from this thing. And so right underneath of that black cloth was the, the IED that they had placed while we had driven past. So I called in to the guys that were behind me and they moved back, and I moved up, counted my blessings and uh, as we cordoned off the area and the uh, the EOD, the explosive ordinance guys had, had come out and uh they brought their robot out there. Sure enough, yeah, it's, it's an IED. And not only that, but they had a secondary that was wired on the pilon of the pedestrian overpass. So I guess their idea was when the first one went off it would set off the second one and blow the whole overpass.

[00:11:32] Bob: Hmm.

[00:11:33] Michael Haring: Yeah. It didn't work out that way for them but uh, I was fortunate that evening.

[00:11:39] Bob: Wow.

[00:11:40] Michael Haring: Yeah.

[00:11:40] Bob: These stories are just so incredible, and they're hard to hear, honestly, so I can't imagine what it's like to live them. But I can't not imagine after, I mean mos--, most days you, you were driving for 10 hours and saw nothing, right?

[00:11:53] Michael Haring: Usually. I mean there was always something, but you know usually nothing of consequence. And that was just, that was just the nature of, of the conflict at the time.

[00:12:05] Bob: But you're spending 10 hours thinking any second something could happen, and, and so how, how, when you come home from that, how you drive a car normally?

[00:12:16] Michael Haring: Reintegration wasn't easy, by any means, in any way, shape, or form. That was something the military, the VA, nobody really prepared us for, and, and I don't necessarily fault them. I mean they; they didn't know. It took a long time to be able to adjust away from that sort of hyperawareness. There was one specific time that comes to mind, I was just driving down the highway here in Colorado, and I had my family in the, in the car with me. And the vehicle that was in front of me backfired, violently backfired. I mean smoke and flame and everything, and I went right into Baghdad mode. That was difficult. It was, it was hard to deal with. I mean it, naturally it only lasted a couple of seconds, but still realizing that hey, this is something that I still need to be aware of. This is something that my body and my mind still reacts to. And that was relatively soon after getting out of active duty. Uh but I want to say that it was probably a good five years before I was able to do the work emotionally to understand what I was feeling, why I was feeling that way. These are some things that may trigger these emotions, and this is why it's happening. It takes a lot of hard work and it's something that even still, there are I'm sure thousands and thousands of combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan that haven't had an opportunity, or just haven't done that work and are still suffering the degree of, of PTSD that's just completely unmitigated and, and that's sad. That's, that's unfortunate. Um, I did a lot of work. I went to therapy for a long time and being aware of your triggers and why you feel the way you feel, well that's about more than half the battle right there.

[00:14:50] Bob: So your body is your body and I mean while you, you just said the feeling only lasts a few seconds, that, that kind of adrenaline crush, I don't know, for me can take an hour or two to really dissipate, you know.

[00:15:01] Michael Haring: Well you're absolutely right. I mean the, it was just like combat. I mean it, it only lasts oftentimes for a very short while. It may take much longer to fully come down from that and regroup and, and get yourself straight. But when I say it only lasted, you know, just a few seconds, that was the, you know, the immediate shock and the reaction to, you know, well yeah, naturally, you know then there were conversations to be had with, well this is why Dad just did what he did. (chuckles)

[00:15:33] Bob: Yeah, God.

[00:15:34] Michael Haring: Yeah.

[00:15:36] Bob: So that story gives you just a glimpse into the challenge that Michael had, that all vets have when they return stateside and try to reintegrate into normal civilian life. So when Michael moves back to Colorado, he's already facing an uphill battle, but on top of that, there are the other normal stressors of living in an area that's experiencing rapid growth and housing inflation, and there are some unexpected, expensive medical bills, and Michael's troubles start to pile up.

[00:16:09] Michael Haring: The financial issues that I experienced had a lot to do with a really, really expensive, unnecessarily expensive, divorce followed by a few catastrophic medical accidents that had happened. Combined with all that, the cost of living in Colorado had started to skyrocket. I had just taken a new job working for the Department of the Interior at like a 30% pay cut from what I was making before, just for the job security. So you know my financial difficulties, uh they certainly didn't make things any easier.

[00:16:53] Bob: The burden is eased just a little by a regular disability payment he receives because he's suffering from PTSD and a few other injuries suffered during his tour of duty. He's getting about $1600 a month.

[00:17:09] Michael Haring: So it was early 2013, and I was about 18 months out of this divorce that had just, I mean just financially wiped me out completely. My son was 12 at the time, and he was now living with me 100%. He had had a, a medical accident, actually he was hit by a hit and run driver, and...

[00:17:39] Bob: Oh God.

[00:17:39] Michael Haring: Yeah, there were some pretty astronomical expenses associated with that. I had had a sports injury at the time which doesn't sound like a lot, but it my, one of my ankles has essentially just exploded, (chuckles) and uh so there were, you know, a lot of expenses and related issues with that. Yeah, I was in a bad situation, a bad situation financially. And I think that I may have just, you know, run some internet searches, run some Google searches for financial relief for veterans to see what was available. And one of the results was for a company called Voyager Financial Group.

[00:18:23] Bob: Voyager Financial Group. The firm's website says it offers creative financial help for veterans who are suffering from financial distress. Desperate, Michael clicks to find out more and eventually calls them.

[00:18:38] Michael Haring: So their pitch was that essentially, I could get a cash advance on my VA disability income. That was it. And that that cash advance could be paid back over a period of X number of years. It could be like 5 years, it could be 10 years, all dependent on how much the cash advance was.

[00:19:07] Bob: Since Uncle Sam sends guaranteed payments to Michael every month, investors arranged by Voyager Financial are willing to give what is essentially a loan to Michael against those payments so he can use that upfront lump sum to pay down credit card bills and whatnot. One term for this kind of arrangement is a structured cash flow. So Michael decides to trade in much of his monthly disability payment for this instant financial relief.

[00:19:37] Michael Haring: I can tell you that after everything was signed and everything was done with this that uh my monthly payment on this was $878.05. So I knew that it wasn't all of my VA benefit, but it was a majority part of it.

[00:20:01] Bob: And for that, they gave you 20 something thousand dollars.

[00:20:06] Michael Haring: I got a lump sum payment of like 21 to 22 thousand dollars for that, yeah.

[00:20:13] Bob: But before he gets the money, there are a couple of other requirements.

[00:20:18] Michael Haring: They asked me, "Well do you have an outstanding student loan?" I said, "Yeah, it's only about, you know, three grand." "Well you have to take proceeds from the lump sum and pay that," and which I thought was odd, but hey, you know, I'm going to pay it anyway, so okay, great, go ahead. Another thing was, I had to buy a life insurance policy with the, I believe, I don't know if it was the investor or if it was VFG as the beneficiary that was for the life of the contract in case I were to pass away. Yeah, it was just really, really bizarre the way they had it set up.

[00:20:57] Bob: And most important, his disability checks have to be redirected to a bank account that Voyager Financial can control, an escrow account they call it. After Voyager takes its monthly slice, Michael gets a check for what remains, about two weeks later.

[00:21:15] Bob: What did you use this money for?

[00:21:17] Michael Haring: This money was used immediately for debts that had to be paid. I know, I mean I was struggling uh to keep my electricity on. Everything that I had outstanding that I could pay with that, I paid.

[00:21:36] Bob: But the relief is temporary, very, very temporary. Within months he can't survive on those reduced payments and his new salary.

[00:21:46] Michael Haring: At that point, because there was just a, you know, a perfect storm of financial things going on, and the cost of living had increased and now the, the VA benefit that I was relying on, I was now only getting maybe, you know 40% of that. So you know it, it really was a, an untenable situation.

[00:22:08] Bob: So he calls the VA and has the disability checks redirected back to him, away from the escrow account.

[00:22:15] Michael Haring: So once the situation had become so dire, because it, it was really truly untenable, it's a matter of changing the deposit information with the Veterans Administration. Say, no, this doesn't go into escrow anymore because I'm having to wait an additional two weeks for the money that I need, and I can send in the payments, and in fact, that's what I did at first is like look, I can't wait two weeks for this VA disability payment. And so I'll have the VA send it right to me. I'll take the payments that are supposed to go to that investor. I would send those in directly. In fact, I believe oftentimes I would just wire, at my own cost, I would wire that money right into the escrow account so it's there. That payment is made. The only difference is, I no longer have to wait two weeks for, for my own VA benefit. But even that could only be kept up for so long. I just, I couldn't make the payments anymore. Cost of living had gone up, I wasn't earning a lot of money, I mean just one thing after another.

[00:23:34] Bob: So Michael starts missing his payments and there are consequences almost immediately.

[00:23:42] Michael Haring: At that point, a process server showed up and gave me a summons for a, for a case in South Carolina that had oh everything, everything from breach of contract to unjust enrichment, and I mean lots of big scary things, lots of big scary allegations and charges.

[00:24:04] Bob: The scary allegations and the lawsuit come from a law firm called Upstate Law Group which represents Voyager Financial Group. The medical bills, the childcare, the loan payments, and the lawsuit are all too much. And Michael makes the difficult decision to declare bankruptcy. As far as he knows, that should discharge the debt owed to Voyager Financial. But it's not that simple.

[00:24:32] Michael Haring: When I filed for bankruptcy, I sent notice of bankruptcy to the court and I believe that put a stay on the case, but interestingly enough, once my Chapter 7 bankruptcy had finished, on the list of, was the investor because the investor was, was named on the contract. I included the investor, I included also VFG's information, made sure everybody knew that hey, I'm insolvent, and, you know, you're on this list of creditors. If you take issue with any of this being discharged in a Chapter 7 proceeding, you can attend the meeting of creditors. Here's the date. You know it, everything was above the table. Needless to say, neither the investor nor anybody from Upstate Law Group or VFG attended the meeting of creditors, and after the bankruptcy had been discharged, the case in Greenville was still going, and I, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why. I'm like this has, this has been discharged. This is done, this is over with. And I guess Upstate Law Group didn't agree. They didn't agree. And so that's, that's when, when once there was a hearing date, I had bought plane tickets, I had booked a car, I had booked a hotel so that I could actually show up and say, "Look, here's my discharge, here is the federal regulation, and by the way, there's precedent from," I believe it was the Supreme Court of the State of California, "that discharge, this exact same debt in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, why are we even here?"

[00:26:30] Bob: Why are we even here? A good question because at about this time Michael also starts looking for a lawyer to represent him in South Carolina. Up to this point he'd represented himself. And he finds something shocking in his research. What does he find and how many other veterans are caught up in the same situation as Michael? Well that's next week on The Perfect Scam.

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[00:39:04] Bob: If you have been targeted by a scam or fraud, you are not alone. Call the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360. Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next. Our email address at The Perfect Scam is: theperfectscampodcast@aarp.org, and we want to hear from you. If you've been the victim of a scam or you know someone who has, and you'd like us to tell their story, write to us or just send us some feedback. That address again is: theperfectscampodcast@aarp.org. Thank you to our team of scambusters; Associate Producer, Annalea Embree; Researcher, Becky Dodson; Executive Producer, Julie Getz; and our Audio Engineer and Sound Designer, Julio Gonzalez. Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. For AARP's The Perfect Scam, I'm Bob Sullivan.

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