Operation Vets

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — A small number of sailors chosen for separation from the Navy by the enlisted retention board could receive a lifeline in the form of retirement benefits after all, Navy officials have announced.

Under a program known as the Temporary Early Retirement Authority, about 300 of the nearly 3,000 sailors who are facing separation in the fall will have a chance to apply for retirement benefits if they are scheduled to reach 15 years of active service by Sept. 1, Navy officials said. For more information please click here.

Legislation that would establish a pilot teacher preparation program at Richard Stockton College for veterans who served in the armed forces on or after September 11, 2001 was advanced today by the Senate Education Committee. Senator Christopher J. Connors is a prime sponsor of S-1026 along with Senator James Whelan. Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf and Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove are co-sponsors of the identical companion measure (A-1294), which has been referred to the Assembly Education Committee. For more information please click here.

U.S. Senator Richard Durbin will introduce a bill on Monday to clamp down on for-profit colleges’ heavy dependence on federal funds and curtail what he called “the powerful incentive” the colleges now have to aggressively recruit military students and veterans.

In the partisan climate of Congress, the bill, aimed at a federal regulation known as the 90/10 rule, has slim chance of passage, but it highlights the stakes. If enacted today, the measure would probably bar the University of Phoenix and many other institutions, including colleges owned by Corinthian Colleges Inc., Bridgepoint Education, and at least six other giant college companies, from participating in the federal student-aid programs that are their lifeblood.  For more information please click here.

• Refund Scam — This is the most frequent IRS-impersonation scam seen by the IRS. In this phishing scam, a bogus e-mail claiming to come from the IRS tells the consumer that he or she is eligible to receive a tax refund for a specified amount. It may use the phrase “last annual calculations of your fiscal activity.” To claim the tax refund, the consumer must open an attachment or click on a link contained in the e-mail to access and complete a claim form. The form requires the entry of personal and financial information. Several variations on the refund scam have claimed to come from the Exempt Organizations area of the IRS or the name and signature of a genuine or made-up IRS executive. In reality, taxpayers do not complete a special form to obtain their federal tax refund — refunds are triggered by the tax return they submitted to the IRS.
• Lottery winnings or cash consignment — These advance fee scam e-mails claim to come from the Treasury Department to notify recipients that they’ll receive millions of dollars in recovered funds or lottery winnings or cash consignment if they provide certain personal information, including phone numbers, via return e-mail. The e-mail may be just the first step in a multi-step scheme, in which the victim is later contacted by telephone or further e-mail and instructed to deposit taxes on the funds or winnings before they can receive any of it. Alternatively, they may be sent a phony check of the funds or winnings and told to deposit it but pay 10 percent in taxes or fees. Thinking that the check must have cleared the bank and is genuine, some people comply. However, the scammers, not the Treasury Department, will get the taxes or fees. In reality, the Treasury Department does not become involved in notification of inheritances or lottery or other winnings.
• Beneficial Owner Form — This fax-based phishing scam, which generally targets foreign nationals, recurs periodically. It’s based on a genuine IRS form, the W-8BEN, Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding. The scammer, though, invents his or her own number and name for the form. The scammer modifies the form to request passport numbers, information that is often used for account security purposes (such as mother’s maiden name) and similar detailed personal and financial information, and states that the recipient may have to pay additional tax if he or she fails to immediately fax back the completed form. In reality, the real W-8BEN is completed by banks, not individuals.