{"id":31778,"date":"2017-05-03T16:01:29","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T20:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=31778"},"modified":"2017-05-03T16:02:34","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T20:02:34","slug":"cartwright-warns-veterans-choice-program-vcp-phone-line-imposter-may-target-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=31778","title":{"rendered":"Cartwright warns that Veterans Choice Program (VCP) Phone Line Imposter may target Veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Today, Representative Matt Cartwright announced an effort by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to track down apparent phone scammers claiming to represent the Veterans Choice Program (VCP).<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cUnfortunately, veterans can be also targeted by scam artists,\u201d <\/strong><strong>said Cartwright<\/strong><strong>. \u201cSuch scams exploit patriotism and target our heroes.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to assist the Department of Veterans Affairs by making sure this information is widely released.\u201d<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The following information was published by the Department of Veterans Affairs:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><u>Veterans Choice Program (VCP) Phone Line Imposter<\/u><\/p>\n<p>It has come to VA\u2019s attention that a phone line has been set up by an unknown party to &#8220;mimic&#8221; the VCP phone line. This imposter phone line may be intended to reach veterans who inadvertently dial the VCP number incorrectly.<strong>\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><u>\u201cMimic\u201d Phone Line<\/u><\/p>\n<p>The phone line established to \u201cmimic\u201d the VCP phone line is 1-<strong>800<\/strong>-606-8198. You know you have reached the wrong VCP phone line when:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The phone line offers callers a $100 rebate <strong><em>if<\/em><\/strong> the caller provides credit card information.<\/li>\n<li>The phone line does <strong><em>not<\/em><\/strong> state the caller has reached U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the VCP phone line.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Be aware <\/strong>that this phone number incorrectly confirms they are VCP <em>if the caller asks that question.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><u>U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs response<\/u><\/p>\n<p>We want you to know that we are taking this seriously and to keep you aware of the steps we are taking, VHA Office of Community Care (VHA CC) has reported the \u201cmimic\u201d line to the VA Office of Inspector General for a possible civil or criminal investigation.<\/p>\n<p><u>VCP Phone Line <\/u><\/p>\n<p>The correct VCP phone line is 1-<strong>866<\/strong>-606-8198. This line allows veterans to check their eligibility for the VCP and ask questions about the program.<\/p>\n<p>If you are unsure if you have reached the correct phone line, hang up and dial 1-<strong>866<\/strong>-606-8198 again. The phone line will clearly state the called <strong>has<\/strong> reached the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.<\/p>\n<p>The VCP is a program that authorizes medical appointments for veterans in the community (in non-VA facilities).\u00a0\u00a0 For more information on the program, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.va.gov\/opa\/choiceact\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.va.gov\/opa\/choiceact&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1493925691249000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFnp4NHg4QMnK4g4gLjNSIrUjunBg\">www.va.gov\/opa\/choiceact<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Rep. Matt Cartwright represents Pennsylvania\u2019s 17th Congressional District, which includes Schuylkill County and portions of Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, and Northampton Counties.\u00a0 Cartwright serves on the House Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Information provided by:<br \/>\nColleen Gerrity<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class='adkingprobanner sidebar banner3023'><a href='http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/' target=\"_blank\" data-id='3023' data-ga='{\"campaign\":\"\",\"banner\":\"\",\"implemented\":\"universal\",\"imp_action\":\"Impression\",\"click_action\":\"Click\"}'><img src='https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/inpostblank.jpg' alt='' \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class='adkingprobanner sidebar banner7036'><a href='http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com' target=\"_blank\" data-id='7036' data-ga='{\"campaign\":\"\",\"banner\":\"\",\"implemented\":\"universal\",\"imp_action\":\"Impression\",\"click_action\":\"Click\"}'><img src='https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/inpostblank.jpg' alt='' \/><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?post_type=adverts_posts&p=7036\" class=\"read-more\">Click here to read more... <\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Matt-Cartwright.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}