But it has only made his money problems worse.
He declaresbankruptcy, and now Voyager is suing him.
The whole situation is, was just terribly unfortunate.
When we left off last week, we were following the story of Michael Haring.
Hes an Iraq War veteran, whos fallen on hard financial times back home in the US.
But that only made his money problems worse.
The regulation says that any contract which assigns a benefit is “void on inception” is the word.
So it’s, it was, the whole thing was illegal.
[00:02:24] Bob: Michael’s VA benefit couldn’t have been assigned to Voyager Financial Group.
The whole arrangement, the whole contract is unenforceable.
And yet, here is Upstate Legal and Voyager Financial suing him, even after his bankruptcy.
Armed with this information and a local lawyer, Michael finally gets some good news.
I’m set to go pro se and represent myself.
And he took all of my information.
This was becoming a real problem.
I’m very, very, very fortunate.
They were getting default judgments for absurd amounts of money.
Like in, in my case, I received $21,000.
So I’m very, very, very fortunate.
[00:05:04] Bob: Soon after, legal troubles start to pile up for Voyager Financial.
They are sued in 2017.
An Arizona regulator issues a cease-and-desist order in 2018.
In 2019, Kern agrees to stop selling these complex financial products, but disputes that they are illegal.
And just last year Kern pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges.
She is still awaiting sentencing.
And it’s not just the veterans who took out these complicated loans who were hurt by the scam.
Their disability payments were essentially sold to investors who were promised a steady stream of income.
[00:06:02] Michael Haring: A lot of the investors were veterans too.
A lot of them were elderly investors.
That was the situation with my contract.
And, and he, he, he’s since passed.
[00:06:23] Michael Haring: It, it could have been.
[00:07:10] Bob: Yeah, yeah…
[00:07:11] Michael Haring: Yeah.
[00:07:17] Michael Haring: Yeah, the, the math doesn’t add up.
[00:07:18] Bob: But I do like to put things in these stark terms.
Like that’s how outrageous this is.
[00:07:32] Michael Haring: Right, oh it, absolutely.
I agree with you there, it is outrageous.
[00:07:37] Bob: And there’s another element to this story that just feels so wrong.
[00:08:02] Bob: What do you think of that?
I do not have a JD degree.
It’s plain, it’s clear.
These contracts are not only predatory, they’re illegal, they’re not allowed.
I think the whole, the whole situation is, was just terribly unfortunate.
[00:09:02] Michael Haring: I attempt to be kind and gentle whenever possible.
[00:09:13] Michael Haring: Curdle, yeah.
Yeah it, it’s infur–, it is.
It’s an injustice.
Michael didn’t get any of that, and he paid a price for dealing with these companies.
[00:09:55] Michael Haring: It was emotionally devastating.
And I think that’s the lightest way that I can put it.
I have an obligation to this.
Look, I got $20,000.
I have an obligation to pay this back, okay?
You know I’ve, I put, you know I …
I apparently put myself into a situation here where I’m no longer getting the income that I needed.
Sure for a short while my short-term financial problems were solved, but at a very dire cost.
I tried to do everything right by the book.
Bankruptcy is never, you know, a go-to.
Not every other veteran involved was able to do that.
You know especially the men and women who had these default judgments put against them.
[00:12:02] Bob: And I’m sorry to put you through it again.
[00:12:04] Michael Haring: No, no, you’re fine.
So it’s…
[00:12:16] Michael Haring: Is that right?
[00:12:33] Bob: People are going to wonder how, how are you today?
[00:12:35] Michael Haring: Yeah, I am very fortunate.
I’m doing well.
I have a really good job.
I live in a nice area.
Both of my children have flown the coop.
Like I said, my, my son is in the Army Reserve.
He’s living out of state.
My daughter recently moved out.
I’ve got a couple of dogs that keep me on my toes.
And uh, I…
[00:13:03] Bob: What are your dogs' names?
[00:13:04] Michael Haring: Oh, Rupee and Molly.
Rupee, like uh, think of, think of the, the Indian money.
[00:13:36] Michael Haring: Absolutely.
My kids are great.
I’ve, I’ve, I’ve got a decent place to live.
I’ve got a job that takes care of me, and I’m thankful, I’m fortunate.
[00:14:12] Bob: Thankful.
And make no mistake, vets are, a target.
To find out, we brought in Carroll Harris, himself a 30-year vet of the Marines.
He now works with the Postal Inspection Service to fight against the scams, and specifically scams targeting vets.
And when you do that, you expose yourself.
That’s what’s happening.
Our veterans deserve a lot.
They deserve our adulation.
It’s just so upsetting.
And the veterans need help.
They’re vulnerable in some circumstances.
But some of us need a little help.
And for those that need help, we need to protect them.
Because if we can help just one, even just one, we’re making a difference.
And I think you’re helping way more than one.
[00:17:43] Carroll Harris: Absolutely.
What happens with veterans is they form a sense of camaraderie and community through their service.
And those bonds are, are sacred in the veteran community.
And I, and actually in general, I feel that way about all veterans.
They can steal their personally identifying information.
[00:19:27] Bob: Theft of those benefit checks, that can really, really hurt.
[00:19:33] Carroll Harris: Many of them don’t have cushions.
[00:20:23] Bob: Okay, let’s face it.
[00:20:30] Carroll Harris: (laugh) Ah, I do love Marines.
And it just feels good to be a part of them and in that community.
It, it just matters.
But scammers do the same thing.
It just bothers me.
[00:21:35] Bob: So we’ve talked about why veterans are a target.
Many of our veterans, the people that are serving, come from difficult backgrounds in their youth.
And that creates a susceptibility.
They need their battle buddies.
[00:23:34] Bob: They need their battle buddies.
That’s why we always talk about having a good battle buddy before you make any significant financial decisions.
There’s, I, I like to use the letters PBC.
Pause, Breathe, Connect.
When these scammers approach, they’re going to attempt to create some time pressure.
They do it with lots of scams.
They’re going to attempt to crunch the veteran into quickly making significant financial decisions.
Someone outside of the scope of what the scammer’s trying to get them to do.
[00:24:45] Bob: PBC.
Pause, Breath, and Connect.
I like that a lot.
[00:24:50] Carroll Harris: There you go.
Pretty easy to remember that too, right?
[00:24:53] Bob: Yeah, sure, sure.
They can be hard to find, but resources are available.
[00:25:07] Carroll Harris: There are many directions you could run for help.
The, the big thing is to reach out and make contact with someone.
I like to reference the 3 to 5.
[00:26:13] Bob: And if you know a veteran, you might be that battle buddy.
you could step up and help a veteran who might be at risk.
We can spread the word, let them know.
We can watch out for our brothers and our sisters.
We can be the battle buddy.
How can they be–, become a battle buddy?
It’s a little bit more nuanced than, than I would think a lot of people realize.
That whatever, whatever scam or scheme or the reason you think they may be being manipulated.
Some people, people might be responsive to it.
It takes, it takes engagement over time, right?
[00:28:28] Carroll Harris: Absolutely.
It takes engagement over time, it takes tenacity on the, the battle buddy or the caregiver.
(laugh)
[00:28:52] Bob: That’s going on my desk tomorrow.
“Rejection is the breakfast of champions.
Soak it up!”
[00:28:58] Carroll Harris: You’re welcome, you’re welcome.
And sometimes you break through, and sometimes you don’t.
But either way, you’re still a champion.
That might even be more true for veterans.
And it’s okay to come out of that bad place and to go help others.
And many of them do.
Because most of the time the assets are gone by the time it gets to us.
What should they do?
[00:31:37] Carroll Harris: Break contact and report to appropriate agencies.
If you don’t answer the phone calls, don’t answer the emails, reach out.
But there’s, there are many different types of scams and schemes that are out there.
Reach out to law enforcement and report it and break contact.
And if you think your identity’s already compromised, ensure you reach out to the credit reporting agencies.
you’re free to start to mitigate any damage that might have been done.
And talk to your battle buddy.
They may see opportunities for you to, to better protect yourself as your, as your nav mate.
Don’t go it alone.
No one has to go it alone.
There are people that want to help you.
[00:32:32] Bob: Nobody has to go it alone.
Such an important message, particularly for those who have made such sacrifices for us.
Michael is still sacrificing.
Yeah, you know what, worry about that.
Worry about that because your short-term financial situation is one thing.
Short term situations change.
That’s why they’re called short term.
Like that doesn’t sound like a crazy idea to me.
[00:34:38] Michael Haring: No, it, it, it doesn’t.
[00:35:36] Bob: Yeah, we’ve, we’ve covered plenty.
Well I want to thank you for your service.
[00:35:49] Michael Haring: I really hope it does.
They’ll, they’ll take whatever they can get.
They’ll take whatever they think they can, they can get away with.
[00:36:36] Michael Haring: Yeah, definitely.
[00:36:53] Bob: For The Perfect Scam, I’m Bob Sullivan.
Call the AARP Fraud Watch online grid Helpline at 877-908-3360.
Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next.
That address again is: theperfectscampodcast@aarp.org.
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.
In reality, he has a history of fraud
