Navy Reserve officer Jeff Chin says he has been closely watching his credit report and fending off attempts to steal his identity since 2015. That was the year he was embroiled in a massive data breach at the Federal Office of Personnel Administration. A hacker stole millions of records, including tens of thousands of service members who had applied for security clearances like Chin.
“That was obviously disturbing to me to hear that all of that information is now out there and in cyberspace,” Chin said. “It was more than just a passing annoyance. It was all my available information, and it was really jarring.”
Chin’s security clearance data was breached, and since then, he said he has been targeted by identity thieves trying to open credit cards and bank accounts in his name.
“It’s one of those things where we’re constantly looking for that email ping and monitoring service to say, ‘Hey, this flag came up,'” Chin said of his and his family’s efforts to make sure his data be safe. .
Even his wife and daughter have faced identity theft issues, which Chin attributes to the leak of his Navy background investigation. Still, he says he’s lucky: The gap didn’t derail his military career.
“My security clearance was no longer something that could affect my ability to switch to different jobs and do different assignments,” Chin said. “Others were not so lucky”.
Military families and veterans are nearly 40% more likely than civilians to become victims of scammers and cyberthieves, with 80% of attacks specifically targeting their military benefits, according to AARP.
Chin is now the CEO of the New England chapter of Blue Star Families. The advocacy group has partnered with Aura, a cybersecurity company, to educate service members and their families about how the military lifestyle puts them at higher risk for fraud.
Navy reservist Jeff Chin, pictured here in Afghanistan in 2018, is a victim of identity theft. “All my information was available, and it was really jarring,” he said of the data breach that exposed his Navy background check.
Aura founder Hari Ravichandran said the 2015 attack on the Office of Personnel Management is just one of the threats.
“The sector that we see as being particularly vulnerable is military personnel who are deployed overseas,” Ravichandran said, because they may not have easy access to monitor their bank account and credit report. Additionally, members of the service typically move every few years, creating opportunities for hackers to steal your personal data.
Ravichandran said the threats extend beyond active duty troops.
“We’ve talked to a lot of veterans who had no idea their identity was stolen,” Ravichandran said. “Now they end up moving, applying for a mortgage, and then they can’t get a mortgage because so much of their credit information is messed up.”
He said veterans are attractive targets for criminals because they have access to a host of government benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs, such as disability payments and loans for housing and education.
“The responsibility to clean it up falls on the military family, and that’s the problem with a lot of these types of thefts: You have to prove to the bank and the credit bureaus that you weren’t the person who actually had these negative events. and sometimes that takes months,” Ravichandran said, adding that service members need to be proactive in protecting their personal data through password managers and credit monitoring.
Chin, the Navy reservist with Blue Star Families, said he and his family have grown accustomed to constantly monitoring their credit reports for suspicious activity.
“It’s added a layer of work, frankly: administrative work to support my military career,” said Chin, who in addition to his position with Blue Star Families also works for a social work nonprofit in Massachusetts. “It’s hard enough being a reservist when you’re managing a full-time job as a civilian, and then reserve duty is often more than a part-time job.”
He said he is particularly concerned about new scams targeting veterans who were exposed to foreign burn pits or affected by water contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Every time veterans-related laws are passed, such as the PACT Act to expand benefits for troops exposed to toxins, Chin said he receives a flood of fraudulent emails claiming to offer help accessing benefits.
“I can say with confidence that everyone I’ve come across in the military is bombarded with these kinds of requests,” Chin said. “Some of them are very obvious scams, but some of them have become very sophisticated.”
This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration reporting on American military life and veterans. The funds come from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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