Scam artists seem to be crawling out of every crack and crevice these days, but specifically targeting some of our poorest, sickest and most vulnerable disabled veterans is a new low. The following News Release issued by the VA on January 5th tells it all:

Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Hershel W. Gober warned veterans about a financial scam that offers lump-sum payments in exchange for monthly VA disability checks or pensions.

"These schemes seem to target the most desperate of our veterans," said Gober. "No financial expert on this planet would encourage anyone to accept 30 cents today if they could get a dollar tomorrow. Doing this to veterans is reprehensible."

Federal law outlaws the direct sale of VA benefits. VA is also prohibited from paying pensions and disability compensation to anyone other than a veteran, a family member or a lawful guardian.

The latest schemes, however, attempt to avoid the long-standing federal prohibition by representing these transactions as loans. Companies persuade veterans to give up their disability and pension checks for a specific period - up to eight years - in exchange for a lump-sum cash payment typically worth 30 - 40 percent over that same period. In some cases, the veteran must also take out a life insurance policy naming the company as beneficiary.

In the case of a veteran with a disability rated at 50 percent, it could mean receiving a one-time payment of about $20,000, then forfeiting a $609 monthly payment that in the course of eight years would bring in nearly $60,000.

"VA lawyers are still studying the fine print in these schemes to determine whether or not they are legal," Gober said. "Even if they're legal, they're despicable, because they take money away from people in the direst financial straits."

VA pensions go to wartime veterans incapable of self-support for reasons unrelated to their military service. VA disability compensation is paid to veterans with lingering health problems related to their time in uniform.

While we're talking about scams, here's another one to avoid:

The scam artist, claiming to be a telephone employee, calls and tells you that you've overpaid your phone bill; that if you can verify the personal information on your account, it will be credited with the amount you overpaid.

So, you give the caller the information he wants and almost before you hang up he's got a telephone calling card in your name, and is logging long distance calls to everywhere. You can avoid this very simply by remembering the following:

• Giving personal information to a stranger on the phone is a no-no.
• Overpayments are automatically credited to your next bill. No calls or information is necessary.
• Report unauthorized long distance charges to your long distance company ASAP.
• If you made a mistake and gave personal information to a caller, report the incident to your telephone company immediately.