I got a letter from the VA today...

Get a load of THIS!

Some employee at the V.A. (Veteran's Administration) took the files for 26,000,000 Vets home and his house got robbed, yep, they got the discs with all the data on them... The VA sent us all a letter teling us not to worry that some random thief has our Names, Adresses, Social Security Numbers, and birthdays.

Cheeeerist!

Springer...

[edit on 6-7-2006 by Springer]

Hey Springer....

Yeah... I saw that too. Of COURSE "They" are NOT WORRIED... it's NOT THIER IDENTITIES that were COMPROMISED!

"Here Ye, Here Ye, Here Ye..... Step Right Up For A Whopping Spoonful Of Government STUPIDITY!"

..... and the award for the biggest Dumb Buttocks Is........... (drum roll).... the GOVERMENT of the UNITED STATES......

Sheesh....

Dave

[edit on 6/7/2006 by Dave Rabbit]

I can't believe that happened...actually I can.

I knew that when I got out of the military, I would have to deal with the VA.

Does anyone else hate going there as much as I do?

The laptop that was stolen also included the personal identities of 2 million active duty personnel...

I'll look for a link...

EDIT: Here it is...

2.2 million active-duty personnel in VA data theft

Nearly all active-duty military, Guard and Reserve members -- about 2.2 million total -- may be at risk for identity theft because their personal information was among the data stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee last month.

In a new disclosure Tuesday, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said the agency was mistaken when it said over the weekend that up to 50,000 Navy and National Guard personnel were among the 26.5 million veterans whose names, birthdates and Social Security numbers were stolen on May 3.

The number is actually much higher.

More...

Unbelievable, isn't it? "Nearly all active-duty military, Guard and Reserve members..." and "...26.5 million veterans..." :shk:

Springer: I'm actually shocked there wasn't already a thread on this... Is there not? I didn't even bother, because I assumed that someone would certainly have already posted it...


[edit on 7-6-2006 by loam]

What really TINKLES me off..... is that ALL OF US.... have to take enough precautions as it is to protect ourselves and our families..... HOME SHREADERS, ENCRIPTED PASSWORDS, etc..... and to have SOME IDIOT lose everything for a simple act of STUPIDITY...... just ENRAGES ME!

GRRRRRRRRRR !

Dave

Springer, you should write a letter back demanding them to give you a new identity
No, wait, maybe that's how they're going to resolve this.
Seriously, this is a bad situation. I'ld like to read what the final investigation report says. On the other hand, maybe the disc is in a dump by now. I heard on some news, that VA would pay for credit reports--they should do this for life. Yes, one stupid act.

You would think that they would have back up discs.

Like a second set, you know, like if, something like this happens.

Sheesh!

I wonder who's got the social security discs?

Crap, this could really be a mess to fix. Information like that probably shouldn't have been on a mobile laptop.

My conspiracy side wants to sniff out a conspiracy, could there be one? Not saying that there is a conspiracy. But we some how keep having these big things happen in this country anymore that seem to require more than usual measures, such as security measures, to "fix" or "safeguard" us. Just some thoughts.

Troy

As in, could this be another secret ploy from the government so that possible upcoming events could benefit somehow from this "supposed" loss?

Or maybe better yet- I can hope can't I? - maybe a do good government insider became aware of some sinister inside plot, and decided to lose the records of all these military people, thereby alleviating their trackability somehow?

Damn my mind wanders too much...

I just LOVE this FRIGGIN PLACE!

Dave

Well it would certainly seem there is a conspiracy, I mean, come on! Records like this should not be so portable, especially by a lone government employee!
They should be on hard drives, discs, stamped on gold plates and *GASP* paper (like what voter ballots should be on)!
This stinks to high heaven!

What is the chances of the US government IRS losing tax records? Especially records of
people that owe, I don't think they'd EVER lose that stuff!

(I wish the bank would lose my debt records, that would be real nice!

"Uh, this is the bank of ________, seems we have lost all your records, how much did you owe us?" )

"P.I.F.!"

I got my letter from the VA today also.

The only thing I can say is that if anybody wants to steal my identity; go ahead, I'm not using it anyway.

Probably another ploy to make us except more security measures.

I've had a feeling for awhile that the whole stolen identity hype is just to condition us to fear the theft of our identity, real or imagined.
Is this a ramping up of a conditioning program?

Once the seed is sown, the population will start excepting things like, 'chip implants'...To protect themselves from identity theft?

BTW didn't get my letter yet....

[edit on 8/6/2006 by ANOK]

Well what I see is, The VA says to you, sorry your information has been stolen, and now we really don't know for sure you are who you say you are. But we have a solution to this little problem, in that we are going to issue you a brand new biometric identification card that you can use from now on. Oh that chip we want to put in the back of your neck no worries, that is for security with out it your ID card will deactivate so anyone with your card can not use it. Next.

I've never used a single benefit. I've never contacted them for anything period. The first time I ever hear form these morons is them telling me they've allowed my identity to be lifted. NICE!

The last paragraph of the letter indicates they used the IRS's database to get our addresses but "the IRS did not give the VA any tax or financial information on any Vets"... So what?! Who cares about that? With the data the idiot lost they have everything they need to open credit accounts, pilfer existing accounts, talk about a phishing score!

Oh man what a bunch of losers, Dave Rabbit is CORRECT, the grand prize winner is the U.S. Government..

I wouldn't laugh off a conspiracy angle to this too quickly either. With the Patriot Act and some other recently admitted activity involving the NSA and the Telecoms ANYTHING is possible today.

Springer...

I haven't received my letter yet. I have a 70% disability. I have traveled around a lot in the past 10 years. Why is it that the VA in Tulsa can't get my records from the VA in Reno, yet some yahoo in Washington has all of my info?

The thing that gets me is why wasn't the data encrypted. I mean, if it was on a portable medium, whether disc or laptop hard drive or whatever, then there is a chance that it could fall into the wrong hands. Of course, the data never should have been taken home in the first place...

DC.... it WASN'T encrypted because the only education level that everyone there has that handles important things like that is from the McDonald's Institute.

"Where's that darn Big Mac?"

Dave

of course the VA clerk/analyst might well have 'sold' the data instead of it being stolen. ...i guess thats what the investigation is for.

i've heard the VA (veterans affairs not veterans administration) is offering a $50K reward for the container of discs.

Of course, the SSNs of Vets since 1975, an admitted 2.6 million or 26 million,
sure makes the water murky
with 10s of millions of Illegal Aliens trying to acquire SSNs
or true ID numbers instead of just picking 9 # in a crap-shoot
in their attempt to fashion an American identity
or to prove they were here longer than the TWO year requirement
of the amnesty mess in congress

is this just the 'tip' of the iceberg?

There was just another 'identity theft' story on the news. This one claiming her identity has been stolen 200 times and she isn't getting any help. One thing she said was, how can you prove who you are anymore, when every piece of ID you have can be copied by someone else? Or words to that effect.
So you go to open a bank acount,
'Sir, we need to verify your identity.' You hand over your drivers licence.
'Sorry sir we no longer except paper identification. We have to scan your chip.'
'But I didn't get the chip.'
'Sorry G'day sir!'

If people were scared into not excepting paper ID anymore, it would be the easiest way to force the chip on people, and solve the identity theft problem.

(Until they start maiming or killing people to steal their chip)


[edit on 8/6/2006 by ANOK]