The Trusted Scout: Your Military Consumer News & Alerts

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April 2012, VOL II, Issue 14

In This Month's Issue

First Lady Pushes Base Jobs for Troops' Spouses

'Massive' credit card data breach involves all major brands money

A U.S. sailor looks up at Friendship Bridge from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise while transiting the Suez Canal, April 4, 2012. U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Randy

SCAM ALERTS!

E-Book Fraud Leaves Consumers with Worthless Material

With the growing popularity of e-books, scammers have found ways to capitalize on this new method of buying books. Some of these scams offer worthless material at a low price while others target authors or authorized publishers by pirating their books.

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'Massive' Credit Card Data Breach Involves all Major Brands

A data breach at a payments processing firm has potentially compromised credit and debit card information from all of the major card brands.

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Beware - Scam Emails - That Appear to be sent by DFAS Employees!

There are emails being sent to individuals, including military members, military retirees, and civilian employees, which appear to be sent by a DFAS employee. Although the email appears to come from a DFAS employee and displays a dot mil address it is actually from a non-government email account. This is an example of what's called "spoofing."
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MILITARY CONSUMER
ISSUES & INITIATIVES

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Outlines Borrower-Friendly Approach to Mortgage Servicing

On Tuesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will outline rules it is considering to help protect mortgage borrowers from being hit by costly surprises or getting the runaround from their mortgage servicer. The CFPB plans to formally propose rules this summer and finalize them in January 2013.

First Lady Pushes Base Jobs for Troops' Spouses

Opening another front in her nearly year-old campaign to support service families, first lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday unveiled a new push for jobs on or near military bases.

Top Tips to Get Your Finances in Order

The FINRA National Financial Capability Study recently looked at the spending and saving habits of Americans and came up with some startling information:t.

A Good Education With the G.I. Bill

Service members and veterans looking to learn more about their educational benefits under the G.I. Bill may be in trouble if they plunge unprepared into the wilds of the Internet.

Unemployment for Post-9/11 Veterans May be Higher Than Thought

A new survey by a prominent veterans advocacy group has found an unemployment rate among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that is significantly higher than the rate reported in a recent government survey.

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Charmaine Bacon spends time with her daughter during her lunch hour at a park on base in Yokosuka, Japan, April 12, 2012. The park's cherry blossom trees are in full bloom, which is a symbol of spring in Japan and occurs only once a year. Bacon is an information systems technician assigned to Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka. U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Declan Barnes

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