Currently, parents don’t have access to a child’s medical records from the time they turn 13, “based on current departmental policy,” Lt. Gen. Mary K. Izaguirre said Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army.

In addition, children don’t have ID cards to sign in to the Defense Enrollment Eligibility System (DEERS), she said. Children must be at least 18 to log in to the system.

The question of parents’ access came up during a family forum at AUSA. Izaguirre said the issue is one of her husband’s favorite topics, and “I share his passion for it,” she said.

For now, parents must go to the patient administration offices at their military treatment facilities and have their teenage children sign consent forms to give parents permission for access to their medical records.

“That’s a barrier,” Izaguirre said, adding that “we’ve been working with the [Defense Health Agency], and the [Department of Health and Human Services]” to address the hurdle.

The issue stems from privacy laws and has come up in various settings with military families.

Researchers with the organization Feedback were “surprised at how often this came up, not just one parent at one base,” said Erin Domagola, the research director at the organization. Feedback analyzed comments received in the Federal Register, following a Defense Department solicitation in March for comments and suggestions from military families on how DoD could improve their quality of life.

Feedback uses applied anthropology, behavioral science and digital ethnography to understand what people experience and why.

The company independently analyzed Federal Register military family comments from 2024 to 2026 about quality of life. While there were a relatively small number of comments overall —117 in 2026 — it does provide a window into some of the concerns and suggestions, the researchers said.

The Social Security Administration’s COLA announcement Wednesday sets the rate of increase for about 72 million Social Security beneficiaries, but also for military retirees and people receiving veterans benefits. The increase goes into effect in January and is 0.8% higher than the 2.8% COLA in 2026.

It’s the biggest increase in four years.

Officials estimate that on average, the monthly Social Security benefit will increase by $75.

As an example, a military retiree who receives $2,500 in retired pay will see a COLA increase of about $90 per month.

For a veteran receiving $1,500 per month in benefits, the increase would be about $54 in 2027.

In 2024, Congress passed legislation that ties increases in veterans’ benefits to the rate of Social Security increases. The cost-of-living increase applies to disability compensation, clothing allowances and dependency and indemnity benefits, as well as some other Department of Veterans Affairs assistance programs.

The COLA is designed to ensure benefits keep pace with inflation. The calculation is based on the Consumer Price Index, which tracks the cost of a wide range of items and calculates inflation and changes in the cost of living.

The 2026 COLA was 2.8%, a few ticks higher than the 2025 COLA of 2.5%.

Those with personal “my Social Security” accounts can view their COLA notice online starting in late November, a few weeks earlier than those who receive paper notices in the mail, officials said.

The Defense Health Agency announced in mid-September that it was switching from the older login process, DS Logon, to a new program called myAuth for the MHS Genesis system.

DS Logon required lengthy passwords that had to be changed frequently, while myAuth promised a more “user-friendly experience” and improved security, according to DHA.

Following the transition, however, some patients have been unable to access their own medical records. Sponsors must grant access permission to their spouses and dependents, and in some cases, dependent children aren’t showing up on either parent’s accounts.

“Just stop changing things. Every time one system finally starts working and everyone gets used to it, you switch it up. Tricare online was fine. Genesis was fine,” an Army spouse wrote on Tricare’s Facebook page.

In response, DHA announced Sept. 25 that the patient portal would remain “fully accessible via DS Logon.”

But beneficiaries say when they use the old DS Logon system, they are redirected to the myAuth login page and still cannot access family records.

“I can log in and see all my stuff. I can send out messages and receive them … but nothing for my kids,” a military spouse said in a direct message to Military Times. “To message their doctor, I have to send a message through my name and put in the subject my child’s name.”

DHA spokeswoman Brenda Campbell said Thursday that DHA is working with the Defense Manpower Data Center to resolve the issues. DMDC manages the myAuth system and is responsible for the transition from DS Logon, she said.

“MyAuth is a new digital login that replaces DS Logon for accessing [Defense Department] websites and applications, like the MHS GENESIS Patient Portal. We are aware of the issues associated with the transition and are providing that feedback to DMDC to ensure appropriate fixes are applied,” Campbell said.

According to DHA, MyAuth will provide more ways to log in to the MHS Patient Portal, allow for use of a Common Access Card, verification through the Okta mobile app and other authentication choices.

It also has a simpler interface that is more user-friendly, DHA officials added.

“The switch to myAuth means a simpler, more secure experience in MHS Genesis Patient Portal,” they said.

Another change to the Defense Department’s information technology systems will affect Military Health System patients and Tricare beneficiaries this weekend: a planned outage of the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, or DEERS, as it transitions to a cloud-based system.

DEERS will be offline from 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Friday, Oct. 9, to Sunday, Oct. 11, although the Pentagon has not specified a time.

During the outage, beneficiaries won’t be able to update their DEERS records and pharmacies and healthcare providers may not be able to check a patient’s Tricare eligibility.

The DEERS database contains information about military personnel, retirees, family members and civilian employees.

The planned outage is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Friday, Oct. 9, and end Sunday, Oct. 11. As of Thursday, information was not available about what specific time the outage is expected to end on Sunday.

During the outage, beneficiaries won’t be able to make any updates to their DEERS record. Pharmacies and healthcare providers may not be able to check a patient’s Tricare eligibility.

Officials note that there are other benefits systems that rely on DEERS, and the outage may affect those systems, too.

The Defense Manpower Data Center is updating DEERS, and it will be moving to a new cloud environment.

“The Defense Health Agency is working closely with DMDC during this time,” officials said in an announcement about the planned outage. “The goal is to keep any disruption as small as possible.”

DEERS is a database of information about military personnel, Defense Department and military service civilians and their family members. To get Tricare coverage, beneficiaries must be registered in DEERS.

Beneficiaries who need to make changes, or who need to check their information in DEERS, should do so before the weekend by visiting milconnect before 9 p.m. Friday.

This year’s Tricare Open Season begins Nov. 9 and ends Dec. 8. During that time, beneficiaries can enroll in or change their health plan for the next year. Changes made during open season will take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Starting in November, veterans won’t have to pay insurance premiums for three months, ending in January 2027, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs announcement.

All told, the break is expected to save veterans nearly $150 million in insurance payments, officials said.

On average, veterans pay about $110 a month for VGLI coverage. VGLI insurance premiums vary and increase every five years as veterans age. Payments range from $30 a month for the maximum $500,000 in insurance to $2,200 a month for the maximum coverage for veterans 80 and older.

All veterans with VGLI policies are eligible for the premium holiday if they have a current policy that hasn’t lapsed or been cancelled due to non-payment of premiums.

Eligible veterans don’t have to take any action. They will be automatically exempted from the three months of premium payments and will be notified by letter or email within the coming weeks if they are eligible. Many veterans pay by allotment from military retired pay, or by withdrawals from their bank account.

Those veterans who paid in advance can either receive credit on their policies for three months or ask for refunds, officials said.

Officials said the program’s financial performance has been “incredibly strong,” making the premium holiday possible.

“VA is all about making life better and more affordable for veterans, and this premium holiday will help the men and women who served this nation keep more of their hard-earned money,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins in the announcement about the initiative.

Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance coverage doesn’t automatically carry over after leaving the military. Everyone leaving the military with SGLI coverage qualifies to sign up for VGLI, with certain time limits.

However, VGLI is more expensive than SGLI, so experts advise shopping around for other life insurance options. One advantage of VGLI is that veterans who sign up within 240 days of leaving the military don’t need to prove they’re in good health.

The class action, filed before the Merit Systems Protection Board, pursues compensation for five current and former federal civilian employees who also serve in the military. The suit is against the Departments of Defense, Justice and Veterans Affairs, according to the motion shared with Military Times.

The suit says the reservists served on qualifying active duty during a declared national emergency and were not paid the difference between their civilian salary and military pay.

Those listed in the class action are: Army Reserve Capt. Lacy Jaudon, Army Reserve Lt. Col. Shahara Timbrook, Army reservist Shea Matthew Gibbons, Navy reservist Bryce Miller, and Army Reserve Capt. John Mezzanotte.

Some of the reservists served on active duty dating back to 2016, while two are still under orders through Sept. 30.

Reservist differential pay was enacted by Congress in 2009 to protect eligible federal civilian employees who are members of the Reserve or National Guard from taking a pay cut when called to active duty during a declared national emergency.

Following that passage, the Office of Personnel Management restricted the types of active-duty service that are eligible for differential pay.

The class action comes over a year after the Supreme Court ruled in Feliciano v. Department of Transportation that federal employees called to active-duty service are entitled to such pay, dismissing OPM’s guidance that it has to be related to a national emergency.

“The Supreme Court could not have been clearer: These men and women earned this pay, and the law requires the government to make them whole,” Andrew Tutt, who argued Feliciano v. DoT and is now the reservists’ counsel, said in the statement. “They held up their end of the bargain. It is long past time for the government to hold up its own.”

The suit asserts that the government told the Supreme Court it would change its guidance twice but has not yet done so. The delay prompted multiple lawsuits, including one filed in August by an Army reservist and Department of Veterans Affairs attorney Marcus Colicelli against OPM.

The new suit also aims to recover compensation from an existing class action, Platero v. United States, which is being argued before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. That lawsuit argues that USERRA claims brought before the Merit Systems Protection Board can have no statute of limitations.

“We went suddenly from business attire to very casual, and that happened overnight, so we had to adjust very quickly to that shift,” he said during a recent interview with Military Times.

Even now, customers haven’t returned completely to previous norms, he said. There have been some significant shifts in tastes, and fashion needs have focused more on beauty products and footwear.

“We’re meeting the needs of the customer, as customers transition to a different focus, both in apparel and in other categories,” Shull said.

Shull, who retired in June, is the longest-serving director in AAFES’ 131-year history and the first civilian to serve in that position. He’s an Army veteran and came into the job with a variety of commercial retail experience, where his primary focus was improving the customer experience.

AAFES and all the services’ exchange systems are open to eligible military customers of all branches of service.

In his 14-year tenure, Shull fought to extend the online exchange benefit to all honorably discharged veterans; reduced AAFES’ debt from $2.4 billion to zero; increased customer satisfaction to 95%; fought off efforts to privatize or consolidate military stores; and weathered the COVID-19 pandemic to keep stores open and customers safe, among other accomplishments.

“Tom Shull spent his career working on behalf of service members and military families,” said Eileen Huck, director of government relations for the National Military Family Association. “He recognized the importance of the exchange to military families, especially those stationed overseas, and worked tirelessly to ensure that military families had access to essential products at reasonable prices.”

When he came aboard in 2012, Shull changed AAFES’ heavy focus on private-label brands and included more choices in name brands in a variety of areas.

“We should have focused on the fact that our service members want to receive the same respect and opportunities that their counterparts do off the installation,” Shull said, noting that he made decisions based on data.

The agency pivoted to expand choices of name brands like Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren, and it focused on providing new movies. It showed first-run movie premieres in deployed areas and offered name-brand eateries on installations, he said.

The exchanges provide these products and services at varying discounts, but purchases are also tax-free. AAFES has been expanding to partnerships with companies like Home Depot and Bass Pro Shops.

AAFES still provides a robust selection of private-label options, which are generally cheaper.

Primary focus: young troops and families

AAFES’ core customers are young, active-duty service members and their families, Shull said.

“We do everything we can to provide for their needs,” he said.

Their efforts have paid off: In 2025, AAFES’ customer satisfaction rating was 95%, up two points from 2024. Ten years ago, the rating was 68%.

Part of meeting the needs of the military community has been expanding their customer base.

“His greatest legacy was expanding the benefit to a larger veteran group,” said Steve Rossetti, president of the American Logistics Association, representing companies that sell products and services to the military resale community.

Under Shull’s leadership, AAFES’ customer base has more than doubled, from 12 million to 30 million. It expanded its online shopping benefit to all veterans who served honorably.

“It was one of those things that I was so honored to be a part of,” Shull said. “It took us a long time,” he said, but it is a meaningful benefit for veterans to be able to shop online tax-free.

Since Veterans Day 2017, when they became eligible, more than 1 million veterans have created accounts on ShopMyExchange.com, spending $700 million. Previously, veterans who didn’t retire from the military generally didn’t have online exchange shopping privileges.

In addition, since Jan 1, 2020, all veterans with service-connected disability ratings from 0% to 100% can shop in-store at military exchanges, and more than 600,000 have used their new benefit in AAFES stores.

“Our customer really values their lifelong connection to the military community, and that really is apparent, not just in their gratitude for being able to receive this benefit, but in terms of sales and earnings that we can then dedicate to active duty service members and their families,” Shull said. “Veterans and even disabled veterans pay forward to support active duty.”

AAFES has returned about $3.4 billion in dividends out of profits to the military community to support quality of life since 2012.

“That has become really more important than ever, especially as during certain times with certain administrations there has been a shortage of appropriated funds to support quality of life,” Shull said.

Looking back on his time as director, Shull’s biggest challenge was navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. The AAFES team aggressively acquired personal protective equipment, such as masks, gloves and acrylic protective screens, and it balanced the safety of employees and customers in a great time of uncertainty, while continuing with the ever-important mission to provide needed products to military customers.

The exchanges first experienced the effects of the pandemic in the Pacific, then in Europe before the disease moved to the continental United States.

Throughout his tenure, Shull led the effort to shore up AAFES’ financial underpinnings. The agency reduced its debt load by $2.4 billion, down to zero, giving AAFES more flexibility and capacity to move quickly to fund operations in various circumstances.

The team has aggressively reduced its overhead costs. Without furloughs or layoffs, it reduced the number of personnel by 40%, from 40,000 to 24,000, through attrition.

“We pay our associates well and executives well,” he said, but they don’t exist to pay high bonuses or to give extraordinary dividends to shareholders. “We exist to serve soldiers, airmen, guardians, Marines, sailors and their families,” Shull said.

A ‘sacrosanct’ benefit

In his years at AAFES, Shull has come to describe the military resale system as “sacrosanct.”

“I feel that passionately,” he said, “because it’s such an important benefit.”

He’s weathered multiple efforts, mostly within the Defense Department, to privatize, consolidate, or otherwise drastically change the commissary and exchange benefits.

“There’s always been a very high reluctance by retailers if they were interested in acquiring the stores, to support service members down range, among other things,” he said.

AAFES has more than 300 operations supporting deployed troops in Southwest Asia, Eastern Europe, the Pacific and Africa.

“We have 24 mobile field exchanges, which aren’t inexpensive, 53-foot retail trailers that rapidly deploy to disaster zones, contingency locations, training exercises, without any taxpayer dollars,” he said. “A commercial retailer would shutter exchange facilities in remote and isolated locations, because there would be no financial justification for keeping them open.”

In addition, there would be no financial incentive for private sector stores to sell military clothing items at cost; or to serve the 3.5 million school lunches AAFES serves at DoD schools overseas each year at cost; or to contribute profits to installations’ quality of life programs.

Commercial entities might not put the same emphasis on hiring military spouses and veterans that AAFES does, which has resulted in hiring 68,000 since 2013, he said. Not all of those are still within the AAFES ranks, but they do have access to an associate transfer program, where spouses can apply for jobs wherever their spouse may be stationed in the next permanent change of station move.

AAFES has also increased the credit toward retirement from five to seven years for veterans joining their workforce.

The next steps for Shull remain to be determined.

“I want to spend more time with my family. They’ve been so supportive. The reason I’ve been able to continue to focus on the military is because they’ve been so supportive … Serving those who serve has been the honor of my life,” he said.

He’s confident AAFES will be in good hands with the next director and CEO, Brad Bingham.

The two have worked together for 14 years. Bingham was most recently deputy director and chief financial officer.

“He’ll be very committed to continuing the positive momentum we began 14 years ago. He understands our culture, he understands the need to focus on the core customer, the service members and their families,” Shull said. “The time is right for me to move on. I’m ready to have the next generation carry this great company forward.”

In a notice expected in the Federal Register on Thursday, the Defense Department will launch a three-year pilot in September that will reimburse eligible troops to preserve their gametes before deployment.

The benefit, required under the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, will pay service members up to $500 per year for sperm retrieval and cryopreservation and $10,000 per year for egg preservation services.

Those eligible include active-duty DoD personnel who receive orders qualifying for hazardous duty pay, those who expect to get such orders within 120 days and those geographically separated from a “spouse, domestic partner or dating partner” for 180 days or more.

Military families and family planning advocates have lobbied for more than a decade to increase access to fertility services, to include cryopreservation of sperm and egg cells before combat deployments, in vitro fertilization and other advanced reproduction treatments.

In 2014, the Bob Woodruff Foundation sponsored a one-of-a-kind, two-day conference on intimacy and family issues among the combat injured that highlighted the need among wounded personnel to have broader access to family planning counseling, gamete banking and fertility treatments.

Nearly 2,000 troops received debilitating injuries to their groins or genital regions between 2000 and 2013, and 307,000 service members experienced some type of head injury during the same time frame — injuries that sometimes can affect fertility and sex drive.

In 2016, then Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that the Pentagon would begin covering sperm and egg freezing for service members, but the planned pilot never came to fruition following the election later that year of President Donald Trump.

Military families have often spent their own money on cryopreservation as a safeguard, and in extreme cases, have paid to extract sperm from dying loved ones to ensure the possibility of advanced reproductive services.

In 2019, the parents of West Point Cadet Peter Zhu extracted their son’s sperm after he was fatally injured in a skiing accident. They argued in court that Zhu had expressed wanting to have a family someday, and they wanted to preserve his sperm to provide future options.

In Israel, since the start of the Gaza conflict, the military has started offering the option to retrieve the sperm of deceased service members when delivering casualty notifications, according to The New York Times.

Since at least 2022, organizations such as the Military Family Building Coalition, Resolve: The National Infertility Association and others have provided free cryopreservation services to some service members, but until now, no government assistance has been available for deploying troops.

How the program works

Under the pilot, service members can elect to obtain preservation services at a military treatment facility that offers reproductive programs or through a civilian clinic of their choice.

Commanders must validate eligibility, as the Defense Health Agency does not have access to orders. To receive reimbursement, eligible troops must have written affirmation from their commands.

Reimbursement must be requested within 120 days after covered services began — usually the date of retrieval, prescription or lab procedure. Troops must submit itemized invoices and DHA Form 459.

Service members could be eligible for the program more than once within the three-year pilot. Any decisions regarding continued storage, disposition or later use following participation “are solely the responsibility of the covered member and outside the scope of the program,” according to the announcement.

Throughout the pilot, the DoD plans to study the program’s popularity, its cost, continued feasibility and impact on readiness, according to the announcement.

More information on the benefit will be available in the Aug. 13 edition of the Federal Register.

“It’s an order that’s long overdue,” Trump said during a signing ceremony at the White House, flanked by more than a dozen military spouses who will be part of the new commission. The President’s Military Spouse Commission will make suggestions for improving quality of life in the areas of spouse employment, housing, education, childcare, healthcare, deployment-related support “and just about everything else you can think of,” Trump said.

He noted the strains of separation from loved ones deployed overseas and the frequency of permanent change of station moves.

These are “generational issues that are long overdue to address,” said Jennifer Hegseth, wife of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and chairman of the commission, which will include more than 20 members.

For more than a decade, military spouses have struggled with unemployment rates above 20%, in addition to various problems with housing, lack of affordable childcare and persistent issues with access to health care.

The commission’s duties will include connecting with military spouses to determine common areas of concern, according to the executive order.

Commission members will include Christie Mullin, the wife of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, as well as the spouses of the service secretaries, spouses of the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and spouses of the services’ senior enlisted advisers.

“It means the world to me that you highlight the enlisted corps,” said one senior enlisted member’s wife who spoke at the ceremony.

Trump said that collectively, these spouses have more than 400 years of experience as active-duty spouses.

“America couldn’t have the strongest military in the world without the love and devotion of our remarkable military spouses, who make extraordinary sacrifices for our country,” Trump said.

The spouses will serve without compensation, but they may receive reimbursement for travel expenses. The group will meet each month at the White House and will provide a report on the issues at the end of each fiscal year for as long as the commission exists. The commission will end two years from now, unless the president extends it, according to the executive order.

It’s unclear how or if the commission will work with the congressionally mandated Department of Defense Family Readiness Council, which is now in the process of being reconstituted. That council hasn’t met since DOD ordered a review of all advisory committees in early 2025. For over ten years, the council examined issues affecting military families. At most, they met twice each year.

A congressional push to improve quality of life resulted in pay raises in 2025 that targeted younger enlisted troops, as well as other initiatives. But service officials and families have said there are lingering, persistent concerns in areas such as childcare, spouse employment, housing and healthcare, among others.

Previous initiatives during the Biden and Obama administrations also aimed to raise awareness of issues for military families.

On July 2, two men approached the young sailor, claiming they had lost their wallets and needed help paying for a hotel room.

“The men gained possession of his phone under the pretense of entering reimbursement information electronically,” the father wrote in an email to Military Times. “Shortly afterward, he discovered an unauthorized transfer from his Navy Federal Credit Union account.”

Young service members are increasingly targeted by financial scammers who, in recent years, have employed everything from romance and investment schemes to fraudulent debt-relief offers and rental and housing scams during PCS season. Military spouses have also been targeted.

The Federal Trade Commission reported that military consumers, including active duty, veterans and families, lost $584 million to fraud in 2024.

The incident with the sailor, who is stationed in Suffolk, Virginia, occurred around 5:30 p.m. in the parking lot of a Wawa in Norfolk.

The scammers were able to use his banking app to transfer a large sum of money, according to Norfolk Police Department spokeswoman Noel Lipieko.

“These scams only take seconds to complete,” Lipieko said. “Detectives say entry-level military personnel do appear to be disproportionately impacted by scammers and remind everyone to always be cautious about letting someone you don’t know use your cell phone, by politely declining or offering to call for help on their behalf.”

The investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Carrie Foran Sepulveda, vice president for fraud and physical security strategy at Navy Federal Credit Union, called the scam “digital mugging.” Navy Federal has seen an increase in these parking lot scams over the last few years, she said.

Military-connected consumers are also particularly vulnerable to scams because of frequent moves and changing addresses, said Jason Stverak, chief advocacy officer for the Defense Credit Union Council.

Defense credit unions, meanwhile, use a multi-layered approach to fight fraud and scams, he said. These efforts include consumer education and employee training, but also extensive oversight of the financial institution’s own systems through real-time transaction monitoring, alerts that allow members to confirm or deny suspicious activity, and other checks.

Financial institutions, tech companies, government agencies and law enforcement, among others, are working together to find ways to prevent these scams and help victims recover money when possible.

“I know the military community is a very giving community,” Foran Sepulveda said. However, handing someone an unlocked phone “is the difference between handing them a $20 bill and handing them your whole wallet,” she said. “Even the kindest, most generous person is not going to say, ‘Take my ID, take my credit cards, take everything.’”

Parking lot scammers have also used other tactics, such as feigning an emergency, to gain access to a person’s phone and money. Beyond the in-person encounter, fraudulent phone calls, emails and texts have also proven to be a frequent medium for scammers.

A scammer may pretend to be someone else or send a text message that appears like an innocent wrong number before steering the conversation into precarious territory. The unpaid toll violation notice is another common scam, and some have reported getting calls about being imminently arrested due to not showing up for jury duty.

Foran Sepulveda says Navy Federal and other financial institutions are taking steps to educate their members about the ever-evolving scams.

Financial institutions like Foran Sepulveda’s are liable when fraud occurs with unauthorized transactions, but not for authorized scams. While financial institutions work to detect fraud internally, the problem takes on new complexity when criminals work directly with the target to set them up for a payday.

“If the scammers can convince you, get that trust built with you before you even open your [financial institution’s] app, there’s just no way for us to know what happened before,” Foran Sepulveda said. “At some point, it is your money, and we have to let our members make their own choices.”

There are some red flags institutions look for, however, such as wire transactions — especially high-dollar moves. Once such a scam is detected, financial institutions attempt to prevent money from leaving the account.

Foran Sepulveda said Navy Federal also works with a company that uses artificial intelligence to “scam the scammer,” getting the account information for the money transfer.

So, if a member wants to send money to what they might perceive as an appealing account, “whatever story [they] might come in with, I feel confident in saying no. … I know this account is being used to get scam dollars,” Foran Sepulveda said.

Experts suggest the following when spotting and avoiding scams:

• Watch out for tell-tale signs, including intense pressure to quickly move money.
• Decide on a family code word in case a scammer calls asking for emergency money for a family member “in trouble.”
• Be aware that scammers are now often using AI-generated voice impersonation.
• If you are the victim of fraud or a scam, contact your financial institution immediately and report it to law enforcement.
• Ignore scam texts, but know that they are getting more clever.
• If receiving a call from someone claiming to be from your financial institution, hang up and call that institution directly.