By Staff
Staff reports
The Department of Veterans Affairs is urging veterans to learn more about consumer identity protections in the wake of the theft of personal information about 26.5 million veterans.
The data that was stolen includes names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for up to 26.5 million veterans and some spouses. That information could be used to steal identities, so the government is urging veterans to learn more about identity theft and about the incident.
The VA will send out individual notification letters to veterans to every extent possible.
Veterans can also go to www.firstgov.gov as well as www.va.gov/opa to get more information about the incident. The firstgov Web site is being set to handle increased web traffic.
Additionally, working with other government agencies, the VA has set up a manned call center that veterans may call to get information about this situation and learn more about consumer identity protections.
The toll-free number is 1-800-FED INFO (333-4636). The call center will operate from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday as long as it is needed. The call center will be able to handle up to 20,000 calls per hour (260,000 calls per day).