OPM has recently learned of an aggressive marketing push targeting
Federal annuitants. Companies are offering a cash payment in
exchange for a portion, or all, of your future annuity payments
generally much less than their long-term worth, and typically
charging high interest rates and fees.

We have specifically received numerous phone calls from one company
in particular asking us to not just verify annuity amounts, but also
banking information, including routing numbers and account numbers.
Our suspicions were confirmed by our Inspector General’s office who
discovered this company is currently under investigation by the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

CFPB lists three things you can do to protect your retirement
annuity:

1. Avoid loans with high fees and interest. Pension advance companies
may not always advertise their fees and interest rates, but you will
certainly feel feel them in your bottom line. Before you sign
anything, learn what you are getting and how much you are giving up.

2. Don’t sign over control of your benefits. Companies sometimes arrange
for monthly payments to be automatically deposited in a newly created
bank account so the company can withdraw payments, fees and interest
charges from the account. This leaves you with little control.

3. Don’t buy life insurance that you don’t want or need
Pension advance companies sometimes
require consumers to sign up for life insurance
with the company as the consumer’s beneficiary. If you
sign up for life insurance with the pension advance
company as your beneficiary, you could end up
footing the bill, whether you know it or not.

Go to (https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/consumer-advisory
-3-pension-advance-traps-to-avoid/) for more information.

Also feel free to report any suspected scams to OPM’s Office of
Inspector General (OIG) at:

OIG Hotline Number

877-499-7295

Or Write to

OPM Office of the Inspector General
1900 E Street NW Room #6400
Washington, DC 20415-1100

Or Submit a Complaint Form

Hotline Complaint Form

‘Inside the FBI: New York’: First Promo & Premiere Date For Dick Wolf’s USA Network Docuseries

by Erik Pedersen

March 24, 2017 6:00pm
Dick Wolf has another new show coming — but this one’s not an NBC procedural. The docuseries Inside the FBI: New York will premiere at 10 PM Thursday, April 27, on USA Network, the NBCUniversal-owned net said today. It also released the first promo for the series; watch it below.

Wolf executive produces Inside the FBI: NY, which comes from Emmy-winning filmmaker Marc Levin. It takes an unprecedented look at the Bureau’s New York field office. “The threat’s always evolving, so we always have to be evolving,” one agent says. “At any moment, without warning, anybody is a potential threat.” Says another: “While we do care about what’s going on overseas, New York is home, and this is where I’m worried about. Any time something happens here, I take it personal.”

The FBI has been under a microscope in recent months, with Director James Comey’s decision on Hillary Clinton’s email scandal late in the election cycle and especially this week’s hearing before the House Intelligence Committee. On Monday, Comey confirmed that the Bureau is investigating Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia and also said the FBI has “no information” to support Trump’s charge that President Obama wiretapped him.

Said Wolf, the man behind NBC’s Law & Order and Chicago franchises, ‎”Marc and his team were embedded with the FBI’s flagship New York office for over a year, and his extraordinary access has resulted in a never-before-seen look at the lives and work of the FBI agents who keep Americans safe.”

Inside the FBI: New York is a co-production between Wolf Reality and Brick City TV. Tom Thayer and Marc Benjamin also serve as executive producers alongside Wolf and Levin.

The location of the FBIRA Store at Headquarters has moved.

[restrict]The FBIRA Store at the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, or more commonly called FBI Headquarters, has officially made the move from the 8th floor of the building to the first-floor Visitor Center. The new FBIRA Store will be opening at Headquarters, Monday, February 13th, and the new room number is 1016. With this new location, visitors and former employees can enter the Visitor Center and shop in the FBIRA Store without having to request an escort to take you up to the 8th floor to go shopping. After March, you will be able to visit with appropriate photo identification without feeling that you must burden someone to get you in. As with any move there is some work to be done. The opening on the 13th will be a soft opening, but the move is official, and the 8th floor store is closed. The security portals to the visitor’s lobby will be moved in March to offer full access to all official visitors after they clear the sign in turnstiles. There should be a ribbon cutting in April.
The official address is:

FBI Recreation Association

935 Pennsylvania Ave NW, RM 1016

Washington, DC 20535-0001

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2017 Spring Board Meeting

The Wisconsin Chapter of the Society is pleased to once again host the Spring Board Meeting [restrict]in Milwaukee on Wednesday April 19 to Saturday April 22, 2017.  We will begin with a Wednesday evening hospitality gathering with various beverages and heavy snacks and, more importantly a chance for Board, Chapter, and other Society members to reconnect.

Lodging will be at the Clarion Hotel, 5311 South Howell Avenue, right across from the airport.  The room rate is $80 plus tax and the registration fee is also $80.  We encourage you to make your hotel reservation as soon as possible in order to get the type of room you desire.  To reserve your room, please contact the hotel directly at 414-481-2400, and ask for the “FBI Alumni Group” rate.  This is also the number you will use to call for the free hotel shuttle when you arrive at the Milwaukee airport.

The Society and Foundation meetings will be held on Thursday, with lunch provided between them and dinner that evening (NOTE:  Because of the nature of business to be addressed, e.g., review of education grant applications, the Foundation meeting is limited to only members of the Board.  Society members are welcome to attend and observe the Society Executive Board meeting.  It is not, however, an open meeting and participation in any discussion may only occur at the request of the Society President.)  As necessary any necessary “carryover” business for the Society or the Foundation will be conducted on Friday morning.

A tour of the new Milwaukee Office is planned for Friday afternoon (an incredible opportunity to reconnect with our roots, so to speak), with a museum visit you are sure to enjoy!  Enroute to the hotel, we will stop for dinner and a good ole Milwaukee Fish Fry.  While all are welcome to stay longer and enjoy Milwaukee, Saturday, April 22^nd is fixed for the end of the Spring meeting activities.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone.  Hopefully our Wisconsin weather will cooperate, but please join us regardless – our Alumni Friends are all we need for a good time when gathered together.  Please mark your calendars and plan on attending.  Click here for the registration form.

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The winter issue of The Informant is available. Go to Publication/Current Issue to see. You must be a member of to see it.

The Society Spring Board meeting has been scheduled for April 19 (arrival date) to April 22 (departure date) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. More details will be provided in the near future as it becomes available. 

Log in to see a letter from Headquarters concerning 9/11 Responder Benefits.

The FBI’s National Name Check Program in Winchester, VA is seeking to identify former FBI employees who are interested in reemployment with the FBI as members of the FBI Reserve Service Program (RSP). Click here for the full announcement.