Attorney General shuts down website for preying on veterans - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Alabama's Attorney General said a private company has been preying on veterans, and he ordered it to shut down.  

An investigation that spanned several states revealed that the website www.gibill.com was deceiving service members on how to use GI benefits.

Now, the company must pay back more than $2-million.

The state alleges that the owners of the website violated Alabama's consumer protection laws on its website for pointing veterans to universities as "eligible GI bill schools."
 
The Attorney General said the site was misleading and gave the appearance that it was a government endorsed site.

It also gave the impression to service members that a certain list of schools were the only schools where they could use their veteran benefits when, in fact, they were "for-profit" schools the site was getting paid to advertise.

In the settlement, the owners of gibill.com will shut down the website, including their Twitter and Facebook accounts and pay a total of 20 states $2.5-million for violating consumer protection laws.

Still Serving Veterans, a local veteran support organization that points them in the right direction for employment and benefits, said this hurts vets and the trust they have in organizations that do the right thing.

"It's appropriate that they get the benefits and services they've earned, particularly their educational benefits that help them as they reintegrate into new lives and new careers. So it's really unfortunate where an organization is intentionally misleading and deceptive," said Will Webb, Still Serving Veterans President.

Copyright 2012 WAFF. All rights reserved.