Today we honor our nation’s greatest heroes.

From the time our fledgling country was founded in 1776 until the present day, countless brave and honorable men and women spilled their blood for our great nation.

They marched into battle without giving a second thought to the long road ahead. They weren’t thinking about their future or retirement or the state of health care in 30, 40 or 50 years down the road.

All that was important to them was getting the job done and safeguarding the people they were called upon to protect — both overseas and here at home.

For this reason alone, recent hearings before the Senate Committee on Aging, including an impassioned plea by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, aimed at better protecting veterans from scam artists is especially troubling.

How low do you really have to be to scam someone who fought for and protected the very freedoms you now enjoy?

For Pennsylvania resident LaVerne Foreman, scam artists were low enough to con the 82-year-old Army and Air Force veteran into believing his donation would go to help fellow soldiers at risk of suicide.

Instead, they used his information to divert money and clean out his bank account. Really?

Where so many would never come forward out of embarrassment and shame, Foreman considered it an extension of his military duty to testify on Capitol Hill and shed light on a shamefully growing problem.

“I’m proud to be a veteran,” Foreman told the Senate Committee on Aging. “I never believed that anyone would stoop so low as to steal money and benefits from a veteran.”

Earlier this year, a Michigan con artist was convicted of stealing nearly $200,000 from 36 victims who thought they were donating to charities benefiting veterans, and then attempting to steal their identities using personal information they provided. Seriously?

And an Allegheny woman and her company, Veterans Resource Solution LLC, were held accountable by Attorney General Josh Shapiro for false advertising claims suggesting veterans needed to retain the services of consultants to obtain health care benefits. Honestly?

Carroll Harris, a U.S. Postal Inspection Service senior law enforcement official, told lawmakers veterans are twice as likely to unknowingly participate in a scam as the general population. In fact, a 2017 AARP survey reported 16 percent of U.S. veterans lost money to con artists, while nearly 80 percent were specifically targeted by fraudulent scams designed to exploit their service history.

That same year, Harris’ agency launched Operation Protect Veterans. The effort reaches out to veterans and warns them of sophisticated scams. Information about shameful schemes meant to rob veterans is available by calling veteran service organizations and the Senate Special Committee on Aging, or visiting the Postal Inspection Service’s website as well as the federal government’s MilitaryConsumer.gov website.

We agree 100 percent with Foreman’s assertion about ever living to see the day that people would stoop so low as to steal money and benefits from veterans.

Moreover, we fully and enthusiastically support Casey’s call from Capitol Hill last week that the Department of Veterans Affairs take more action to track such scams and better inform veterans.

Lastly, we realize fraudulent causes and scams are popping up everywhere in today’s technologically savvy society. Scams targeting the nation’s Greatest Generation are particularly heinous all the way around.

But cons playing on the shared experiences and emotions of our military reach an even lower low than we’d ever thought possible. We urge lawmakers and law enforcement agencies to bring the full weight of justice down on these criminals.