Another phony scammer
My nephew, a sergeant in the Panamanian military, got this ID card sent to him from a woman who claims to be a Lieutenant in the US Army and stationed in Chad and she needs him to send her some money for a vacation to Panama. You can tell she’s legit because her ID card is marked Iraqi Special Force, it expired two years ago, and her rank is an O-2 Sergeant.
Tineye says that the photo came from Asian Friend Finder;
My step daughter has several pictures of the same woman in various military uniforms so she may have been in the US military, but, I’m pretty sure that she’s not stationed in Chad.
Like I always say, if you haven’t met them in person, don’t send them money. If you have to ask me if they’re legit, they’re probably not. And people in the military don’t send scans of their ID cards through the internetz.
Category: Phony soldiers, Valor Vultures
There are just to many of these scammers around. Here is a helpful Facebook page that helps with the scammers. The sad part in all of this, civilians have no idea how to spot a scammers. These folks help where they can.
https://www.facebook.com/MilitaryRomances?fref=ts
If gullible people didn’t fall for this crap these scammers would be out of business.
As long as there is someone who wants to believe a ridiculous sob story, there will be another out there to capitalize on that gullibility.
Just like the person who foolishly sends their bank account number to the “Nigerian prince” anyone who sends money to the “lonely but hot GI guy/gal overseas trying to get home” is operating with an ulterior motive whether they admit it or not.
So as much as I would like to see the scammers fed to the sharks piece by piece (and I would) for the most part the “victims” of these scams are not exactly people with clean hands either.
There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch and if it seems too good to be true, it is.
Looking for love in all the wrong places.
And the sad thing is….probably more people get fooled by these scams than not…
Thousands fall for them. I am one of the top contributors in the Yahoo Answers – Military section and we get 4 or 5 of these A DAY. Already had at least two this morning over there. Usually it is women being targeted, but we have had a few men as well.
I want to say “thanks” to both you and Jonn, and everyone else who takes the trouble to patiently explain these obvious scams to people who don’t know better, over and over and over for as long as it takes.
It hit me hard this last week because a relative by marriage…not a native English speaker…got hit with a fake debt collection notice. (Yep, this kind.)
To a native speaker of English with even minimal legal knowledge, it was so obviously fake as to be laughable. To someone who isn’t — and who has genuine debt issues — it is really frightening. So I figure that applies to someone who speaks English but doesn’t speak “Army.”
It’s a great public service you’re performing. Thank you.
So that e-mail I got from Nate Wylie, who said he was in the army in Afgansten is one I should ignore? I was really curious to see what was in those trunk boxes he wanted me to hold for him – maybe a small tactical shoulder-launched nuke, or a couple of bricks of moonray jackass cheese.
I am a Nigerian Prince and I have the sum of $25,000,000 and need somewhere to put my money. If you would just give me $1,500 for the transfer fee and your bank acccount information, you can have half of it.
Which half??
Do you know how many of these emails we get a week? Oh and the one’s that say make $500 a week, we send you a check (always on a Friday) for $4,500. Put it in your personal account and keep $500.Send us via WU cash to separate addresses and sent the security code. They wipe your account clean. We started to play with them. They send the check to the address the FBI gave us. I reply I cashed your check and did as requested and send a phony security number. I add a phone number, to the agent. They call the agent with where is my money.
The feds fingerprint the envelope sent via Federal Express and the check. Then they get the phone number the idiots call from.
We love this game. The last was tracked to Tijuana but most are from China. Really, its fun to screw with the assholes. There are rewards if their caught, but I just can’t accept money for something so easy and did I say fun
Oh, sorry, your highness, but that $1,500 is for next week’s groceries. However, if you want to transfer the cash to my special account, less the fee, I’ll be happy to keep an eye on it for you.
Now, where did I put those brochures on the Silver Phantom I was after?
Asian Friend Finder? You don’t suppose the Chinese are starting to capitalize on all the PII they stole from the OPM?
“You can tell she’s legit…” because the DoD always use selfies for CAC cards.
Not to mention the nametag on the uniform isn’t even close to the name on the “CAC”. They weren’t even trying!
But, throw out a wide net and something is bound to swim into it.
“But, throw out a wide net and something is bound to swim into it.” Especially if you are fishing for Stupid. Or,in this case, Horny.
ANd O2 – SGT rank,… LEGIT!! (Definitely maybe)
Everybody knows that this girl isn’t in the army…she is in the navy.
http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/rihanna_battleship.jpg
Okay, for those of you not up to date with the current rank structure of scammers, O2 is the pay grade for SARGENT, not sergeant. Carry on everyone.
O2 is what some of these folks are deficient in…
Hey WAIT,… What if she turns out to be a Sargent Mayjor?
This person’s name seems to match the name on the name tape
https://plus.google.com/105592685817774471507/posts
You can click on the little circular picture to get a larger version.
My junk mail folder gets about five of these per day. I’ve occasionaly passed the time by coming up with particularly creative and R-rated ways to tell them to fuck themselves.
I have an e-mail account for spam. When I get those there, I tell them that I’m very interested and wealthy, but that they need to e-mail me back from a .mil e-mail address.
Most likely the lady in the photo isnt the one pulling the scam, someone probably just found her pic online and decided to use it against her will.
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/katrina-brautigam/b0/41/aaa
Fair enough.
dat ass doe…UMG!!!
Facebook account, says she’s a SGT: https://www.facebook.com/#!/brautigam.jose.3
She’s an E1 in the IRR, per AKO.
You should email her at the AKO address and tell her that someone is using her pictures in a scam. I used to do that, but the Army is saving money by blocking me from AKO.
Ya, that AKO forever thing kinda fell off the plate.
The retired website is not worth the electrons to visit.
Cut her some slack.
I imagine she is completing her summer intern project for All-Points Logistics. Word has it that the competition to get on board the “taxpayer-funded gravy train” is fierce.
“For only 50 cents a day…”.
“You can support this E5 to get 02 pay”
Yeah, if it seems to good to be true and all that….
PT Barnum was right sadly, and the internet gives one the means to find them all apparently. I am still amazed the Nigerian prince thing continues to float free on the internet.
My Mother-In-Law is a very trusting sould and fell for an internet scam even though we all warned her that it was a scam. She went ahead and sent money anyway.
Some people don’t trust the sign and have to pee on the electric fence themselves. Bet your MIL isn’t such a “trusting soul” now. 😉
Anybody notice the name tag and the id card names are different? Some scammer probably took her photo off of social media.
Nevermind. just looked at her facebook.
In the movie “Full Metal Jacket” the inimitable R. Lee Ermey, on finding Private Pyle’s foolocker unsecured, said “if it wasn’t for dickheads like you there wouldn’t be any thievery in the world!”
Unfortunately there are lonely, desperate and supremely gullible people out there who want to believe in a fantasy. In a way, they are the flip side of the coin from the wacky conspiracy theorists: When they look at the world instead of seeing sinister government conspiracies behind every innocuous act, they see rainbows and unicorns, dead Nigerian princes who, gosh darn it, just want to see a regular Joe or Jane get his or her fair share, giant piles of semi-legitimate cash or war booty gold just waiting for the right bank account number or hunky GI’s in a war zone lookin’ for a little love (and also cash.)
These “victims” believe, often times against the advice of their family, friends and the rest of the world. Like the conspiracy theorists, they believe not because of any rational thought, but because they WANT to believe.
In essence, the “victims” of these scams are paying the scammer for the privilege of engaging in a fantasy, a fantasy where a lonely hunky GI brings his footlocker full of stolen gold back and they live happily ever after, under a rainbow sky filled with flying unicorns and powered by perpetual motion machines.
Martinjmpr, I would like to be a part of this world that you describe. What do I need to do? Click the heels of my sparkly red high heel slippers three times while I make a wish?
Or would a credit card suffice?
Credit cards? Nope. Western Union all the way! That’s how you know I’m legit. 😉
Looks to me like someone swiped this woman’s pic from one of those video cams or whatever you call them and placed it on the silly ID. She is most likely legit–and a whole lotta pissed off.
Can we come up with a 419Eater for these clowns?
Cute faced female so she’s obviously innocent.
Sure…..I’ll fall for it any time some woman’s name rhymes with Sizedick. Her cousin is named Iwana Sitonyerface.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Fake-Military-Romance-Scammers/272987476199270?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
Another FB page that works to make people aware
I still can’t get over her rhyming name. Very original. About like me trying to land some pretty chick somewhere and showing a fake military I. D. with the name Hugh G. Rekshun. Yeh, come on you kewties, I like you berry much!
lol @ those eyebrows
Ladies, sharpie markers aren’t a substitute for eyebrows.
Either an 02 SGT is getting a way bigger paycheck then they should or a way smaller paycheck, I’m not really sure…
To me this lady appears by the name of Captain Brautigam Cole and she claimed to be in Syria/Turkey base camp. I did enjoy very much our conversations and i probably still being involved with her if she didnt ask me money to pay her leave of the camp. I was suppose to pay little over three thousand euros of her leave which i didnt do cause i did read earlier that us soldiers dont need outsiders to pay their vacations.