Dating scam warning from CID
I wish you guys knew how much of my day is taken up with women asking me about their “new love” that they found on a dating website somewhere. The fellow who immediately fell in love with them through emails and private messages. He loves her so much that she should send him a few thousand bucks to pay the military to process his marriage request, or he wants to meet her so she should send him some money so he can take leave from Africa or Syria to be with her. Oh, don’t worry, he’ll pay you back as soon as he gets to his bank, because you know, he’s the commander of all of the troops in Afghanistan, or SOCOM.
We even saw a case where the woman was in love with the former Sergeant Major of the Army. I met his wife last year, and I don’t think she’d appreciate it very much if some random woman was planning on eloping with the man. By the way, she is way more attractive than most of you women trolling dating websites.
Scammers are taking photos of the troops that they find on the internet to make phony profiles on Facebook and Twitter. We try to shut those down when we find them, but, there are so many, it’s hard to track them all down. If you find one, report it to Facebook – Facebook staff are pretty good at recognizing them. Mostly those profiles are just a few days or weeks old and only have a picture or two and not too many “friends”.
Most of these guys claim to be widowed and single parents, I guess that makes their story even sadder and makes them a more sympathetic figure. But, ladies, it’s all BS. If a guy who has never met you, wants to marry you, don’t you think that’s a little odd?
My rule of thumb is; never send money to someone you’ve never met face-to-face. If you find yourself here on this blog questioning the veracity of your new love’s internet messages, you probably already know the answer to your question. Go with your instincts.
But there’s an article in the Fayetteville Observer which gives you a phone number and an FBI website where you can report the crime;
If you believe you are a victim of such a crime, report it at ic3.gov/default.aspx or by calling 1-877-ID-THEFT (438-4338) or TTY, 1-866-653-4261
But the best way to not be a victim is to use a little common sense.
Category: Crime
Dr. Chevy is going to be pissed at you for exposing this.
I know, it is so sad. I have been sending money to this guy online and I never get any affection from him at all.
I post on his blog, I try to be nice, he just ignores me most of the time. Rumor has it he spends most of the money on cheap cigars and Scotch.
Maybe if I send more money……..
Welcome to my world.
Trust me, that guy loves you.
You have ration card GI? I KNOW I ruv you.
(chuckling)
Not . . . going . . . there . . . . (smile)
You #10 Hondo!
Baby, you’re the ichiest!
Please, I didn’t fall in love with the fella I sent $20,000 to. It was his poser ass story about his Ranger Gundog team F sent in to extract my POW on December 11, 1972. Yup, I was a complete idiot and he’s still getting his as is Hemphill, TX, dirty hippie felon scumbag that never set foot in Vietnam.
I thought you were going to buy me a stove or a gun or something. You were sending money to a guy instead?
I am SO disappointed, Dave Hardin. And I have to say that the turkey I was keeping for Thanksgiving, just for you, is disappointed, too.
I’ll go to Cracker Barrel by my own, instead.
Please forgive me, he used that suave and debonair way of his on the phone to lure me into his world.
But I only have eyes for you………
I forgive you. I do. If you send me $3,500 foe a funeral for my dead aunt’s cat Victoria, I will be even more forgiving.
OMG, your poor dead aunt and now her cat. That is so horrible, I will be more than glad to help.
If you send me the routing and account number to your bank I can have money wired directly to you.
Just to keep track of everything all you need is the Wedgewood Stove optional pink
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Western-Holly-PINK-Stove-Double-Oven-Wedgewood-Mid-Century-Modern-GAS-/201442180228
A gun to protect yourself from me:
http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Bersa-Thunder-Handgun&i=722487&r=view
Ammo:
https://www.underwoodammo.com/380-acp-p-75-grain-controlled-fracturing-hollow-point/
Shooting lessons:
http://www.nrainstructors.org/CourseDetails.aspx?Courseid=43478&seats=12&State=y&SearchState=FL&id=14&bsa=&youth=&women=
Cat Funeral, not clear if aunt is already interred but I will leave the options open.
http://www.bpcmc.com/index.asp.
In exchange for all this I get a potentially live turkey since it still apparently has feelings of some sort about my conduct.
Do I have to pay for the meal at Cracker Barrel as well?
Naw, dinner at Cracker Barrel is on me.
Sounds like a fun time. If you will write a letter of recommendation to the Court I should be able to get the ankle bracelet off by Thanksgiving.
When Jonn does the criminal background check for you, I can explain those charges were bullshit.
I swear the cashier said “Strip down facing me”, how the hell was I supposed to know she was talking about my debit card?
I can see that you need a snifter full of Brandy.
I forgot to tell you that it’s a full-grown male turkey.
When the breeding season rolls around, he will try to kill you. His comb and wattle will turn bright red, his claws will grow a full inch, and his beak will sharpen itself on your front steps.
Take care. Shoot him first.
Scotch? I thought it was rum!
Oh, demon rum isn’t the only thing. I have it on pretty good authority that on occasion he’ll even stoop so low as to drink (gasp!) BEER.
We get 5 or 6 of these pathetic women a day (and the occasional man) over in the military section of yahoo answers. I don’t understand the gullibility.
Unfortunately, most of these scams are run out of places like Nigeria. So even if they are reported, nothing will come from it.
I’ve never had someone try to scam me on a dating site or through social media. I feel left out. I did have someone try to run a check scam on me when I put some furniture for sale on Craigslist. I saw through it right away. Does that count?
Next time that happens, play along. Get the scammer to send you the check. Then stall, stall, and stall some more. Scam the scammers. Much fun ensues. Been there, done that. And I have the checks to prove it. hehehehehehe
If you need a good laugh, read some of the scams this guy pulled.
http://www.419eater.com
Great idea..thanks
I apparently have cousins or uncles or fathers in Hong Kong that I never knew about, who have left me a fortune that would make a billionaire weep in envy, if only will provide my account information and a $1500 transfer fee.
Don’t forget about the Army guy or gal that need help moving Saddam Hussein’s “gold” back to the USA…
I know that guy. He got pretty upset with me. He wanted me to wire the money to a DHL office in Nigeria, and the money was waiting for me at the JFK terminal in NYC. After a few weeks later, he finally gave up.
Shame on you!!! Not ALL these women are scammers. For the past five years I have been financially supporting this beautiful woman in Africa that I know loves me. She even had my baby by mental telepathy. She now has a new car and is planning on driving to the U. S. just to marry me and give our child a proper upbringing. Every so often she sends me another picture of her. Odd thing about the women from that area…..they NEVER age, not one bit. She STILL looks exactly the same today as she did five years ago! She could be her identical twin from the looks of her picture. BTW, she named our son Jarhead Jr. so that satisfies me she’s for real. I do have to admit I was skeptical there for a while, especially when she needed $3,500 for her dog’s hysterectomy. All turned out fine and the dog is now pregnant again. Can’t wait until the day we meet. Her sister apparently get out of prison soon, so I expect her to be along for the ride. It’s so wonderful to be in love!
Something else you can add to this list and warnings are, scams being ran out of the Caribbean Islands.
The digital version of the PI!
I pulled into Subic on Carl Vinson back in 1983. One of the techs in my division was on his very first Westpac. He had NO idea what he was in for.
Anyway, he came back after his very first night on liberty in Olongapo and announced to anybody who would listen that he was GETTING MARRIED!!!!
To say we were shocked is an understatement. When we saw the picture of his “honeyko” we were floored.
This guy looked like the Pillsbury Dough Boy with birth control glasses.
The woman in the picture was smoking hot, an easy 12 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Our wide eyed boot breathlessly related how the love of his life, Rose, was just so wonderful. He had told her that he wanted her to go live with his parents in West Virginia (!) while he finished out his tour with the USN, but she “talked sense into” him and convinced him to instead start an allotment for her so she had to money to get ready for their future life of bliss. She even promised him that she “would only let the other Sailors buy me drinks, honeyko, while you are gone.”
The nuptials came to a screeching halt when one of our guys (former Force Recon Marine with multiple tours in the RVN and lots of additional time in WestPac), pulled the youngster to him and said, “Son, we gotta talk…come with me…NOW.”
After the chat with our shipmate, he relented, but I can tell you he was still damn disappointed.
Funny how some things never change, just the mode of transmission.
Oh, you found Rose, too? How many of them ARE there? Are they clones or something?
😉
It actually worked out real well. When you had one too many San Miguels, you had better than a 50/50 chance you would be right if you called your bar fine friend Rose.
PI, Japan, pretty much any training command in any service, anywhere.
I swear, one of the schools I went to had one woman who was 22, 2 kids, divorced 5 times, getting alimony from all of them.
And it would have been 6 times, had one of the instructors and his wife (related to said serial divorcee) not had a serious talk with him.
My favorite love song of all time: WARNING THIS CONTAINS SOME TRUTH THAT MANY MAY FIND DISTURBING. DO NOT WATCH THIS IF YOU ARE IN MIXED COMPANY (OR AT WORK)
My answer to the “Let’s be friends” ploy is, “My friends don’t treat me this way”.
I fell for the worst dating scam ever. We met and talked and all the fun stuff that comes with dating. Then, I fell for the scam and married her. Now, she owns half my stuff, makes me perform slave labor around the house, and refuses to… um… do all the stuff we did when dating.
Warning: Avoid the dating scam called Marriage. It will lead to you losing half of your stuff and your freedom!!!
aaaaaaaass
So Flag, how long you been in this scam? /smile
9 years as of last month ^_^
I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed but me thinks Aysel is the “scammer” to whom Flag refers? /smile
Now, if somebody had just told me that when I was twenty or so…
I got sold that scam, too.
Too late. Been in this “scam” for over 30 years. Still lovin’ it. The flames of passion have become smoldering coals, but it’s still hot. And she’s an excellent cook (as evidenced by my ever expanding girth).
Yes, I still live my Alpha Six.
Oh, God, the dating scam. If only he hadn’t asked for my social security number so that he could get a job….
My advice to one and all, when you finally give up the good fight and agree to marry her, I recommend marrying an orphan. No collect calls from overseas in the dead of the night because her brother needs another appendix removed. And don’t give them your real address. They will come to visit, and that visit usually last two or three years.
The women on those dating sites don’t have any instincts to listen to, Jonn. All they are and know is lonely.
I’ve seen two women I work with taken to the cleaners so badly, they both ended up filing for bankruptcy. Both men involved were found on “Christian dating” websites. And it was all perfectly legal — no legal action could have been taken against these men if the women had had the money to do it. They met these men, fell head over heels about them, married them, and signed everything over to them. Man in. Man out. Money, house, property, all assets gone, mountains of debt and an emotionally and financially destroyed woman left behind. End of story. For every happy ending you find from one of these sites, there are ten of these.
And this is why I had horses, dogs and cats. All I had to do was put food out, clean up after them and buy them toys and cookies. They liked the same movies I did, and didn’t try to steal all the bacon at breakfast.
My dog would steal my breakfast all the time. The morning that I left for Desert Shield, I come into the kitchen, and his furry face is buried in my bacon and eggs. Then, just as my ride to base arrives, I set my coffee cup down to say goodby to my lovely bride, Rosetta Stone. She breaks into tears as the dog starts drinking my coffee. I tell her to stop crying, there is an entire pot of coffee in the kitchen. True story.
PN, there are those amongst us that would give shitbags like that a so called “talking to” to the point they would haul ass back to the women and beg them to take there money back.
Tales like that make my blood boil.
Huh; Wired has a related story up a woman who fell for a “Scottish oil worker” and got arrested; see http://www.wired.com/2015/10/online-dating-made-woman-pawn-global-crime-plot/.
And what about the soldiers/sailors/Marines/airmen whose photos were “stolen” for the purpose? What’s the likelihood it could mess up their careers?
I help admin a facebook page that makes people aware of this crap. These shitbags have it down pat, as far as laying on the smooze.
Any active duty or veteran will know right away that they are full of shit.
However about half the people who contact us are from foriegn countries (England, Australia, The Phillipines and Malaysia) and are easily tricked as far as the bullshit as far as the military goes.
It is a huge Criminal Enterprise, with gangs reaping in millions every year. Recently the trend is for Nigerians to get student Visas and set up in a 1st World Country with good internet and run scams.
They are getting very sophisticated. A person I talked to a while back said they went as far as having an “American Looking” “Officer” get on skype with a victim and tell her that the “Soldier” needed finacial help.
Wow, thanks for all the dating website info you warned me about! I think I spotted one of those ploys today on the msnbc channel:
I love you and always have your well being in mind. I’ll do and say anything you want to hear. I only want to protect you from yourself. This is really my very “first time” ever. Please trust me! My words are as pure as the driven snow.
I do have a deadbeat husband for baggage I’d like to dump when the time is right. But don’t worry bout him he’s always out with his cigar collection… oh, never mind.
In return all I’m asking for is your money. Mot all of it, just most of it.
Love you big time!
Please send money to:
hiLLary
(26) After Nov. 2016, “FUCK OFF!”
cc to Huma
Fm H
subj Line (26). Huma, don’t add line (26) until after the election. H
Not not Mot.
Just so you know, this doesn’t happen to just US folks. My nephew, a sergeant in the Panamanian Army, keeps falling for these chicks who promise him a green card if he sends them money for passage to Panama. No matter how hard I work to tell him they’re not in the Army, he won’t believe me. Luckily, he’s poor and doesn’t send the money, but he WANTS to believe them.
At least I know I am loved, I captured this post and framed it. Goodnight sweetheart.
About a year ago on the Facebook page I help with I helped a guy from Pakistan who was working in Saudi Arabia. He had already spent 3,000 getting a “Visa” for a Mary Pope, who was a female trying to get discharged from the Army in Syria to come visit him. The picture he had of here was from a Credit Union ad on the internet.
One of the worst things a person in this world can be, is LONELY. To be alone is one thing. To be alone means to be solitary, to be a single person, at peace with oneself, and comfortable being by oneself for a moment in time. But to be LONELY.
That is a frightening word, because it is a frightening condition to be in. It is heartbreaking, depressing, soul killing.
And these scammers take advantage of the lonely. They profess love to those who are so desperate for the love of another, they are willing to believe anything they are told. They are willing to give away anything they have for someone to say; “I love you”. And the result is just another break to an already broken heart, and more loneliness.
In some ways, these reptiles are worse than posers.
Mark,
Bingo all the victims I talk to are extremely vunerable and willing to believe anything.