Who else here has heard of the Military Romance Scams taking place on Facebook?

2014-07-27T20:07:43-04:00

There is a group of foreign individuals using military personnel's photographs and using them to solicit money out of women. They are saying that they love these women, begging them for money, satellite phones and many other things because they supposedly cannot afford it. I hope that all of you here will join the Military Romance Scam's Facebook page and help me educate the general public on what these scams look like and help me teach these women that our armed forces are not a bunch of needy people. I am trying to restore their faith in the service members, but it has been difficult. If you guys only join the page to report the scammers and get Facebook to deactivate the accounts that would be great. I know this is a huge problem that has been going on for awhile because the DoD has issued a page telling victims how to handle the situation.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 27 at 2014 8:57 PM

2014-07-27T20:57:33-04:00

PV2 Schultis. Do you mean one of these pages? Are there others? Warmest Regards, Sandy

https://www.facebook.com/MilitaryRomances

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Military-Romance-Scam-Stopper/ [login to see] 92262

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Fake-Military-Romance-Scammers/ [login to see] 99270

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 20 at 2014 10:25 AM

2014-10-20T10:25:32-04:00

If you ever work on a general officer's personal staff, you'll find yourself innundated with thousands of these. I worked for a well-known general, and I found myself deleting hundreds of fake Facebook, Twitter, and Skype accounts every week, only to have more pop up.

The worst is when the victims of these scams start calling various US Army headquarters either wanting to know why General X isn't running away with them to get married or demanding that the US military pays them back for their troubles.

For some victims, the realization that they are in the middle of some sort of scam fills them with excitement, because they believe that they are an investigator in a world-wide manhunt against Nigerian Romance Scammers alongside the US military in some Zero Dark Thirty-style plot. I had one victim constantly call and email me. She just would not stop talking to these scammers because it gave her a legitimate excuse to talk to actual soldiers.

The worst part was when she "monologued" and told one of these scammers my real name. Sure enough, within a week, I had my very own Nigerian impersonator. I sent him a nasty letter and said I had a drone overhead, and never saw another scammer.

Response by SPC Daniel Edwards made Oct 22 at 2014 12:05 AM

2014-10-22T00:05:35-04:00

wow, women gullible enough to spend the money on a sat phone for someone they never met? Then again, I did deploy with a guy like that.

Response by 1SG Steven Stankovich made Oct 22 at 2014 2:26 AM

2014-10-22T02:26:10-04:00

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. There are a few military, and a few personal, pictures of me out there in cyber land that are used by these clowns. I have had numerous individuals contact me and ask me if I was the one who was contacting them. What is even more fun are the ones that contact my wife and ask her if she knows what kind of person she is married to because they think that I have been corresponding to them via social media or dating sites. When I find out about "new" profiles, I contact the page administrator and have it shit down. This happens about every few months or so. Good times.

My advice is that if you are a Service Member and this has happened to you, make sure that you open up a case in with the FBI Cyber Crime folks. Aside from that, make sure that your social media sites are as protected that you make them. While it is not foolproof, it does help.

Response by Sgt Packy Flickinger made Oct 28 at 2014 1:45 AM

2014-10-28T01:45:14-04:00

It was a full time job trying to keep my dad from falling victim to scams before he died. Its sad to see people just loose it like that. He once had a tremendous legal mind. I fear getting so old I can't tell the truth from lies anymore. Hell, he got so bad at the end he actually voted democrat.

There are a million scams out there. I found a legit one however, I'm still waiting for my money I fronted the prince of Zimbabwe till he receives his inheritance. ;)

Response by Lt Col Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 28 at 2014 2:17 AM

2014-10-28T02:17:42-04:00

Its unfortunate that people fall for these things. I had a guy attempt to scam me on a E-bay auction once where I lost the auction. I got an e-mail from a guy who claimed he was the original seller and that he was offering me the item as a second chance bid that E-bay expressly prohibits. At first glance it appeared legit until he started giving me info that made no sense what so ever. He wanted money to wired to Romania and a friend in Chicago would send the item. The original seller was in Utah. Obviously that was when I knew it was a setup. But I researched his handle and was surprised on an E-bay web forum for fraud how many people actually sent the guy money in previous scams.

I know this is not the same issue, but I can see how people can be duped especially in countries where they may be new to the internet.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 28 at 2014 3:50 AM

2014-10-28T03:50:38-04:00

Unfortunately for every one that gets shut down 2 more come out to take its place. Nigerian scams are all to familiar "send money I can't get home." Military & veterans and families are the targets of numerous scams. Whether you want to realize it or not you are playing with people who have terrorist connections. Your computer can be hacked into and have your personal information (identity theft) stolen along with having many viruses installed onto your computer. The scammers do not like their flow of money interrupted. This is not a game. These scams have been going on long before Facebook.

Sites like Stolen Valor and U.S Army W.T.F! moments also keep vigilant about these scams and let their viewers know whats going on. There's been cases where some of our deceased service members likeness have been used in scams and has pissed off some Gold Star moms and has resulted in some legal actions.

There are bona fide web links you can report these scam sites too, Facebook is a social media giant, probably not high on their priority list.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 28 at 2014 8:02 AM

2014-10-28T08:02:14-04:00

Some of us have the courage to decline 100 daily marriage proposals and at least that many free bottles of Viagra from fictitious females somewhere in Siberia. I think her name was Spam.

Response by SMSgt Lawrence McCarter made Nov 18 at 2016 12:55 AM

2016-11-18T00:55:31-05:00

Avoid these online scams, Stick with the good old fashioned bar pickups !

Response by 1SG Steven Stankovich made Nov 18 at 2016 3:56 AM

2016-11-18T03:56:30-05:00

Here is some additional information from Army CID. This is the page that I refer folks to when I am contacted by people who have been scammed by others using pictures of me or of people that I know.