U.S. ARMY –
Special Agents from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command are warning the American public to be vigilant of Internet scams and Impersonation Fraud - especially those promising true love, but only end up breaking hearts and bank accounts.
According to Army agents, CID is receiving frequent reports of various scams involving persons pretending to be U.S. Soldiers who get romantically involved on the Internet with female victims and prey on their emotions and patriotism.
"We are seeing a number of scams being perpetrated on the Internet, especially on social, dating-type Web sites where females are the main target," explained Chris Grey, Army CID's spokesman.
The criminals are pretending to be U.S. servicemembers, routinely serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. The perpetrators will often take the true rank and name of a U.S. Soldier who is honorably serving his country. The scams include asking the victim to send money, often thousands of dollars at a time, to a third party address so the phone or laptop can be purchased for the Soldier.
Once hooked, the criminals continue their ruse.
"We've even seen instances where the perpetrators are asking the victims for money to 'purchase leave papers' from the Army or help pay for their flight home so they can leave the war zone," said Grey.
These scams are outright theft and fraud and are a grave misrepresentation of the U.S. Army and the tremendous amount of support programs and mechanisms that exist for Soldiers today, especially those serving overseas, said Grey.
Army CID is warning people to be very suspicious if they begin a relationship on the Internet with someone claiming to be an American Soldier and within a matter of weeks, the alleged Soldier is asking for money, as well as their hand in marriage.
Many of these cases have a distinct pattern to them, explained Grey. "These are not Soldiers, they are thieves."
The perpetrators often tell the victims that their units do not have telephones or they are not allowed to make calls or they need money to "help keep the Army internet running."
"We've even seen where the crooks said that the Army won't allow the Soldier to access their personal bank accounts or credit cards," said Grey.
All lies, according to CID officials.
"These perpetrators, often from other countries, most notably from Ghana, Angola and Nigeria, are good at what they do and quite familiar with American culture, but the claims about the Army and its regulations are ridiculous," said Grey.
To date there have been no reports to Army CID indicating any U.S. servicemembers have suffered any financial loss as a result of these attacks. Photographs and actual names of U.S. servicemembers have been the only thing utilized. On the contrary, the victims have lost thousands.
The U.S. has established numerous task force organizations to deal with this and other growing issues; unfortunately, the personnel committing these scams are utilizing untraceable e-mail addresses on "gmail, yahoo, aol," etc., routing accounts through numerous locations around the world, and utilizing pay-per-hour Internet cyber cafes, which often times maintain no accountability of use. The ability of law enforcement to identify these perpetrators is limited, so individuals must stay on the alert to protect themselves.