MSG Robert Mclaughlin has been assisting our readers ferret out military dating scammers since I wrote Internet Dating Scam: Fake Soldiers back in October of 2009.
Moreover, he’s also been educating us about how to avoid getting caught up in a military dating scam.
His latest comment highlighted in point form all the things to look for when you meet someone online who says he or she is in the military. (Note: some changes have been made to the original text simply for readability. The original meaning remains unchanged).
- If he says he is military do not trust, especially if he uses a hotmail, yahoo or other free email account address. Ask for his email address ending in .mil. All military folks have one. If he says he doesn’t have one, or won’t give it to you, he is not a soldier. If he says it’s secret then demand the other one. YES, there are classified email addresses out there but all military personnel also have an unclassified address.
- Is he claiming that someone in his family died? Wife, parents, kid,etc? Check the social security death index to verify his claims.
- Is he divorced? Ask him in which county he received his divorce decree. Records of the divorce will be on file and many counties have the information online now.
- If he is telling you that he needs money to take leave, here are some facts. We earn 2.5 days of leave per month. That’s 30 days a year. If we pay for leave we only pay the plane ticket in the states. So maybe he needs $400 to fly coast to coast. You do not want a man who cannot even afford a plane ticket at that age. We pay no money for leave at all. The form we use is DA31, Google it. Anything else is fake.
- If he is under cover or on secret work he would never tell you unless you have a clearance and a need to know what he does. So that is a lie.
- Ask for a picture of his CAC card or have him take a picture of himself for you and have him write your name on a piece of paper for the photo. That is very simple to do.
- Scammers who lure women talk of love now and in the future. Scammers who lure men do so with promises of sex. Remember if the person is not acting like the opposite sex, it is a scam.
- Ask their name, rank, and social. Not classified and even what you tell the enemy when captured. If he wants you to show your devotion by sending money, well he can show his by providing information you can verify.
- I have checked out over 50 claimed soldiers for folks here. Only one was really who he said he was. The odds are that his claim of being a soldier is fake if you have doubts.
Thanks again kindly to MSG Robert Mclaughlin for providing us with this very useful information.
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About Rosalind Gardner
Hi Robert
I just want to thank you for all your advice and info that was provided on here thankfully i never gave any money this time as i was able to read all of this and check on things before doing anything. The scammer i think was the same person that had gotten me twice before because he knew who to look for. I had it out with him and he got all angry and wouldn’t take any notice of what i was trying to tell him i knew then that he was not a soldier. I have ended our converstations and deleted him permantly i have also reported him to the dating site too.
Many thanks.
Deborah.
Deborah, ANYTHING with an African country in it ask asking for money is a scam. Run!
Dianna, I am a MSG not a COL, wishful thinking.
Your post shows a classic scam, where they use fancy letterhead and official sounding stuff to impress you into sending cash. It’s a fraud, sorry.
ALL, Ask for that .mil address or tell them to get lost!
Col McLaughlin, I desperately need your help. Guess I was the stupid one here and actually thought i was in love and he with me. we met on speedate,but what i want to know is if he is for real. Sgt Daniel Sherwin bagram kabul afghanistan base. E6 SGT and DOB is 12-6-70. I first sent him a phone and we talked for a few times. then it was for a laptop to keep constant communication with each that he hid supposedly. then wanted private leave home to me because his name was not on the list to come home and needed alot of money wired. first was for flight, and processing of fees. i have a copy of the reimbursement paper here that i had to fill out for when he would return with a militay stamp and all on it and the name of Brig general Les A Kodlick public affairs office Bagram Airfield,
afghanistan APO AE 09354 and is also stamped with DEPT OF THE ARMY, OFFICE OF THE ASST SECRETARY OF THE ARMY, WASHINGTON D.C. AND LOOKS LIKE IS HAND SIGNED BY ALEX CRASS, this is why I really thought it was real and sent back to them cos was a reimbursement form 3rd Infantry army division in Afghanistan saying i would get funds back when he got to the states, cos he said no funds can be touched while in the war zone. i sent that, then it was money to bring his top up card and military travel stamp to the minimum amt to travel, again i paid that, then it was for replacing officer and i again paid that. i even got an itineray of his flight that i can forward along with email addresses of where my info came to wire the funds to a diplomat in malaysia named iness smalley. i waited at the airport only for him to not show on that flight, and delta told me the flight had issues when i contacted them and said they were in the process of rebooking passengers and hopefully he would contact me. i contacted the email addresses i had and they said that his offgoing troops had been attacked by militants and he survived and was in the hospital. then he contacted me 3 days later on yahoo messenger. Then i had to pay for the flight again cos he said was not cancelled on time cos of the incident that happened. now i have not heard from him since my birthday 3 days ago after the last pmt was sent. i want this investigated and if he is a real sgt in the army, i want to know and want to have him punished to the fullest extent. please contact me asap cos i do not even know how i am going to feed my kids this month with his open promises that he gave me of being here by now. the phone and computer were both sent to sgt daniel sherwin e6sgt dob 12-6-70 to bagram kabul afghanistan base. Now i am wondering if he had someone that he knew get the money to get him home elsewhere, he is supposedly from Kentucky, i looked at his myspace acct page also, and see that he was real and need to know what is going on, i have lost alt of money, but you can email me and i can send u the emails with amts and where they went to, and want to know how to go about having all of this investigated. i have already reported the abuse to yahoo messenger that he was using to communicate with me other than emails which the email address was danielsherwin0151@yahoo.com. I even received flowers and such on Valentines day in the morning that went through customs. OMG, my life has just fallen apart again, I have not been with anyone in 8 years, PLEASE HELP ME ON WHAT TO DO WITH THIS AND PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF HE IS FOR REAL OR NOT AND WHAT I CAN DO IF ANYTHING. If this soldier is real, you need to let him know that someone is using his pics, he even showed me pics of him and his uncle and sister and another of a cousin that was not on his myspace acct. OMG how foolish i have been and now in debt way over my head.
Hi Robert
Is there any way to check on a soldier claming to be called Sgt James Robbie he says he is in Kabul but i think it could be a scam as he has asked for 250 pounds in english money to be sent out to a guy in Lagos Nigeria stating that they deal with the soldiers leave and i have read on here and on several other places that we don’t pay for their leave at all. He wants it sending via western union i have not sent any he says he loves me has promised me this that and the other i can be his wife mother to his son etc he will pay for me to go and visit his son when he comes over here etc. I have gone through google images and not found any of the photos he has sent there are some of him in uniform in civi clothes and one of him and his son. I am thinking that these could have been done using photo shop i am not sure also he has sent a photo of his id which has the date missing everything is i think right plus he sent a photo of the form that i have to pay the 250 for a liberty pass card.
I have been scammed two times before being silly to give out money thinking they were the real deal so i am on alert this time not to do the self same thing again.
Are there any real soldiers out there that i can write to and get to know without being scammed? any websites? i have hooked up to the military singles one that i found on here also i am looking at one possibly to join called British Penpals i just want to know if you know if they are okay and if you have any others that are fine too.
I want you to know exactly the same that happened to me in the MATCH.COM and twice (LOL) (change username) but the firts was called Staff Sergeant Javier Lopez (Roo) and then Sergeant Sam Lopez and also they asked for Iphone, Ipod, Cell Blacberrie, boxers, shirts, men cologne, money. I have several photos of the Navy sergeant in uniform and in civilian clothes with his child with his mother, they also were widowed and when he got back home we would get maried… the same… and also they asked me to send things to Ghana to this a second address,
Nana Ofori Asante
Address : P.O Box 8698,
Accra North.
Ghana.
Well I want to join this, because I dont want this people use the image of our soldiers for this misuse and dont want to think how many women have fallen into this trap.
sincerely
Patricia
I want you to know exactly the same that happened to me in the MATCH.COM and twice (LOL) (change username) but the firts was called Staff Sergeant Javier Lopez (Roo) and then Sergeant Sam Lopez and also they asked for Iphone, Ipod, Cell Blacberrie, boxers, shirts, men cologne, money.
I have several photos of the Navy sergeant in uniform and in civilian clothes with his child with his mother, they also were widowed and when he got back home we would get maried…… and also they asked me to send things to Ghana to this address,
Felix Adu Ntim Annan lucky
PO.Box at 2023
Achimota Market Accra _
Ghanna
Well I want to join this, because I dont want this people use the image of our soldiers for this misuse and dont want to think how many women have fallen into this trap.
sincerely
Patricia
Deborah, you posted a link to your email box so I cannot see it.
Hi Robert
Is this card the real deal please?
http://uk.mg40.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=3g3f2bge2n3t7
and for my previous post, please check this person out, his name on facebook is Ken A. Victor, alot of the pictures you can google, except the ones he is claiming as him, i have not found them yet, and i am glad i didn’t get conned, but i hope someone can find the man whose pictures he is using, and let him know. its horrible people can try to scam others and use military men to do it!
i met a man online, who emailed me out of the blue, says his name is Ken A. Victor, his profile is still on facebook. his email he gave me is kenvictorr@yahoo.com
i never thought to ask for a military email, i didn’t know this info until i started looking around. well about a week after we started talking, he starts in oh i love you i want to marry you i want to leave the military, etc.. he said he was a german soldier in afghanistan and he will be able to leave in about 2 to 3 months. well then he gets me on yahoo imstant messanger, and says oh my friends and i found large sums of money, can i send it to you. well, i said this sounds like a scam to me, and then he blocked me lol! well i started looking around online, alot of the pictures he has you can find on google, the only ones i havent found are the ones he claims is him. so i know this person is a scammer, i just feel horrible for the soldier who’s pictures he is taking and claiming to be him
I joined match.com on Wednesday and the next day received several requests to chat, one from a military man who calls himself James Harry, apparently a Sargeant E6 stationed in Libya and working for US military and the UN. Says he closed his profile on match.com as soon as he saw me and asked me to get an account on yahoo messenger so that we could chat. He is divorced from his wife who he found sleeping with his best friend. He has a son in NY and he will be retiring soon to live in Florida where his father used to live. He is being discharged on May 10th. He is enamored with me, sends me poems and love songs. He says he has a birthday on April 28th. He asked for candy and cookies. I told him that I would send him some if he gave me his address. He said nevermind. Should I run?
“General Peterson Sivewright ” I was not trying to get a contact for dating he came thru Skype and then thru Yahoo Messenger . He claims he is in the Canadian Army and is in a peace keeping tour in Iraq. He asks for money for Maxwell his adopted boy. He has pictures on Facebook and ChristianMingle site. He is trying to get money into the country to be wired to my account which I refused. He has a brother he claims took all his money used on drugs and needs help for his son in Guyana.Pictures of his brother and Maxwell and pictures of himself in uniform and talking with press. He states he believes in long distance relationships if you trust in God. He even gave an address in Quebec for his house. He claims he lives in LA and wife was killed in an accident.
Well I found it and his email is from Nigeria, no surprise there. Thought I should put his sons email address out there also nicolaso63@yahoo.com.
Ive been talking to a man online, he tells me that he is in Kabul. His name is Seargent Orlando Blake. His email that he writes me is orlandoblake51@yahoo.com. He has been telling me that he is in love with me and lately that he wants to marry me. He even has had his son emailing me. The problem is he resently told me he requested a leave so he could come home but hes asking me for money to get him home. He says hes from Maryland, and cant ask his son for the money and has no other family. Im positive its a scam.Can you tell me if his name or email has come up before all the sites i go to ask for money to check out the name or email.
Sorry misspelled his name: Staff Sgt. Eric Kocher Former U.S Marine.
Just an FYI. I found out that the person on match.com who tried to scam me was using Staff Sgt. Eric Kocker photos from the HBO miniseries “Generation Kill”. Found them through Google photo search. I can only hope this marine gets informed his pictures are being used this way. I really have no idea on how to get a message to him. MSG McLaughlin or Ms. Gardner maybe you can help get a message to him.
Christy, there is no BLACK OPS in the US military. That is a Congressional term for where secret money goes to. It is NOT a military term unless you are playing a video game. And then of course the “no you cannot contact me” bit. Say fine, email me when you get to the USA.
Thank you MSG McLaughlin for your repy. I have already confronted this person with what I have found out and asked him to prove he was who he claimed to be by asking for a picture of himself in his uniform holding a sign with my name on it, his military email address, full name, rank and serial number. Guess what, he got offline and no word since. No suprise to you but I feel very foolish. I at least was smart enough to check before I sent him anything. I have pictures of the solider he is impersonating and I feel very bad that there is nothing I can do to to tell this solider his photographs are being used this way. If that jerk hadn’t given me that shipping email (us.carrier78@hotmail.com) I would have still been communicating with him. What do you recommend, for future reference other than what I listed above, I do to check these men out to make sure they are legit? Again thank you for your time it is really appreciated.
Laura, he is fake! No .mil email address! Wilson here is fake too, police do not use hotmail!