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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I think I have been scamm by a American soldier that I met on badoo. He claims he is from Colorado city and go as the name sgt dunson franklincoln. Who is station in Afghanistan. The leave department had me wire them 1625 for his leave and 2300 for his ticket from Afghanistan to Hungary. They gave me a address of his agent who is located in Nigeria and had me sent him the money by western union. it is so odd there is no military base in Nigeria that I heard of or know. The email they gave me for the leave department was militaryenquirycenter@gmail.com.
He told me that he have been in the military for 12 years and he is a orphan.
He told me that he loves me and wants to married me. they granted him 3 months of leave. he was suppose to come to Hungary on the 3 of march but on the 2 the leave department send me a e mail stating that the us military plane from Afghanistan going to Hungary had been shot down and 15 passenger died and 5 wounded . He was among the wounded ones . They had me send them 4000 US dollars to pay for his medical fees. I did send them the money. They told me that he is in critical condition and needs a surgery. Something really doesn’t add up here . I think I am being scam big time here. If a solider gets wounded during leave doesn’t the military paid for it. I have send more than 10000 already. He tells me that once he get to my destination they will refund me back the money in 72 hours. I don’t think I will ever get my money back because its all a lie. can you do a research for me if this guy is real or not his full name is sgt dunson franklincoln station in Afghanistan.
To Suzi – I found it interesting that a white person in the Air Force has parents in Ghana ???? Hmmm. I think it is possible his son needs schools supplies if he is a person who is from Ghana but I don’t buy his story. For one thing the military email ID is wrong. They do not ever end in dot com. Only dot Mil. Also they never have to pay for leave. Leave is earned .Just like you earn vacation days on your job. I am at a loss though on the picture and the finger —too funny.
Suzi, usa.com is not a military address. It has to END in .mil and nothing else. Your example of usa.com ends in .com which means commercial.
Also had an Air Force soldier, (white) older man, in afganistan- stated.. ” his son could use money for school supplies”, and would pay me back when he retires soon. (I will never send $)!!! But played along. He gave me the address, i believe he said son’s grandparents. Here is address; Country: Ghana. State: Accra.
Zip: 00233
Also had these two “military” email addresses; asia_usa_armyheadbase@usa.
; Gen.Clinton.A@usa.com
Here are two different “military” email addresses: asia_usa_armyheadbase@usa.com
: Gen.Clinton.A@usa.com
Just.wondering if genuine?
Also..one more question; soldier in afganistan(?)… mentioned, “his soncould use school supplies”. This Air Force soldier gave me this adreds
Wondering if emergency leave for a soldier costs $840.00 for first phase of EMERGENCY LEAVE.. and $2000 more for relplacement and flight for a soilder in the army? This document also stated; since “M Sgt.**** ” , has been a great soldier to the army..that they will pay $800.00 of it. One document has symbol of 32nd batt, another- 3rd batt. Out of kubal afgan. I asked one soldier to send me a picture with hid finger in his nose to show he was who i was talking to..he did. So does this mean he is the true person/soldier they say they are? Just curious. And have not sent a dime
TO ELLEN; Sorry Ellen he is a scammer. I suppose you know that now. It’s all lies. Did you not wonder why you were sending money to someone named Avery and in Seattle? There is no charge for the Military to take leave. They earn this time, with so many days a month they are there. I do believe from what I understand all forces have been removed from Iraq, except for some at the Embassy. The Military does not freeze their money. His threat to kill himself, is just that. Meant to coerce you into complying. Forget this, and block him. Your heart will be broken, and your pocket book empty. You really are sending money to a criminal most likely in Nigeria or Ghana, somewhere over there. They laugh at us when we send them money.
I’ve also been scammed, by a man saying his name was Daniel Darryl Scott says he’s been in Iraq for over a year now. Wanted me to send money to him so we could speak on a satellite phone. I got duped and sent 395 to a guy named Avery in Seattle. Never once got too speak to him. Now he wants me too send him money too come home on leave says they freeze their accounts and he had no access to his money. He says he loves me, and will kill himself if I leave him. Said his wife died in a car accident and he had a son. I fell in love with his words of love and his devotion to me and then all this….
Last week, I was on skype and suddenly I got a contact request from some Col Alex Ruff. He started to give his age (48) that he was from Canada and he was in Afghanistan. The first thing he told was his marriage was ending due to have no kids.
Two days later he communicated again and repeat his name, and asked the same questions all over, so that rang a bell and I payed attention. I checked this man’s background and in fact the name correspond to a very well known canadian Colonel. The story of the fake man is that in an unofficial raid in 2007 to a Kabul village he and his men found 14 millions which were destined to finance terrorism, and he took the money and since then he was carrying the money. He wanted me to assit him on depositing the money in a south african bank, he even invented some names from a General there and a UN man who would help him. He also mentioned that they had no money there, they had food, clothes and medicines but no money…I realized about everything soon enough before he started to asking for money…
Just to let everybody know, there is actually a high rank soldier with this name but is not the one who is on Skype or even on facebook. I traced the IP address and came from the United States. Though they use two pictures of him…so at the beginning is hard to not believe.
I was just scammed a week ago. Thank goodness I never gave this sick person a penny of my money. He goes by the name of John Moore. He is a really smoth talker. His e mail address is Moore John a@ yahoo.com. He said that is wife died in a car accident and he was lefted to raise 2 kids alone. We talked little over a month and the his plan went into affect. He said he was going on a deadly mission and the next e mail I got he and some more soliders found alot of money and treasures. He said he mailed some boxes to a place in London and wanted me to help him get the boxes sent to me…..whatever it took. I then told the sick creep where to go and ended all contact with him.Ladies if its to good to be true it usually is.
I googled his picture. nothing came up. I asked a lot of questions, and the responses were ok. but stupid me, forgot to check out his IP address until recently. he gave a yahoo email cos he said that way he can chat with me on yahoo messenger. finally checked his IP address and showed originated from Nigeria. scammed me if money and heart. used the name of Wesley McDonald. showed picture of a McDonald who is or was a first class sergeant. USArmy cannot locate this name. probably the first name is not Wesley.
What a shame these guys ruin it for the real soldiers who want to find love. 22 male NYC US Army e3. Ask him his last score on his pt test or try and see if he’s real in his knowledge on the soldiers creed or usmc hymn etc. Only the real ones will be able to answer these.
TO Jennifer Jaime: Sorry but you have a black Nigerian scammer your chatting with. This IDOWU is probably the one your chatting with. We don’t have Military in Nigeria and we have no reason to send any to Cambodia. Delete him, then block him from your contacts. Then he can no longer play with your heart. I know how you feel. It is so sad what they do.
Ladies use google image search. You can always save the profile pic to your computer and upload it. I did this over the weekend and the person was using the pic of a dead soldier. He had died 10 years ago. I believe there is a place in hell for people that think it ok to use these pics.
His name is Sargent David Westfall. We met on speeddate and have been texting for 2 months. He had promised me marriage, a family and financial security. He has asked me to send him an iPhone and $2000.00 so he doesn’t have to go to Cambodia. I am to send money via money gram to Addess is,No1,Army Barrack,Odogbo,Ibadan
Oyo State.
country: Nigeria
West Africa.
zip code 23402
I’m suppose to send it to this UN dispatcher name is Mr.ISA IDOWU
He’s texting me now asking me how much do I love him…he texts me from this number +1 (914) 488-9765.
I have photographs of him and have fallen in love with this person in the picture and the words he has written to me but have no idea if he is an actual person.
Please help me on how to stop this person before he hurts another innocent person!!!!
I have not sent him a dime my red light is flashing & I just can’t help to feel that there are other women out there who may be getting scammed!
To Marjorie: I have met tons of scammers on Badoo. Bad site. Stay away from it.
TO SARITA: Just read the posts on this website. That should be enough for you. Hope you understand this one is a scammer.
To Dianna : GOOD WORK..YES THERE IS A TON OF THEM GOING TO SCHOOL IN MALAYSIA . THESE ARE SOME BELONGING TO THE SCAMMING SYNDICATE I HAVE SPOKEN OF BEFORE. YOUR NAME IS PASSED AROUND AMONG THEM AND EACH TAKES TURNS WORKING YOU. SAD ISN’T IT.
They are all smooth talkers and always seem to be from Ghana, found out the real name of my scammer using the name of Sgt Daniel Sherwin…seems I was helping him thru school in Malaysia through scammers in Ghana…Temitope Akinola is his real name..get him US Army!!!
Sarita and Marjorie….scammers…RUN!!!!
Scammed totally. Lost money and broken hearted. Smooth talker. Claimed to be deployed in Pakistan. Using the name of Wesley McDonald. 1st class sergeant grew up in UK. In the USARMY for 22 yrs.
I met a soldier on meetme.com we started an online relationship then he told me he was coming home December 22, 2012 he has never asked me for money at all. I was told he got injured in the bombings that happened on Thanksgiving and i would like to know if it is true how can i find out? please contact me on my email and i will give you his name and rank and branch of service i need help please help me i would really appreciate it…
hi i been scam big time by an American guy i met on Badoo he has his profile on the face book dress as a solidier clothes we been chat for six months he been asking money for his retirement leave and he send the agent name and the place to send the money and send his form to fill please this guy is scam
another scammer is Jeff Johnson supposedly from england but lands himself introuble in Ghana- he is smooth talker- fake cam pics and has 16 aliases> Be sure to Google- images click on camera in tool bar and insert pics – helps identify the sammers
two individuals have crosssed my path and are scammers- Joseph Charles Bouchard-from Lybia wi th 16 yr old adopted son inGhana and roland england soldier fromiraq now stuck in ghana and needs money home.
Another character by name of Voctor Pedro is in Mexico due to sick mom and needs ticket money home after getting ssoemone to pay 8000 for his mom’s surery.listen close tot heir english andyouw il see the slang talk and lack of knowwledge about their country or origin.