I just came across a post on “A Soldier’s Perspective” discussing a rather disgusting and disturbing trend that has guys posing as soldiers on Internet dating sites. Here’s the quote from CJ’s:
The latest trend involves trolling internet dating sites and convincing women that they are honorable Soldiers who have fallen in love and would do anything to communicate with the object of their affection. But, because they are deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, they need you to sign up for an expensive telecommunications service like “Military TELEX” in order to make that happen. They profess unending love as their motivator and, unfortunately, many women have fallen for it.
The BIG red flag here is that the guy is asking for money. NEVER fall for that con.
If you come across anyone on a dating site who is asking you for money, regardless of the reason; block them immediately from further contact and then report them to the internet dating service.
You can also check out who is really behind their email address…
AND / or their telephone number…
To read specific details about about one incident, read CJ’s post “The New Military Dating Scam”.
Meet REAL Military Singles at MilitarySinglesConnection
Started in 2002, Military Singles Connection is the premier destination for dating for the thousands of men and women who serve or have served in the armed forces. Other military dating services can’t compete with the number of quality members or features you’ll find when you join the top Military singles dating site.
Military Singles Connection provides online personals services, including online profiles and photographs of single men and women, chat rooms and an instant messenger – to enable others to communicate in real time, a private mailbox to enable others to exchange personal messages, a public forum to enable others to exchange messages and information… and more!
Join Military Singles Connection today!
I really need some help here PLEASE!!!! I have been in contact with a cpt. Mathew Swain who states he is in Iraq. We met through eharmony and have been talking with him, on line and off by phone which we split the cost for. He now wants to take a leave and come home to meet and has asked if I could help cover some of the expenses of course i can’t and he said that is fine we will meet when his tour is over. I have contacted just about everyone to try and get info on this guy to find out if he is who he says he is I have even contacted the US Army Criminal Command center and spoke with an inspector there and got no answers or help. I like this man and I really need some advise here. PLEASE IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE THAT CAN HELP ME??????????
hiya i have just been spoken to by a capt phil anderson special sevice unit in kabal so he says he wants me to email militarytransitunit.com for him to be deployed its ok i havent he sent 2 pictures too i knew i suppose gut feeling he was a scammer he was telling me in half a hour of talking ot me how much he was in love with me his wife had died from cancer and had a 9 yr old that his sister was looking after in greenfield texas which when i google i cant find i have google his email and it comes up with same as jazzy sunnyvale ca and his supposed to be in afghanistan isnt there anything we can do about it as our troops r out there dying for our countrys and these idots are playing on ppls sympathys any help plzzzzz
Jazz my name is Lisa I think the same guy who is talking to you is the same guy I met on here he was from Sunny Vale to. He says he is in the army in Iraq to , He said his name was Scott Schwartz.
Is there anyone there know how I can get in touch with the us army to find out whether this Lt Timothy Bills is real or a fake. He said he attended Ramsey High School in Birmingham Alabama, graduated in 91 but I cannot even find anything about him when I search there is just nothing. This Lt Timothy still in contact with me and still adamant that he is real and not a fake at all.
Please help
has any one heard of E-6 Staff Sargent James Relinger in Iraq?
please please if any one has info,
has not yet asked for money but need to do my research
I have been on other dating scam sites
thank you,
Susan.
hi karen
thank you so much for the advise and info. i finally tracked down the ip address and it was in sunnyvale california. rather odd when he supposed to be in kabul. i must admit that i did fell for it big time, i feel real stupid now cos i sent him £350.00 and a T mobile phone voucher. He told me not to call him but just text him and everytime i call the ce3ll phone number, my call was rejected. he also toldme that he is based in 82nd combat base i kabul but when i checked it out its all airborne base camp and the other factor also for a lt his english spelling is really bad. i am going to write directly to the army directly in pentagon and hopefully i will get a reply. The other thing i want to mention as well the name Richard Mark well, this Lt Timothy claimed that Richard Mark is huis lawyer. And i will keep you up to date as i like to get the bottom of it.
I was contacted by Tyler Hamlet. Poor grammar and used holiday instead of vacation for the time he wanted to spend after his time is up hamlet.tyler @yahoo.com Sent two pictures but the poor grammar and lack of proper US slang is a tip off. Claims his wife cheated on him and hasn’t seen his baby girl in two years. Claims to be from Utah or from Ohio.
hi, im trying to find out information about a guy that a relative has been in contact with he sounds really dodgy and is asking for money claiming to be a soldier in the us army, i have found a reference to someone with the same name on another dating scam website, his name is stephen ruddock, anyone know anything about him? i want to try and find out if he is genuine or not!
Hi I met a guy on my space he said he was in the army in Iraq he said his name was Scott Schwartz had a son named Joe who was living with government family in the UK. He said he was a sargeant and was a widow. He said was from Jacksonville Florida. He lied about everything I had him checked out he asked for money for a phone of 4500.00 to talk to me I never sent it western union. He said he needed money for a form to fill out to leave early to come home of 7400.00 that was a lie he isn’t even in the army. He lives in Sun Valley California. I looked up his email on email finder.com. He is also trying to be other guys. John Bolin also he is a real con artist he even wears an army uniform that Scott does.
I WAS ACTUALLY SCAMMED BY A GUY NAMED “RICHARD MARKS” FORM LAKE FORREST ILL. HE WAS AN ARTIST. (GUESS HE LEFT THE SCAM ATRIST OUT)I DID CHECK IN LAKE FORREST IL. AND THERE WAS ACTUALLY AN ART GALLERY WITH THE NAME RICHARD MARK ART GALLERY. SO I BELIEVED HIM. NEEDLESS TO SAY HE CONNED ME OUT OF $1500.00. I CONTACTED THE ART GALLERY AND THAT IS HOW I FOUND OUT HE WAS A FAKE. THERE IS A REAL RICHARD MARK AND HIS PIC. IS NOW POSTED ON THEIR WEBSITE BECAUSE SO MANY WOMEN HAVE CALLED AND ASKED FOR HIM.
THE WOMAN WHO ANSWERS THE PHONE HAS KEPT IN CONTACT WITH ME AND WHEN SOMEONE CALLS SHE GETS THEM IN CONTACT WITH ME.
THEN I HAD A CPT. RICHARD GOODE STARTING TO EMAIL ME AND I.M. ME. AND HAVE NOW… SINCE THE OTHER WEBSITE THAT GOT THIS WEBSITES ATTENTION… , THAT HE WAS SCAMMING. I PLAYED ALONG WITH HIM FOR ABOUT A WEEK AND FINALLY CAME OUT AND TOLD HIM I KNEW. GUESS HE FREAKED. BUT THE FUNNY THING IS THAT HE ACTUALLY TOLD ME THAT HE WAS NIGERIAN BUT HE DID’T THINK I WOULD DATE SOMEONE FROM NIGERIA. HE GAVE ME “HIS NAME” AND SAID HE WAS 26 YRS. OLD AND WOULD I STILL WANT TO GO OUT WITH HIM EVEN THOUGH I WAS 38 YRS. OLD.
I INFORMED HIM THAT HE DID NOT WANT TO MESS WITH OUR MILITARY AND THAT THEY WERE WELL INFORMED OF WHAT THEY WERE DOING AND THAT IT WOULD ONLY BE A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THEY ALL GOT CAUGHT. AND THAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY UNDER SURVAILENCE AS WE SPEAK. BUT THEY WILL WAIT FOR A WHILE AND THEN GET ENOUGH INFO AND GET THEM ALL AT ONCE.
TOLD HIM HE NEEDED TO USE HIS OWN IDENTITY AND NOT USE ANY OTHER NAME THAN HIS. SO HE WAS TALKING ABOUT GOING TO SCHOOL TO LEARN HOW TO BUILD COMPUTERS AND WANTED AN EDUCATION SO HE COULD GET OUT OF NIGERIA.
I MYSELF THINK HE IS A YOUNG BOY PROBALLY NOT EVEN OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL. HE WAS TOO SCARED! THAT GOES TO SHOW US HOW WELL THE NIGERIANS ARE STARTING THEIR KIDS OUT TO BE IN THE PROFESSION AS A SCAM ARTIST AND THAT IS WHY THEY ARE SO DARN GOOD AT IT!
IT’S LIKE BEING A YOUNG KID IN IRAQ AND HAVING TO JOIN A MILITARY GROUP. BUT THEY HAVE TO JOIN A SCAM ARTIST CLUB.
GOD HAVE MERCY ON US ALL. SAD THAT IN HARD TIMES LIKE THIS THAT THIS IS WHAT THE WORLD IS COMING TOO!
Jazz, I’m so sorry you too have become another victim of this horrible scam. One of the first things to do is find out the IP address on the emails he sent to you. If you don’t know how to do that, ask someone familiar with computers and they should be able to help you find the full headers. Copy and pace the header into an IP address finder. You can google that. I did all sorts of searches see my post listed under Kim March 13. You can find deployment lists on the internet for particular branches. It’s just a matter of extracting info from emails and figuring out where to search. More than likely any picture he sent you, is a picture of a victim, it isn’t the person perpetrating the crime. What ever you do, do not send money. Our government does provide for our soldiers and they do not need us to pay for their airfare, satellite service or anything. Besides, they don’t get leave to take a vacation. They serve their deployment and then come home. They get their leave when they are done. They may get redeployed, but it’s not like people who work and get vacation leave. Ask him to email you from his military account. That way if he’s real you’ll have more info to go on. Please just whatever you do, don’t give in and send any money for any reason. Let me know how you are doing.
hi there, i think and am sure i fell for the scam too. He called himself Lt Timothy Bills based in kabul and in fact he even gave his service number. He asked to apply for his leave and I have to email this us military transit and apparently i have to paysome money towards his leave and they assure me it will be refunded. I didnt do it and somehow or rather he is no longer in contat with me. how do i know if this lt timothy bills do exist or not. please anyone if you could advise me.
Kim & Karen
Re George Patterson
georgepa01@live.com
You can go onto emailfinder.com and search his email and a picture will pop up also when you click on Windows live spaces on this profile another picture pops up. You can google his email or search his email address on facebook and it comes up Nigarian Scammer. Anyone else been in contact with this Nigerian Scammer?
Gayle,
Wow! I am really glad I posted my comments. Yep, sounds very familiar and he probably sent her a fake itinerary. He found me on western match as well. First, I looked at my full headers on the email, not sure what service she uses, but on yahoo, there is a button at the end of the email that says full headers. I then found online an IP address Website and plugged his IP address into it ( I actually did it on several sites and it all came back as the same, Nigeria). I wrote to Western Match and they told me they removed his profile because they had received complaints on him and felt he was a Nigerian scammer as well. I contacted MSN and sent them his email address and IP address, they confirmed, the same. I contacted KLM airlines and they confirmed, he never purchased the tickets. If he was so honorable and a true Lt. Col why wont he return my money? I have read much of what was posted about ths type of scammer and he fits the profile. If your friend is the same one posted on the windows live with him, are her initials FF? If so, please let me know and I will send her an email to contact me. Also, it’s almost embarassing to say but I work for a branch of the government (which is familiar with this stuff) and I should have known better, all the signs were there, but he was very smooth. She may have sent him money, only won’t tell you because she is ashamed. But, if we can ban together, there is hope. Also, I have a friend who’s daughter was in the military, she has a friend with certain access to record and based on their search as well, there was no George Patterson over in Kabul.Please keep me posted, I’ll think about how else we may communicate, I’m in Arizona
Karen,
My friend too has been communication with Lt Col George Patterson for months now. He has just sent her an iinaries and tell her he is flying out of Kabul to China then London to Dallas he is supposed to get off the plane on Tue at 11:20pm. I have been looking for months for someone else that has been scammed by him because she believes him. He is supposed to stay with her until July. She says he hasn’t asked her for any money. How did you find out he is from Nigeria. He found her on westenmatch.com. I found him on facbook but he removed his profile on there and westernmatch.com. Please keep me updated.
OMG! How I wish I had investigated my scum-bag before investing any emotion or money. This guy, George Patterson, claimed he was a Colonel in Kabul, after all the emails in which I was called love and baby, asked me about looking into a TS2 satelite. I said no, he then fortunately found a cheaper one through China! Next thing he was sending me fake airline itinaries through KLM (Dutch Royal Airlines)website. Make a long story short sent way too much money like a big fool. I confronted him, he of course denied it all. I finally did an IP search and found he is out of Nigeria. I contacted the dating website, they confirmed that they removed his profile due to other complaints. I did a military search and couldn’t find him. He gave me a phoney credit card number. I called the bank and it was a valid card, but belonged to someone on the East Coast, he is suppose to live on the West Coast, plus it wasn’t his name on the card. But the worse part, is he is still trying to convince me he is real, keeps telling me he will be here. Whatever. Wish he would show up…
hi kim i live in england if u r british or from somewere else u need 2 go 2 police first taking all docs info with u then contact the us embassy with i did in london they will send u info 2 make the complaint 2 f b i .you also need 2 go on romancescams .com they have the biggest database of scammers that is where i found out my dan was a scammer, they can help u .I know how hard all this is im on meds from docs cos of what they have done 2 me and my family .Plz try kim and not talk 2 them anymore as hard as it may b ,keep in touch with me plz prehaps together we can join forces .ANNA
hi there
I am in the same predicament at Anna. My contact started in Aug last year and met on friends reunited dating site. He was supposedly based in Kabul and his name was Sargeant Reknard. Was told exactly the same story and put in contact with Col Steve Clarke also. So far I have been scammed for the same amount but yesterday read these comments. Just wish I had done more research beforehand but as Anna said, these are so convincing! The documents they use and the way they word their messages. And the contact with Reknard was also so convincing. The msn contact, texting and even flowers!
Anna – if you read this message I wonder if you can supply the details of the contacts in the police etc. I have yet to break contact with these people yet and wonder whether there is any way they can be traced back.
Hi, my friend Jane is 61 years old and lives in Blackpool and has been dating a US soldier called ‘kelly’ he claims to have a son called Harry. She has already sent him £5,000 for a parcel? this parcel should have contained his valuables if he was killed in Irag. Ofcourse this parcel worth a six figure sum never arrived because the US diplomat was injured and has internal bleeding. The story does not end there, he has convinced her that he loves her so much that she can inherit half of the farm he owns in Ghana. I have just found out for the past 6 months she has been sending him £50.00 a week to pay for the wages for the peasant workers on the farm! He has promiksed to fly over the the UK 5 times in 6 months and there has been a ridiculous excuse very time such as he is stuck in New York, the planes can’t fly due to ice, he is ill in hospital and he can’t get to the bank. This guy is a total con man and I think there must be a few of them working together. Jane has never seen a moving picture of him. Please if anyone has fallen vicitm to this character or knows of a similar situation please get in touch. Thanks stephen
Ts2 line scam/military dating scam
This scam(er) uses many different names.
Jeffery Perez Connell
Perez Connell,
Jeffery Connell
Connell Perez
Connell Jeffery
Ricky Gibbs, Ricky D. Gibbs..Says he a 1 star general but can’t’ tell me that a one star general is a Brigadier General)
What these guys don’t know is that is that I have been talking to them via different yahoo emails. All because my cousin got suspicious of some solider Jeffery Perez Connell. Colonel to be exact.
She asked if I could check him out. ( military brother who could use AKO) All of these guys have the same story, have the same kid named Ryan who is either 15 or 16 and live in Texas with his Grandmother. The pictures he send are of the same man. He says he is a peacekeeper. Which is usually done by the UN not the US military or so I am told.
He starts out, the spelling is okay, but then it’s okay baby.. I love you baby… baby baby, baby and when you ask if they know your name they say, of course I do baby. Yeah okay! Needless to say he is vague.
He will ask you to install a Ts2 line so he can talk you. However he does show up in the mobile available.
So he does have a cell but will tell you that he it’s not safe for him to call you on it. (but it’s safe to Text to me on?) He might tell you that the money will be refunded. I putting this on as many scam sights as I can, with hopes of alerting woman who might be vulnerable to this scam!
hi there
i am writing to you to see if you would let the public know of a massive scam taking place as we speak involving the us military .I have found one other woman on your site that has also been done but i dont think to the extent i have been.
It started a few mths ago after being left a message on friends reunited dating by a man called DAN ,we got chatting then switched to emails ,msm ,text and phonecalls he was a american not put on an american .Dan was a captain in us army serving in kabul back in nov there leave was cancelled due to troop numbers check it was true so i suggested compasionate leave to dan and was given by dan general a web add to apply so i did and was emailed bk from a col steve clarke was given lots of docs to fill out and sign and send bk during this me and dan were still in contact 24/7 .
Then i was ask to pay money to admin dept for processing to a us diplomat in britain given full bank details etc ,which i did while i was doing this dan was the 1 telling me not to pay but i still did it anyway i still dont know if dan is real and also a victim or part of it cos we still have contact .
To cut a long story short ive have been done out of 15000 and my family is left with nothing and dan supposedly still waiting to be returned to britian .These people are very clever they use officially looking docs all endorsed proper british bank accounts etc .This has now been reported to police and us embassy and FBI if they ever get caught i doubt it please let the world know of this before woman end up like me with nothing .
He had been reported.
Also keep an eye out for AOL there are scums on there 90 % of there users are but also there’s so many who say they are soldiers or former & I don’t believe about 10 % of these people. They’ll say anything or do anything to gain attention from people. If they are so called soldiers then why are they using bullying/harassment on sites& posts ? I don’t know any soldier or former soldiers who do that type of stuff. It’s not respecting it’s just plain dumb & sick to go far with things like that towards people. If they think they can do so because they are former or one they are sadly making a mistake. Gotta obey laws like the rest of us.I don’t believe half of the users when they tell so much stuff and even stay like all hush, hush when you ask questions. I had tryed with one guy he bashed us on the post. So I knew he was lying. Busted !
Beware of Eris Osborne who says he is from Army and now he is in Ghana working with gold.
This person is in all Adventists sites to get money…..
Be carefull and do not send any money to Ghana( accra)
Rosalind, thanks for bringing this to the attention of more people. There are many different versions of this scam involving “military members” that I’ve gotten emails about. The takeaway is that red flag you spoke about: if they ask for you to pay for something, it’s either a scam or a guy you probably don’t want a relationship with anyway! Take care. Great site by the way.
Hi CJ,
Thank YOU for alerting me to this problem. Thought I’d heard everything… but that was a new one on me. Keep up the great work!
Cheers,
Ros