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”.
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Thank you everyone…really appreciate your messages. I have just emailed the story to Jon.Cuthill@BBC.Co.UK as he did a section on his programme Inside Out South on 31/1/2011. My friend from work called me and told me about it and stupidly I said, it’s okay..this one is genuine!!! I have also emailed him the pictures. He said in his story that you can contact the US Embassy to determine if there is a soldier but not much point in doing that now Robert has already confirmed there are 2 M Lingo’s in the army and neither are 45 years old !!! As for getting even…I’m very tempted to wait until the next loads of funds come across and do a runner with them!!!!! Only problem is my conscience wouldn’t allow me to do that-nor am I in the habit of stealing from people…I only wish I was cos £1000 + would come in very handy!!! I’m just waiting on him to sign in over the next few days now and I’ll ask him for his military email and see what happens. I gotta move on from this and need closure.. Feel even more of a prat now having had a picture of him sitting on my desk for the last 3 weeks !!!!! This has definately put me off internet dating for life!
Dear Sharon, he’s not real….. at least he’s not the person that you think he is. Mine turned out to be a 35 yr old student from Ghana who needed me to fund his school fees. The photographs he used were stolen. Thank goodness the bank saved you. He will come back asking for more money, just a matter of time…. I didnt send money but I checked him out and I traced him. I then confronted him with the information and he admitted that he was a scammer. He said he’d fallen for me. Now, don’t fall off your chair laughing, he then asked me to marry him… I actually saw the real him on a videocall. I too have his phone number & address. He’s spent a whole year talking to you and if he thinks he can still get something for his time, even it its not what he originally wanted then he’ll continue. Drop him like a stone and block him from contacting you. Yes, he paid the bit of top up money but with which poor womans money did he pay it with ??? All part of the getting you to trust him bit. Don’t get upset, get even !!!!
I just checked, the are are 2 Matthew Lingos in the Army. One is an E-1 in the Guard which makes him about 18, the other is an E-4, so he is maybe 24 years old or so, or really bad at keeping rank. Neither sound like they should have a 9 year old son.
So he asks for small change and returns it, thus building up trust. This sets you up for the fall later when he asks for a lot. I was scammed once buying coins online, it was one or two coins always at good prices from one guy. Then he said he found a hoard and wanted to sell them all to me. The deal was too good to be true and he got lots of money because I had trusted him. He worked me for about 18 months before getting me good. Not only that, he did this to LOTS of people at the same time. They INVEST their time with you getting you to trust them. They make enough at the very end to justify it all. They may get $100,000 for their 6 months of time invested. Not a bad return. Too bad more people do not think twice. ASK FOR THAT .MIL MILITARY EMAIL ADDRESS OR RUN!!!
Oh and he’s given me his pager number so we text alot also..and yes, I have done top-ups for the pager but he’s always given me the money back. I feel sick!!!!!!!!!!
Hi, Well to say I’ve just come down to earth with a mighty great bump would be an understatement. Have been chatting to Lingo.Matthew@live.com since February 2010. Said he was divorced, parents dead, 9 year old son called Donald. I unfortunately ended up doing the transfers from his “dead father’s estate” but thankfully my bank thought something was up so closed the account so he now does not have any valid bank details of mine and I no longer do any transfers. What I can’t seem to get my head around though is that he’s never asked me for money in the year we’ve been speaking and since I stopped doing the transactions, we still talk…pretty much every evening. Why would he still talk to me? He’s knows I don’t have alot of money because we’ve spoken about it on more than one occasion…he told me that he would pay for me to take a month off work when he comes over..he even said he would pay for the phone calls when he’s discharged…it makes no sense if he’s not genuine? But in saying all that, all the other stuff that’s been written about Matthew Lingo make no sense either – unless he’s a not real!! God I just don’t know what to do…I put my heart and soul into this and was convinced that he was the love of my life and now that’s just been ripped out from underneath me. He told me he was 45..I’m 41.
It won’t be long before scammers find out how to spoof their IP address so they appear to be where they say. Don’t use that as the only evidence. Ladies, you do not want a man to ask you for money. If you do, go adopt a teenager! Even if the guy turns out to be real think about his baggage.
In the Army at 50? he better have a lot of rank or be able to explain a lot. No one will be in a high speed secret squirrel unit at age 50 and NOT be at least an E-8 or O-6.
Also you should be able to verify everything through a secondary source. His wife died? Check http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi to verify. Also check the obits in his supposed hometown paper. And if he says oh they left that out because of my secret jobs, then he has no right telling you either and it is a scam.
Now I may take these addresses you list and send them BIG files, like 10MB each, just to cram their mailboxes full. Or maybe list their email address on a gay site asking for pictures….
SCAM THE SCAMMERS…………….!
Hi, I posted stuff about a scammer named George Miller (geo_miller@hotmail.com) about 2 weeks ago and I’d like to tell you about it again just to keep him on the run…. I did not send the guy any money. I did however track him down. He keeps appearing on different dating websites still using the photos of the same bloke so he’s easy to find. For fun I trawl through the sites and whenever I find him (I know his grammer and spelling mistakes)I notify the site and send his IP adress in & have reported him to anyone that I can report him to…. he he he.
He also uses Georgiovalerio@hotmail.com and markrobi@live.com. Watch out for glowinglove37 too…
The guy’s real name is actually George and he’s a 35 yr old mature student from Nigeria based in Malaysia. I sent him an email saying how nice it must be there by the hospital & telling him his IP adress. I got a very surprised email back from him saying he couldnt understand how I found him… he he he. I later spoke to George on the video connection. Everytime I find him I send him another mail to tell him (after he’s been blocked of course…). I’m now getting under the guy’s skin. Two days ago I had a mail back saying “what do you want from me Dee,” I told him that I wanted him to stop his scamms and he said “Who’s going to pay for my studies ?” I told him to get off his arse and go get a job. I told him I’d continue hunting him down till he gives up. He says he will but we’ll just have to wait and see….
Great fun scamming a scammer. Why not scam your own scammer ????? Give him the run around. Tell him you are sending him money but you have to wait till your wages/pension comes. Tell him you have sent it to a different bank than the one stated. Make him look like a fool when he turns up to get the money & it doesnt exist. Easy enough to find another bank on the net in the same location. Tell him your bank only deals with this one & he has to get it there… Find one in another city…. Tell him its been sent and has got stuck in the system and wont arrive till the following day if he questions it. Make the ******* work for it. Keep your chat/mails the same as usual (dont give the game away)…. Be all concerned and worried about the delays etc When you know the game is up delete him from your email adresses and your MSN and Facebook adresess so he cant contact you anymore. When you have done this report him to Windows live mail abuse@hotmail.com and send any evidence you may have like emails to them. Oh,last and not least, do Have FUN doing it…..lol !!!
Here’s how:
As said before all servicemen have access to their own mil email but many use their own so do a check.
Do you know how to check your army/Navy/airforce bloke ???
OPEN HIS EMAIL AND USING WINDOWS LIVE CLICK ON THE TOP LEFT BLUE BOX
SCROLL DOWN AND CHOOSE PROPERTIES
CLICK DETAILS. RIGHT CLICK AND COPY THE DETAILS.
GO TO whatismyIPadress.com and paste the details in the box. Press get source.
This will tell you where your friends email is coming from. It will also give you a latitude and longitude map reference. If you cant get it to work here then go to another site using your map references http://www.mapquest.com/maps/latlong.adp See where it leads. This method does not always work but it will give you a good idea of what’s happening.
IF THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN IS NOT THAT WHICH ITS SURPOSED TO BE THEN something is not right…….
Want to contact me ? You are welcome as I’ve ticked the notify box so you can. Let’s start an Harrass the scammers Groug (HSG) he he he he he………..
Unless the soldier is Australian or works in the Navy we do not use the term ‘mate.” That’s a known navy term and you won’t catch an Army guy saying it.
There is no way a Sergeant Major will use the rank of SGT for any reason, especially in email. We get promoted we make a new private address, or we leave the rank out. A SGM will not go by SGT ever.
Forget about yahoo and hotmail, ask for their .mil address.
A gun takes 2 or more people to operate. We have weapons. And if we lose one they take it out of our pay, unless lost in war where it is simply a combat loss and written off. And if a soldier loses a weapon, you don’t want to date that sort of idiot!
In response to MSG Robert McLaughlin. I have a good friend who was scammed. Scammer using da name of ‘Sgt Major Aaron Ramos Edward’ is based in Kabul in da Peace Keeping Misson’ this scaner is using email accounts on Yahoo n Hotmail…sgtaaron@yahoo.com n sgtaaron@hotmail.com. Had been emailing my friend 4 some months which has now finally came to and end! A lot of sweet talking n had promised to come n see her. He even asked my friend if she had other friends dat was interested in meeting one of his best mate. Name was ‘sgt John Smith’ who is also based in Kabul, in da PKM as well. Dis is wer i was introduced. John Smith email is…smith0579@hotmail.com . Fake emails wer sent to both my friend n I requesting phone connections, special leave n even to da extent wen so called Sgt John Smith had lost his gun n was held 4 48 hrs da request came to me via an email …usarmyforce@peacekeeping.com to pay fines up to $1500USD to have Sgt John Smith gun replaced! At da time i thought it was a joke. How can a sgt not know wer he left his gun…not being very responsible is he? Anyway to cut da long sad stories short, we both got searching da net googling their names n found out it was a scam! N just to inform u all these scammers also created FB pages using these names as well. Aaron Ramos Edward n John Smith both pages looks not active n doesn’t have much friends listed. N their emails doesn’t end with…mil.as u mentioned earlier. I be happy to leave my email 4 u to contact me or if any others had this same scammer scamming them n would like to send u photos as well. Email:yuriko-naka-chi@hotmail.com
Lorraine: After I was scammed, I was angry. I went on the site which was a profile on Lieutenant Matthew Tyler. After web searching, I found a number to reach him at and left a message. I also was able to find an address. So, I copied all of the mail my fake soldier sent me, as well as the western union receipts of the money I sent for his plane ticket home.
About 3 days later, I received a call from his wife. He had showed her all of the emails sent to me, and he had tried to contact me at first, but never left me a message. One evening at home, she called and told me how upset they were that this was happening, and how her and Matthew were so sorry that it happened. She said they are trying to do everything they can to stop this. Of course, my money is gone. She also told me four other women had notified him of being used, one admitting she lost money also. I guess I was the only one who sent proof and they are trying their hardest to help. They were grateful I was willing to step up and admit what happened. The other women were not willing to send any info. to them, and I guess they were not very nice about it to Cpt. Tyler.
They are very nice people, and they treated me kindly and really understand this scam is a big problem. Hopefully, this real soldier will bring about some good for all of us who have been hurt by this internet wrongdoing.
That UK website is very informative. I work with a guy who was dating a girl online, he showed me her pics and I knew right off it was a scam. He was sad to hear it, but at least he found out before sending too much money.
Everyone on this page here knows about this issue, The question is how do we get the word out to others before they become victimized. I remember a day when no one had anti-virus protection on their computer because it never occurred to them. Today everyone does and is aware if what may happen. We need word of this to get out too.
hi robert
i was contacted by bbc radio in england sometime last year. the scammers are still out there and to all the ladies just be very careful.
There is no Captain Louis Ramos or any officer with that name in the Army. ALWAYS ask for their military email address that ends in .mil! I don’t care if they are super secret super duper special agent orange. if they are that covert then they would not be allowed to go around looking for dates, and they’d for sure not be able to tell you a thing about it. Army Email addresses are not classified, everyone has one.
Hi,
The BBC did a segment on this last year in the UK their ‘Crime Watch’ programme very informative – and sad to see how we can be scammed time and time again check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/crimewatch/solved/howtheycaught/ghana_datingscammers.shtml
I have an important report of a possible fraudulent use of photographs of the USA military personnel for the use of scamming on the internet. I am in Australia and i believe my mother in law is a victim of a scammer.
I have photos of this “person” called CAPT. LOUIS MORRIS RAMOS born 3 march 1960. All i need is to be guided in the right direction to find out if this person does actually exist in the US military.
My email address is venieon@yahoo.com.au
Please help me as im all the way in Brisbane, Australia and i do not know who i am supposed to contact in these matters.
Elaine … how did you manage to get in touch with Captain Matthew Tyler’s wife? I wonder how many REAL soldiers know that there pictures are being used by these scammers, in Ghana and Nigeria, to scam innocent women all over the world. Would be worth knowing.
Have any of you contacted the press? Once in a while a scam makes the news but I am sure that many who have been scammed for too embarrassed to come forward and admit it. I think this would make a good piece for the news. we have consumer affairs reporters who fight for tighter ketchup lids, so why not have this made an issue too? Maybe 60 MINUTES can cover it. If everyone emails the press too, it cannot be ignored.
I have recently been in contact with my fake soldier’s wife, Michele Tyler.
We spoke for quite a while, and she and her husband, Captain Matthew Tyler, are investigating how this is all happening to innocent women like ourselves. He has reported everything to the Army lawyers. I sent all of the chat mail and my invoices from my Western Union transactions. Michele also notified the sheriff of Stewart, TN where the money was wired. I still feel like such a fool, but their understanding of all this helps. Please, do not send any money to any soldier or anyone else no matter how real it sounds. I wish someone had told me this, because throwing away a large amount of money hurts, especially knowing it went to someone who thinks you are a “sucker”. Beware, and do not give out your social security number to these scam artists. I could have done alot with that money if I would have used my brain instead of letting my heart get the better of me.
Beware GEORGE MILLER geo_miller50@hotmail.com Supposidly US soldier aged 50 in Kabul from Virginia with son aged 12 with connections in France. Need to confirm a picture ? I have saved the pics and emails. Profile is now removed from the site plentyoffish.com See Pauline’s post of 4th Dec
I told him not to try his dodgy deals on me or try kidding a kidder. He soon went away …..
TO: Pauline,
Seems like me and you had the same scammer, I only got rid of mine because I contacted the closest police station in Accra Ghana and then he got angry because I put the police on him.
The so called hotel owner said they arrested him the morning after I paid several large amounts to the diplomat for this parcel to be released from the customs officials in Ghana, as you said, changed regularly, his (the diplomat Suley Mohammed’s)dying son who needed an op immediately and I can take the money from the parcel.
This Dip Suley and the others all work together, buy double story houses, vehicles and that with our money.
All I can say is that I’ve lost money, but I’ve still have my heart and is slowly getting of my medication and this year want to start fresh without them in my live.
ALL THAT I CAN SAY TO THE LONELY DINGLE WOMEN/WIDOWS OUT THERE, DATE IN YOU’RE AREA WHERE YOU CAN MEET FACE TO FACE IN A PUBLIC PLACE.
Be care full, they are not going for the army soldiers anymore but use other peoples photos as-well as actors, football, baseball etc peoples photos.
I send my money to the so called customs official, Achimedes Dankyi
From: A big fool Elizabeth
I cannot believe I was almost taken in by a “soldier” in Iraq. He was on Plenty of Fish dating site. Lots of pics. Name was Darrin Ramos E-6 staff Sgt. 502D Infantry Regiment Special Forces. He was very polite and respectful. never suggestive sexually. After a few days would text me during the day. after a week started to speak of love and was coming home in Jan, and could not wait to meet me and start our new life together. My son is military and the info I was given was vague enough to fool us for awhile. The scam was this…He was coming home soon and had many documents and such that were very important to him. He didn’t trust the military to ship them home and was going to hire a personal delivery man to bring papers straight to me. wanted my name,address and phone number, and oh..of course…could he borrow $4,000 to pay for this guys flight. he would pay me back with interest of course just as soon as he got home. When I said no then it changed to..he would find a way to get the documents home but could i pick up the package.
Here is the good part…I received an email meant for another woman he also loved..so I got in contact with her…we compared notes..and since we lived a town apart decided to visit and also spoke with the detectives in our area. They are aware of a scam in which a package will arrive, and you will be asked to hold onto it,but not open it…at a later date he will ask you to cash the checks in the package. they are counterfeit government checks. MY concern is this…SOMEWHERE there is a really nice guy who’s pics are being used as part of a scam. I emailed CID also and so did my son with all our information. I did not give up any money and as soon as I said no, the whole demeanor of the emails changed. I saved our chats also and have all the information saved for CID. I hope they catch this guy, although I know it’s almost impossible.
Elaine … you are absolutely correct … you have come across another “fake soldier” or even the same scammer who got you the first time. I was scammed out of $4500. USD and a month later I was taken again by another fake, only that time was taken for $12,000. CDN. When I reported it to the Fraud Dept. of our government this is what they told me … when you get sucked in to the first scam and send money you are a MARKED woman. The scam artists work in groups (it’s an organized crime ring in Africa) and once they get you they keep coming after you. I was told that they stamp our faces with the word “SUCKER” to alert every scam artist that here’s someone that is an easy target.
Here’s a little story I would like to share with you and everyone else who logs in on this site. After meeting my second scam artist if got pissed off that he hadn’t contacted me in a couple of days so I went back on the dating site I met both so called soldiers, re-entered my profile because as you know they want us to take down our profiles immediately after initial contact. I wasn’t on the site for 5 minutes and there was a guy wanting to chat. I asked him who he was and he told me he was a US soldier in Iraq. I was blown away; here was another US soldier interested in chatting with me, wow. Of course the next line was “can I have your MSN so we can talk privately”. No sooner after giving him my address a message came up on my MSN, from the so called soldier I was pissed off with, “I thought you told me you took down your Lava (Lavalife is the dating site) profile. OMG, I thought to myself, I got caught (like getting caught cheating). He told me he saw my profile up on the computer screen of the guy sitting beside him. A RED FLAG should have gone up right then and there but I was too stupid to figure it out. It took the guy at the Fraud Department to spell it out to me. Of course he saw my profile up on all the computers in the room … that’s what these thieves do all day … they troll the dating sites to see if a SUCKER comes back online.
Please ladies, realize this, if you are asking if the person you are chatting with is a scam artist … HE IS … no doubt about it! Be very, very careful because it is so easy to fall into their trap. I wish I could yell this out to every woman out there.
Go to: STOP THE US ARMY DATING SCAM … just Google that title and you will find the site on Facebook. There you can go through picture after picture of real soldiers who’s pictures were stolen off the internet by these thieves to create the “so called soldiers” we are or have falling in love with.
Please tell your girlfriends, sisters, female co-workers, single or married about this. Don’t be ashamed if you were scammed out of money (no one has to know that part) … just spread the word. These thieves have to be stopped. We cannot rely on our governments or law officials to stop this … god knows we have tried. Unfortunately we are dealing with the governments of African countries who are as corrupt as the people who live there.
PLEASE GET THE WORD OUT AND GET IT OUT NOW BEFORE THERE ARE ANYMORE VICTIMS!
Hello again. I think I possibly may have another “fake soldier” trying to win me over again. Maybe I am just paranoid, being I just lost money to a “soldier” who I really thought existed and played me. This soldier’s name is Aaron, and he sent me a message. His profile is on match.com. He is going by toocautious42@talkmatch.com. Also said he could be reached under sgtaaronkingsley1961@yahoo.com. His story goes that he is a widow with 2 teenage children. He is in the army, stationed in Afghanistan in Special Ops. He is from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Started his message with “dear” and said alot of sweet things, just like my other fake, captain matthew tyler. Anyone hear from this guy or know anything about him?
Watch out for Major Kevin Anderson, “stationed in Afghanistan Kabul”, widower” of “Maria” and has 2 kids “Lisa and Fred, 6 and 8 years old”. supposedly originally from London England, move to florida with his “mother” at 18, she “died” in a car crash so he had to enlist in the army. He loves poetry and sends links to romantic songs you can find on youtube. Songs by an artist called Mario “Let me love you” and others. stupid asshole poor excuse of a human being