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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Can you please tell me what I can do I have just seen that he is noq on the hotmail site using the same name that he used when he scammed me. d.knotts@hotmail.com. Please advise me.
Dear Kath,
It’s so hard isn’t it. Not only was I devestated too when I found out that Matthew Lingo wasn’t real but I was just pulling myself back together and coming to terms with it when I then found out that the police had me down as a suspect because of the money going into my account!!! Thankfully that is all sorted now and they know that I was scammed aswell but to say my stress reached new levels wouldn’t even cover it. I was absolutely petrified when they came knocking on my door, read me my rights and put me under caution. My world came crashing down AGAIN and this time with potential serious consequences. I was a nervous wreck for a good week until the PC incharge of the investigation called me on Monday this week and told me that everything was okay and that I was no longer a suspect as it was obvious from all the emails I’d sent them and receipts etc that I benefitted in no way at all other than a broken heart. I’m just also very thankful that I saved all the emails from “Matthew” and went back over MSN messages and gave the police all the names (about 10 in total) of all the women who sent money and PC Boyt then obviously started contacting these women to make them aware. I have never been through anything so traumatic in my whole life..don’t think I’ll ever quite get over it. And what makes it even more sickening is that the guy who was pretending to be “Matthew” Adedayo Ajayi won’t suffer any comeupance whatsoever nor any prosecution….he gets away scot free and we have to pick ourselves up again and attempt to piece back our shattered lives. I’m so sorry.
I am yet another victim and this time the identity used is Daniel Knotts said to be a Major in the USAF deployed on active duty in Iraq working with training the Iraq forces. The photo’s used are of Daniel Knotts I have photos of him in uniform showing his name. I have been chatting to him for 9 months (someone posing as him, I’m sure) and just a week ago I was contacted by our police force here in the UK to tell me that I had been caught up in the scam. I had been one of the victims that had sent money into Sharons bank. I am utterly devasted to have been so betrayed by these despicable people and finding it very hard to come to terms with. I hope that you can get this name out there so that no one else gets pulled in.
CPT Crane, Craig, USMC: Doesn’t exist.
Does anyone know of a marine named Captain Craig Crane based in Afghanistan?
So now the scammers are coming right out and saying they are in Nigeria? They are getting brazen, or we really do have some people who don’t look beyond their nose to verify anything. Indeed we really want to believe there is a US soldier in Nigeria who falls in love with us after three emails.
E8 is a pay grade, not a rank. Its ranks are MSG or 1SG in the Army.
Steven Hughes is a common name but none in the Army are even close to E8. SGT is E5 and there are none of those either. No E8 would ever go around saying he is a SGT which is E5. Fake.
Using Intel, SpecOps or other high speed scenario is the way to sound secret and explain why they cannot tell you things. Don’t buy it.
To add to question above… he states he is in the military intelligence of the US army and he has to tour. He has told me he has to move around with his boys when on tour !!!
Sorry my last question was abit vague. Does anyone know or heard of a US soldier serving in Afghan and supposedly on tour in Nigeria now? He states his name and rank is Sgt Steven Hughes Rank E8, cant find him anywhere and not sure if he is a scammer or not! Thank you for your help
ClareUK if he cannot even get first and last names right I bet it is fraud. I just checked andthere is no Chen Johnson in the US military branches. If you see CHEN on his uniform then that is his last name.
He says his wife died? What is her name? Go here and verify it: http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
Dropping a note to the Army will not get anyone out, sorry.
Does anyone know of lieut.Chen Johnson supposedly serving in Afghanistan as military police
Provided photos including his uniform with CHEN printed on it which I questioned whether christian or surname, told was Christian name, if so why that on uniform not surname! Oriental looking from Ohio wife died grandmother looking after his 9yr old daughter who conveniently had same name as me! Wanted me to write to his bosses to get him out army to come to me to marry me! I got conned for top up and asked for money to send to his mother to care for his daughter! Not given luckily! And also asked for PSP hand held game, again not given as v suspicious but the undying love “baby” everything in broken english! when pleaded him for more photos he fobs me off and says he promise send more but doesnt happen! Met him on NETLOG
Yes we can copy our ID cards but it is frowned upon. I have had to do it for credit card orders when deployed. But he may have found a picture of the ID online and pretends it is him. Have him email you from his military account ending in .mil.
You will be hard pressed to find a service member living in the UK or other than the USA and be on active duty.
I have been contacted by who I believe may be a scammer, He calls himself Christian Reinauer and is a Major in the US Army currently serving with NATO in Haiti. He claims to be an Orthopaedic Surgeon and lives in Rainham, Essex, UK. He says that he will retire as soon as this mission is over, We have been in contact since the beginning of January, He has asked if I would mind speaking to his son via email who is currently at University in Hamburg, I have checked the IP addresses and the origin is Nigeria, 41.206.12.16 and his ‘son’is in Mountain View California. As of yet he has not asked for anything but I feel sure he will soon.
I have been contacted by who I believe to be a scammer, He calls himself Christian Reinauer and is a Major in the US Army currently serving with NATO in Haiti. He claims to be an Orthopaedic Surgeon and lives in Rainham, Essex, UK. We have been in contact since the beginning of January, He has asked if I would mind speaking to his son via email who is currently at University in Hamburg, I have checked the IP addresses and the origin is Nigeria, 41.206.12.16 and his ‘son’is in Mountain View California, Please beware if anybody has heard from this person
Dear Lorraine,
Many thanks for your valuable info & insight. I truely appreciate your words of concern.
Does anyone or has anyone ever had contact with a Afghan soldier by the name of Sgt Steven Hughes supposidly in intelligence? Can a soldier send out a copy of his ID as proof of who he is please?
Does anyone know or have any information on a ‘soldier’ by the name of Richard Cason?
Lynnie and All Women here on this site …
Please know that finding out the IP Address WILL NOT HELP YOU FIND OUT THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE PERSON YOU ARE CHATTING WITH!!! Anyone, especially these FAKE SOLDIERS can re-route their IP address to what seems like a legitimate location (eg. a real city in the United States). These FAKE SOLDIERS are not working alone but rather in groups … THEY ARE ORGANIZED CRIMINALS!!!
Don’t waste your time trying to figure out who is real and who isn’t. If you are asking the question or feel you have to ask the question, “Is this soldier real or fake?”, the answer is “HE IS A FAKE” 99.9% of the time.
Save yourself heartache and financial ruin … he may not have asked you for money just yet but for sure he will very soon … mark my words!
Dear Noreen … this so called soldier by the name of Robert White is definitely a FAKE! My scammer also said he had a son living in Africa, Ghana to be exact. You have to ask yourself WHY WOULD HIS SON BE LIVING IN AFRICA??? I does not make sense, no matter what spin he puts on his story! You have been COMPLETELY lied to as was I and so many other women. Get rid of him, don’t let yourself fall in love with this FAKE! He will eventually scam you out of your hard earned money and all your savings. TRUST ME I KNOW FIRST HAND. I lost $16,000. CDN/USD and my new friend Melody lost $20,000. CDN/USD.
Mi relacion comenzo hace una semana con caballero que tiene perfil en meetic.es apodado mne_ (sitio para relacionarse) hemos pasado los correos electronicos el de el: stephen potts@live.com. Dice ser de us army 54 años, con un niño adoptado de 11 años. Aun no me pidio dinero, pero me extraño su pregunta de si tengo casa propia y cuantos años traba.- jaba para la empresa que lo hago. Dice estar super enamorado de mi me pide foto continuamente cosa que no le envio promete enviar la suya a lo que no doy importancia a la fecha nunca envio. se conecta siempre Esta super enamorado(ironia de por medio)jajaja que mal te veo Esteban!! OJO MUJERES NO SE DEJEN LLEVAR POR LA EMOCION.
Atte. Tania
This is obviously an nightmare. I was also contacted through Match by a someone claiming to be a US Soldier in Baghdad. At first I was flattered because I thought he was quite cute, but after a couple of chats I realized there was something not right about this guy and his stories especially since I caught him contradicting himself several times. I kept telling myself, he is just too good to be true. And you know how the old saying goes…it’s right of course.
Anyway, there is a lot of women out there being scammed, we need to speak up and let the rest of the world know.
Here are a couple of sites:
http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/03/23/36242-cid-warns-of-internet-romance-scams/
http://www.soldiersperspective.us/2009/10/28/the-new-military-dating-scam/
btw, he used the name James Harrison(50) and also updated his yahoo profile to include the name Hueckstaedt as it was written on one of his pictures.
Has anyone heard of Edwin Chopper ? He is on facebook and my space. He approached my daughter and ask for $100. HE also told her he is comming home in July and ask her to marry him. He says he has a 14 yr. old daughter named Emily. He says he is in Afgatistan and he and his unit won’t get paid till the tour is finished. She did not send money, however she did send him a small package to what he says is his agent Laura Jones in San Angelo,Texas. She is convinced that he is for real. My daughter is widowed and it’s on her facebook page. She does not do dating sites. I just hate to see her get hurt. Besides that the kids are excited to. She has an 10 year old daugher and an 8 year old son. He also says he wants to buy her a new house and furniture and spoil her kids. She told him he can’t spoil the kids cause she wants to teach them the value of a dollar. We are suppse to pick him up at the airport when he comes in. He ask if her friend was available for one of his buddies. Fortunealy her friend does not have the internet. If anyone has any info. please post it or contact us at lemoore9004@yahoo.com Thank You and God Bless.
To Rennee, yes. I have seen that name on a scam site noted as a scammer. Can’t remember which one but beware. Sorry to tell you. Dee
MSG McLaughlin,
Congratulations!!!!!!!! It is indeed nice to hear some good news 🙂
Lynnie: There is no rank of junior staff sergeant. Run.
SadButLucky: There is no Special Leave Permit. Run.
Angie: All military have the same privileges such as amount of leave time, PX access, wear of the uniform, rights under UCMJ, etc. Officers get to be saluted by those of lesser rank and maybe they get to ride in a car where a Private walks in the mud. An Intel officer may have specific job duties but no specific benefits not accorded others of the same rank. For service, enlisted is 4 years for one enlistment I believe. It was 3 when I went in. So usually 4 active and 4 inactive. Officers are in until they specifically resign their commission and do not “re-up”.
Noreen: I don’t even have to search those names to see the fraud there. Africa? Really? Ask for his .mil address.
David: Military.com is a civilian site (.com) and anyone can say they are any rank there and have tons of medals. I’d not trust it. I have an account there but nothing is verified.
Dolores: Broken English? RUN!
All: Recently I visited a friend who is looking for a soldier. She was convinced the 2nd highest ranking General in the US Army was flirting with her. She was angry at me when I told her she was wrong. I came to the conclusion that some folks want something so bad they they take the 1% truth and ignore the other 99%. We are all guilty of that to a degree. How many people buy something on credit them swear to themselves to pay it off the next month? Yea right. 🙂 Do not overlook the signs just because someone says they are in the military. Go ahead and question us, we don’t mind. And if we have Internet access we can phone you just as easily.
Hello, I have been chatting with one Ricardo Carlos Barbaroza for 3 weeks. He has been professing his love to me and calling me his wife to be. He has not asked for money, but has said he is from Michigan and presently serving in Aphganistan as a sargeant, but is looking for the woman of his life to relocate with, myself being Canadian.He has even had a couple of women friends from F.B.to request me as their friend. Broken English and baby, baby, love, blah, blah, blah, What a shame for the lost soldiers in the war. Disgusting!!!!!!!!