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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I’ve posted my story here on August 30th. The bad guy have contacted me!
Lorraine-I will forward the pictures to you. I wanted to stop this so let me know if I can help in any way.
Pauline- Ours’ story are more alike as the retirement doc and others papers also in the package. There are many websites to search IP address and i even try to locate mine. Only 1 out of 4 locate exactly what city I am living in. The other three are spotted in the general areas. So I agreed with you even we do our homework it does not mean we have their locations. It can be re-route to difference areas.
LADIES WATCH OUT…………HOPE THIS HELP………….!!!!!!!!!!!!
The real guy had come clean and asked for forgiveness and want to start over with me. Although I have not see this face yet on MSN and I have heard his voice. He is back and play soccer alot and English is not good.
He said the money was to save her sick mother in the hospital (what else is new!!) His friends are from Nigeria.
His confession…
honey i have something to tell you , i want you to know that iam not who you think iam, butiam very mcuh interest in you , i have fall in love for you and i want to meet you , please dont deny me, i can view you my webcam and you can see me,is not what you think, am her eto look for my love but , i dont think if you see me you will like me but i have body like the picture i send you and am black , am from from ghana here , you know what i really love you very much , i have fall deep for you my love , i want to marry you and be with you forever , please never let me down , i can view you a webcam so that you can see me and you wil like me, and we can start everything over and then you can come here to see me in person and if you like me and the nwe can go home together , but i dont have money , i have love to give you forever, i realy do love you so much , please trust me
i love you
i never want to let you down i realy love you and i want every one ove rthere to know that iam coming to live with you and i dont want you o be very worried and lonely , i was going to tell you who iam for long time but i was afraid that i will lose you , but now i hav eno choice but to tel you .
i really love you very much sweetheart , if you want me i can let you see me in cam trust me i will never hurt you and do anything to make you worried , i wantyou to be happy in life ,
please honey reply me
i love you very much
my real name is hassan
Another one this week…
Hello Darling,
How are you doing? I hope you are doing great. Honey, I have just retruned from the super market where I bought the webcam just for you and to make you understand my sincerity now.Honey, I promise not to let you down again, i am going to be sincere to you and also love you with all my heart. Please call me on this number (+233270424500) immediately you arrive home from work, so I can quickly meet you online and show you my webcam.
I still love you and I want to be with you till death do us apart.
Take of yourself,
Hassan A. Sasexxxxxxxxxxx
To Pauline and all the other ladies
Many thanks for all the support and information you have given on this site, i have managed to trace the ip number back to ghana although the number hasnt been used for 3 months so it told me it was ‘trustworthy’.!!! i think not. i have been very lucky not to have lost any money, and only had my pride dented a little, thank you all and if i can help any of you ladies please get in touch.
i have not updated for a while but Leonard peters or Leo peters which every he likes to call himself is still up to his tricks . Not so much on facebook but is on yahoo messenger. I have a friend who he has been in contact with tell ing her he loves her and wants to be with her within a few hours of talking to her.Little does he know that she knew all about it and has asked some questions. He told me he is 40 but told her he is 42 told me he was injured in war but my friend he has never been injured. He started talking about when he comes home in Nov from Afghan his dad has a 10million dollar poicy matured in oct and asked my friends advice on what he should do with this. i am wondering if he is gonna ask for help in claiming this money. is email add on yahoo meesenger is leo.c240707@ymail.com. Just watch out ladies.
Correction… that was in reference to Linda back on July 22, 2010 post.
Hey Linda back up on July 10, 2010… I just wanted to let you know that I was first contacted on Aug. 19, 2010 by a guy on match.com who immediately wanted to chat via yahoo messenger. His email addy over there is that lovingsoularmy@yahoo.com and goes by the alias of James Daniels. He supposedly grew up in Temple, TX, and is stationed out of Ft. Hood in the army. He is divorced, wife living in Australia with their daughter, has been in Afghanistan for 2 years now and in the Army for 5. I found out today that both his mom and dad passed away 2 years ago but in different months. He’s professed his love for me and from the get go I was kind of leary about the whole thing. Things just seemed a little odd and out of sorts, so to speak. I’ve been played WAY TOO MANY times so flags pop up pretty easily for me, not to mention my ex-husband was a cop, so I know A LOT of things/signs to look for. I’ve got three photos of him as well. He’s not emailed me or talked about money or anything. Ohhh… and he’s supposedly an IT TECH for the army too. Funny thing is when I went to go check out Mr. Daniels over on classmates.com to see if I could find him listed in the Temple High School annual, he was NO WHERE to be found. Hmmm… what a coincedence… ;o) He’s also told me that he was 47 (even though his profile that was hidden or removed immediately after making contact with me showed he was 46). His birthday is also April 24th, so he says. If you’d like to compare pics… feel free to contact me at my email addy of jewels_8765@yahoo.com.
Add MICHAEL CARLIN to the list. I did not loose anything. started to investigate because his story did not add up. (telling me he loves me etc)When I asked him his favorite football team, he gave me a soccer team. He had no clue who N.O. Saints were. He said he is on a peace keeping in Afghanistan, but tells me he does not have a camera, because it would get broken in running from gun fire. So, I have been asking some obscure (US culture) questions, and he answers them strangely. I played along for a while, seeing what he came up with, until he tried the TS2 phone thing. When I told him my cousin in afghanistan uses yahoo chat, and pressed him to contact me with yahoo, I have not heard from him since.
I’m reading all these responses and I notice some of you want to complain to U.S. Embassys, but this will get you nowhere for the following reasons: These are fake Americans/soldiers
These creeps are usually Nigeran citizens and the embassys have no jurisdiction over these people.
When you contact the police, it is true you were scammed out of your hard earned money, but the way these creeps set you up, they made sure you handed over the money willingly even though you were deceived. But please do report it to the police, you never know. The best thing you can do is remember if it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably a scam, especially when they ask for money. Just spread the word to any females you know that use online dating services so that they will not be scammed. One of the fake soldiers had approached me using the “leave” scam, but he didn’t know I was from a military family and a veteran myself and he didn’t part with my money. Besides, no total stranger falls in love with someone they never even met in person within a few hours, if they do, something is wrong with them.
Aug-Sept 10 I was contacted through the dating site Be2 a few weeks ago by a gentleman who purported to be a Border Patrol officer in Iraq. I received the somewhat standard story of being a widower (wife died of cancer but asked what type he couldn’t answer me), had a 7 year son whom he left with his sister-in-law in the states who was only looking after him before the child was her sisters (didn’t get on with any of the wife’s family), his parents were both dead and had no one in his life except his son. Then he asked me for money to help ship a package which he couldn’t keep in camp and seeming I was the only person in his life, he wanted to send it to me. After a week or so of haggling onlife with this person, he finally admitted to be a scammer, a 20yr boy in Ghana. He was good. He also posed as a camp diplomat who was going to deliver the package to me. I engaged a Wymoo Investigations who were very personable and approachable, however, because of the admission on-line to me there wasn’t much point proceeding with the investigation through Wymoo. They kindly gave me a pro rate refund of my funds. This scammer was using the soldier’s name of Jeff Hewitt. I asked him for his military email as I had seen on this site as proof of authenication as a US soldier. He sent me one hewitt122@armymail.com which you can set up yourself on a free set up email site. During the process he was using the email of hewitt122z@hotmail.com. I have some beautiful photos of this solider and his son which I will treasure. Not being able to know his real name and his background makes it very difficult for closure.
How very interesting…
I have been chatting with a Sgt Bill Johnson.
He has a great story too.(in afghan for 3 months, wants to come see me, has no parents or sibblings, adopted – on his own- a boy from congo, divorced…)
He e-mailled me pics and a passport pic!
I obviously have doubts…
Has anyone heard of bill4ever200@hotmail.com ?
All originating IPs are from Ghana…
Pls let me know thanks 🙂
Watch out for men impersonating themselves as US soldiers deploying in Iraq. Mine was named Sgt Mattew Tonsetic whom I met on Match.com Mattew has a son, Gabriel Agbeko, staying in Accra, Ghana, with Mattew’s mother. I sent fund via MoneyGram to help paid for Gabby’s tuition twice cuz Mattew froze his account in States. More recently, he wanted to leave Iraq and wanted $1,200 for the plane ticket. He was very persuasive and made me feel guilty for not helping him out. He stopped chatting with me when I told him that I couldn’t keep lending him money. His email is belive_god03@hotmail.com Gabriel’s email is young_gabby01@yahoo.com Just remember never ever send money!!! Anyone know of a govt site that will bust these scammers?
I too was almost taken in my Commander Miller Hannett, US Army. Sent me pictures in uniform, nice smile etc… and knew just what to say to make you trust him. He claimed to be divorced and father of 2 children “but I lose one” a daughter who passed away (obviously a sympathy ploy) I was not too suspicious until he asked me to send hom a laptop, 3 times in an approximately 6 hour time frame. then the little bell went off, and I stunbled across this site…This really sucks for women who are looking for Mr. Right, only to be broken hearted and bilked out of money or posessions etc…
I am IMing with a Greg Wills with the same story. I knew it was a scam as soon as the money issue came up. I have at least two other scammers, one with the sick mother in Africa, and one with money that he needs me to put into my account. It’s good to let them know that the jig is up, and get on with your life.
Message for Vicky
Hi Vicky Wadsworth is a name that comes up on this site every so often, so you can be pretty sure that he is a scammer based in either Ghana or Nigeria. To put your mind at ease try checking the IP address – instructions have been given previously, but if you get stuck you can email me and I will help you. I know its hard to believe that the person you have been talking to for so long who is saying all the things you want to hear is really only after your money, but it is better to find out now rather than letting it continue.
Best of luck in finding a genuine person
Kind regards
Pauline
paulines56@live.com.au
I had just met someone who seemed to be a kind loving person. HE told me that he was over in Iraq, then he got transfered to Afghanistan, he told me that he was a Master Sargent in the Airforce and he was on the verge of retirement. He asked me to send him 310.00 USD so that he could get a ts2 phone so he could call me, and then he asked me to go to my bank and try and 8,000.00 USD loan so he could come home on leave….at this point every single red flag and whistle went off…I told him that if he is making as much as he said he is he can use his money for it I have nothing…havent heard from him in a few days oh well
Hi ladies, anyone know staff sargeant mark williams wadsworth, been in contact for 6 weeks now, and since reading your letters alarm bells starting to ring,his story same as all the rest, widow, bringing up grand daughter alone, no other living family, in afgan, leaving in couple of months and wants to come and live with me in the uk!! got pictures and email address if anyone else talking to him, has not asked for any money yet, i so wanted to believe everything he told me, i cant believe these kind of things happen,
I met a Matthew Lingo (matthew.lingo@live.com ) on E harmony stationed in Iraq, same story dead parents, divorced and a 9 yr old son. Five months of chatting on msn and e mails, then 2 days after a friend told me to be careful of scammers, he asked me to help transfer money from his dad’s estate to West Africa!!! I felt sick to my stomach, and gave him a piece of my mind and deleted him instantly.
Lucky for me I did not loose anything but my pride, found the same guy’s face on facebook called Samuel Lingo and he is on Myspace also. Have contacted him to see if he is genuine but have had no responce. How can I find out if this guy is genuine or dead??? I would really like to know to put my mind at rest.
I had a friend request out of the blue from a Chris Kessler on Facebook with a military profile pic.I had no idea who this person was but as I’m new to Facebook and have a common name I emailed him back saying thank you for your friend request however you may have the wrong person. I got a reply back saying no no I want you as a friend saw your profile picture and I fell for your photo etc……As I was new to facebook I didn’t have my infomation protected and he had my email address so I get an email from this US soldier who is based in Afganistan professing his love for me which I found to be quite strange and alarm bells went off. Well low and behold he has just asked for 2000 pounds for a permit to get him home early I have to send the money to the UK and via Western Union. Yeah right as if I’m going to do that! It makes me sick that these people are using troops photos to try and prey on women. Thank god I’m married to a wonderful man and no way interested in any kind of relationship. These people must be exposed.
CJ
Please send me the pictures you have of Sgt. William England. I would like to compare them to the ones he sent me. Here is my email address: 2010Summer2011@gmail.com
I would really appreciate it. He scammed $4,400. USD from me!
Message for Cow Girl
Hi although your IP addresses came up in the US that is just one that it passes through to reach you – the email may pass through up to three or four before you receive it. All your emails would have originating in Ghana(that IP address would be closer to the message and would start with 41.), it is exactly the same story (although the package contained money and all his army records – I think because I wasn’t interested in the money they had to find something that I would be willing to protect) that I fell for to send money to Ghana. So obviously you were dealing with the same group as me.
If you see any of the following names and phone numbers come up in your conversations with your “soldier”, DELETE AND BLOCK IMMEDIATELY! They are scammers.
Sgt. William England
Staff Sgt. Kessler Grahalm Hargardstaedt
Staff Sgt. Kessler Grahalm Hueckstaedt
Emmanuel Kessler Tetteh (PH.#233278313217)
Sir Agyapong Nyame (PH.#0330273922143)
Mr. Yussif Karim, aka Mr. Umal Mohamed Yussif Karim
Liberty Empire Group – Diplomatic Courier Service (libertyempiregroup.com)
Mark Mills (PH.#704-374-5589)
John Roland
Mr. Emmanuel Bentil Owusa (PH.#233542695619)
Mrs. Desire Idigu
If you see the words “disappointed” or “byeee” in your communications you probably have a scammer at the other end of the internet.
CJ
I have been contacted by Sgt William England who says he is in Iraq. Says he will be discharged in 2 months. Hasn’t asked for money yet, but expect him to soon. Sent pictures…met on Match and immediately wanted to go to Yahoo messenger to chat. Got immediate red flags. Wrote email saying I wasn’t interested, but he is still trying to chat with me and email me. He says he’s from the Miami area and divorced with one son. Looked up IP address on his email and it says it is coming from Braitislava. I thought most of these scammers were from Nigeria???
Any advice? Where should I mail the pictures?
Cow Girl would you please send me the pictures you have of your soldier to my Hotmail address: 2010Summer2011@gmail.com
I think we should all be sharring the pictures we have of these soldiers. Does anyone know if the U.S. Department of Defense is interested in these pictures? Personally I think the DOD should have a website posting the pictures so to alert the real soldiers, their families and other potential victims of this horrible crimes being committed in the names of American Soldiers.
I also think the United States Government should take a more serious approach to this network of scammers. For all we know the money we have sent them (unknowingly of course) could be going to the very terrist the U.S., British, Canadian, and other military units are fighting.
We are the victims … we need a voice!
Check out ‘STOP THE US ARMY DATING’ on Facebook. There are alot listed on there also.
SJ
Yes, I am still here. Got your message about Sgt. David Stewart. Yep those pictures really make your heart melt. Don’t they, and the way he sweet talks you. I’ve had two more scammers contact me since David. They are a david_jamescyr@yahoo.com and a mike-sgt.pleitex@yahoo.com. Seems they all use yahoo. But when you try to look up their facebook or even their yahoo profiles there is nothing but a name.
If you check out the wall of shame, I have posted the 3 pictures that Sgt David Stewart sent me. Looks like 3 different guys to me.
If you wish to talk more you can contact me at Bahbeesoo@yahoo.com Thats my IM too.
Just letting everyone know that Daniel Raymond is not the scammer. His pictures were being used by many men and I also let him know this. He has now hidden his pictures from the public. He was an innocent victim. So sad.