So-called romance scammers perform as a fake US soldier. A romance scam is a type of online fraud.
What looks like new great love at first glance soon turns out to be a fraud.
Unscrupulous criminals pose as soldiers of the US army and conquer the hearts of the women they have met on the Internet with sweet words.
In the end, the men are only interested in one thing: women’s money.
Men contact women indiscriminately via the Internet
As private detectives, we receive daily news from women who have been the victims of marriage-impostors.
Many have a similar story to tell.
This story often begins with the women being contacted unsolicited by a fake US soldier.
Initial contact was via email, Facebook, dating sites, Skype, forums or other social networks.
All soldiers then send great photos in uniform, combat dress and with military vehicles or weapons. All ranks are represented, from low ranking privates to generals.
After the initial contact, the further contact should run by e-mail
For flimsy reasons, the alleged US servicemen then declare that they have to handle further contact via e-mail.
The reason for this is simple: If the partner exchanges or networks recognize that the alleged soldier is not a soldier at all and the profile is simply a fake, they block these profiles.
Further contacts are then no longer possible and the already “dug up” victims would be out of reach. So they ask for your e-mail address or mobile phone number.
With the personal data they ensure that the contact can be continued, even if the actual profile has been blocked.
The alleged soldiers almost always impersonate Americans. But they also rarely claim to be from Australia, Great Britain or Canada. It always depends where the scammers just stole photos from.
The fake US soldiers are supposedly always on duty somewhere in crisis areas. Afghanistan or Iraq or Syria are popular as a supposed place of deployment.
Today, however, they also regularly mention areas where blue helmets are deployed.
The big love – or not?
After only a few weeks, the man from the US Army has become an integral part of the victim’s life.
Constant contacts make him a virtual member of the family. And it will not be long before the fake US soldier announces the great love.
Honey, My Dear, My Wife – these are the expressions that accumulate. But the woman never saw the men. It’s always messages via messenger or phone.
Most of the victims do not notice that the alleged American speaks very bad English with strong African accents.
This is because they themselves simply speak too little English. And no one notices that the great poems, verses and lines are without much context and deeper meaning and were simply copied out of poetic works.
The future is quickly planned and the US Army soldier decides to come to the wife of his heart, depending on where the victim lives.
Finally, he would like to hold his virtual wife in his arms in reality and of course get married soon.
If the victim asks for a video chat, he will say that this is forbidden on the Army premises. Of course its rubbish, but the victim doesn’t know that.
There are problems – the fake US soldier needs money
Shortly before the trip to you a small problem will arise.
- The serviceman cannot get his money from the crisis area and needs an advance for the flight.
- He wants to create a box with personal belongings for the wife of his heart and needs money for customs.
- He wants to take found gold bars out of the country and needs bribes for diplomats.
- One day, he wants to ship a money box to you, but needs money for safe transport.
- He needs money to be released from duty, which he allegedly has to pay.
- In order to buy out of the service earlier, he must pay an indemnity which he does not have available in cash at the moment.
- His child in the USA had an accident and he needs short-term money for the operation, as it has to be pre-financed in the USA.
- He cannot cash a local check and would like to send it to you for his “wife” to do it for him. But because it will take too long, she should transfer the money in advance. Obviously, the check will not be covered later.
The victim should now send money
This above list can be continued. Of course, he just wants the money on loan. He will allegedly pay back immediately when he finally arrives at your place.
For everything to go quickly, the money should be sent to Ghana or Nigeria.
There are the appropriate middlemen who take care of everything. The easiest way to transfer money is by Western Union, WorldRemit or MoneyGram in cash, he argues.
If the money was actually transferred, the victim will never see it again. Rather, new problems will arise and new money will be needed. The victim is to pay again. That goes on until there’s no more money the victim can send.
If the victim is really broke, the fake US soldier will demand new payments. He would ask his victim to borrow money, take out a loan, terminate or borrow the life insurance, ask relatives for money, overdraw the account or have an advance paid out by the employer or similar.
The woman is being squeezed out.
The US soldier is not real
What the victim does not suspect – the US soldier is not a soldier at all.
The perpetrator is a marriage-impostor.
He belongs to mafia structures in Ghana. Or he is a member of the Nigeria Connection, which has also spread in the marriage scam.
He stole the photos from somewhere on the Internet, from a Facebook page or Instagram or wherever.
The real man in the pictures has no idea that his picture is being used for shameless deception. Often the people in the pictures are also fallen soldiers who gave their lives in action.
How do Romance Scammers work?
The scammer behind the pictures is chatting with different women at the same time. The scams are full-time job that pays extremely well. Because most victims send money, a lot of money.
The average monthly wage in Ghana for a hard-working person is about 108.00 Euros. Now please put this in relation to the amounts paid by the victims.
If a woman sends only 1,000 Euros or Dollars, a worker in Ghana would have to work hard for an average of more than 9 months. From this you can see that a few sweet words and nice chats are extremely well paid.
In Nigeria, the average wage is 173.00 Euros. There, too, a worker would have to work for 1000 Euros for almost half a year. And now we must not forget that most women send far more than 1000 Euros.
We have had cases in which 100,000 Euros and more were transferred to alleged US soldiers. Set 100,000 Euro times in relation to 108.00 Euro average wages. The worker would have to work for more than 77 years. That is, he could never earn it with regular work.
Thus the fraudsters, also called scammers or love scammers or romance scammers, regard their marriage scams as lucrative gainful employment.
Our advice for contacting a U.S. Army soldier
If you too are contacted by a fake US soldier, be careful. Just follow a few rules.
Real soldiers of the US Army are honourable people. They would never beg you for money. American soldiers also do not want to smuggle money bags or a personal “box” out of the crisis area with your help.
They’re nothing but stupid stories.
Insist that you can video chat with the people. If the excuse comes up that this is forbidden on the Army grounds or in the barracks for security reasons, you know that he is a fraud.
Of course, video chats via Facebook, Facetime, Skype or other services are not prohibited in barracks. So if someone has an excuse ready, he wants to prevent you from seeing that the person in the video is not identical to the soldier in the photos.
And even if you see a moving image, be careful. Modern technology makes many illusions possible today that are not true.
Never transfer money to alleged soldiers, especially if the money is to go to Africa for flimsy reasons. If you do anyway, your money is probably lost once and for all.
Never accept a check as security. This is basically counterfeit or invalid.
A real-life case of Love Scamming
The US soldier proves to be a fake – he is a love scammer
Only recently we received an inquiry from a customer who wrote to us: “I need a private investigator. I met a soldier on the Internet who wanted to visit me. I sent him the money for the flight. His flight was supposed to go to Berlin. But I didn’t find him at the airport. I’m afraid something has happened. Please find him.”
Well, unfortunately, it turns out the man didn’t really exist.
In fact, it was a fraud who played eternal love with stolen images for the woman. He sent her messages, little poems and greetings every day until she was willing to pay him to fly to her.
In reality, however, the man did not exist. Behind the whole story was an African fraud. The money was lost and the woman had also suffered emotional damage.
Have you also had experience with a US Army soldier or romance scam?
We check your chat partners from America and other countries
Have you met someone on the Internet who is said to come from the USA, Canada, Australia or Great Britain? If you have any doubts as to whether the man is real, we can check it out for you.
Beware of the trap romance scam. If in doubt, speak to a private detective of our team. We detect scammers faster than you.
We are specialized in checking profiles of people. And we also offer the verification of persons and their address in the USA or Great Britain.
We determine the address of people and make a background check of the person in the USA.
Do you want to be sure if your partner is real? We will check for you whether your partner is real or not.
Write to us or just give us a call:
+49 – 2369 – 20 40 490
Alert:
- If he says soldiers aren’t allowed access to their money, it’s a scam.
- When he states you need to write his commander or the UN to request leave for him, it’s a scam.
- If he says he needs money to file a leave request, it’s a scam.
- If he’s asking you for money, it’s probably a scam.
Here are a few explanations of terms for a better understanding
Definition of a Marriage Swindler – Who is a Romance Scammer?
A marriage swindler aka romance scammer is a person who consciously pretends to love (and possibly wants to marry) someone with the only goal to enrich himself and without any real feelings for the other person.
What is a Love Scammer?
A Love Scammer is someone who tries to conquer women’s hearts on the Internet with fake profiles. He pretends to be in love with the victim and pursues the goal of obtaining financial support.
What is Romance Scam?
The term Romance Scam refers to a form of Internet fraud. Fake profiles on the Internet are used to pretend that the victims are in love with the aim of getting money from the victim.
Do US soldiers have to buy their vacation?
A soldier can’t buy a vacation from the U.S. Military. There are also no fees to be paid before a holiday is granted. A visit to a friend or fiancé is not considered an emergency.
Strangers outside the military cannot apply for leave for military personnel. A soldier can only do this directly, and he must follow the official channels.
Are soldiers paid in cash?
Some fraudsters claim that they have received the pay for the work as a soldier or as a doctor on behalf of the UN for the past years in cash and now want to send this money in a box. That’s nonsense.
Nobody has to send his money with a box from Syria or Afghanistan to the whole world with the help of an alleged security company.
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