I have researched many scams before online but today I found out about a new low. Fraudsters are stealing military photos and creating false profiles on dating sites in an effort to trick the person looking for a relationship to send them money. While the tactic is nothing new it infuriates me that people are impersonating American Soldiers and stealing money from people who strongly support our soldiers.
Break Down of the Scam:
The thief steals/ high jacks a persons military picture from the web. They then go to a dating site and create a false profile using the soldiers name or similar name. They then initiate contact with dozens of individuals trying to build up a relationship. Once trust has been built they then ask for money. It can be for any number of reasons. Some common examples are money for food, internet access, a computer, in a hospital from a war wound, to come home and see them, etc…
They will have you then wire money into an account or send a money wire through western union under a persons name. Once done they will continually ask the person for more money and give excuses as to why they need it. The scam will go on for as long as the person sends the money.
How to Protect yourself.
One simple way that does not always work but can is to look at the e-mail header information. There you will be able to find the IP from were the email was sent. If it is in Africa particularly Nigeria then it is most likely a scam. To learn how to view header information you can check out
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=22454#
For information on looking up an IP and were it originates from you can view
http://www.ip2location.com An example IP for you to test is 80.248.1.1
People who commit fraud are good at what they do. They may have a legit phone number, address and many other things to make them seem like a real person that can be trusted. Never send money to anyone online unless you can first contact them and verify via the phone that they need help. Even then if it's someone who you have meet online and never in person it may be a scam. Simply tell them you can not send them any money. Watch how fast they never contact you again and move on to the next person.
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