A new identity theft scam of the lowest form has emerged, using American soldiers.
Online imposters are stealing photos of U.S. soldiers they find on the Internet and are fraudulently placing them on dating Web sites in order to scam women out of money. In some cases, the photos being used are of soldiers who died overseas.
There is evidence that this crime is growing, and hundreds have reported being victimized. But the FBI, the State Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the National White Collar Crime Center all say there’s little they can do, because the scammers are mobile, operating out side of the country or from places like Internet cafes.
The Army has said it cannot go after these criminals either, since the perpetrators are not soldiers. It’s out of their jurisdiction.
The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command has received frequent reports of such scams, which often involve requests for money from the victim, in order to purchase laptops, phones and transportation fees to be used by the “deployed solider” so the relationship between the “soldier” and the female victim can continue. The perpetrators often tell the women their units don’t have phones, or that they need money to help keep the unit’s Internet going. They also ask the victims for money to purchase leave papers, or to help pay for their flight home.
It is believed the perpetrators are mostly from Ghana, Angola and Nigeria.
To date, there have been no reports that any U.S. service people have suffered financial loss as a result of these scams. But the victims of this scam have lost thousands.
Before you engage in communication with anyone online or send money to someone you’ve met online, be sure to check them out thoroughly. And never give out your personal information to someone you’ve met online.
You never know who’s on the other end of that “send” button.
Unemployment topped 10% in October, and the holiday season is upon us. Combine the two and you have a lot of people trying to looking for jobs. Sad to say, there’s also a whole lot of ID theft going on.
The Better Business Bureau is alerting consumers about a new scam involving payday loans and phone calls from phony bill collectors.