How to Field Complaints from Romance Scam Victims?

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 09 Oct 2013 Posts: 1

My heart goes out to those who have sent money to Romance scammers. However, there is a group of people who are often overlooked--those whose identities have been used to fraud victims from money, and those who field complaints from victims of romance scams.

I am a US military officer, and I work for a US military general who is frequently impersonated by romance scammers from Ghana and other countries. Our headquarters fields calls from women from all over the world who are complaining that "General X" has scammed them out of money, or that they are running away with him to elope. It takes up a great deal of our time, and causes "General X" (and all of us) much personal embarassment when they do so. Some of them have even found his mailing address and sent him letters in the mail. One even emailed his wife, letting her know that "General X" and she are running away to elope.

I've been put on the case because I'm savvy with social media, and because, well, I'm one of the lower ranking people in the headquarters building. I've had some success in deleting scammers, so it's taken for granted that this is my job now. Let me be clear that I have full-time duties...I am not the US military's official Ghanian email scammer tracker task force!

Every week, I delete about two dozen fake Facebook accounts, and over 200 fake Skype accounts...only to have more pop up the next week. Most scammers aren't that bright, but occasionally, they do get clever. I looked at "General X's" Wikipedia page and noted that scammers from Ghana (according to the IP address) had edited his Wikipedia page to match their scam..."General X's" bio had him listed as being divorced and with a kid in the hospital.

As I talk with people in my position in other units, I've discovered that I'm not alone...countless "worker bees" within the DOD are hard at work each day deleting these accounts. There's no end to it.

The worst is dealing with the victims. I feel sorry for them, but at the same time, the ones that call our headquarters seem to be histrionic. I get about 5 emails a day from a woman in Italy, routed through Google Translate, chronicling her daily search for Ghanian email scammers.

Sadly, I think she is contacting me because she is lonely and is looking for attention. She asks me very obvious questions every day, and seems to be deliberately putting herself in the way of these scammers, just to get emails from the US military. I suspect she thinks that she is in the middle of a manhunt, like in Zero Dark Thirty, and that my emails are feeding some bizarre thirst for excitement in her life. She has sent me screenshots of her Skype screen, and every single Skype contact is a fake Soldier...the accounts are so blatantly obvious, but she keeps talking to them, no matter what I tell her. Her "tips" are never very helpful, either.

As I talk with others in my position, I have found that female victims quickly back off if a woman answers the phone.

Has anyone else had bad experiences dealing with victims and identity theft? How do you respond and/or deal with victims? I feel sorry for them, but I simply cannot spend my time dealing with them. And, let's be honest, I did not join the Army to deal with this.

(As I write this, the US military has its own problems with the current budget shutdown...I really have better things to do!)

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2012 Posts: 5373

Hello and welcome! Our sister site scamwarners.com is where the victims get educated regarding their 'soldier'. People who have had their photos stolen and used by scammers post there too. I imagine that would be the place to post your information.

Anytime a person in uniform (or out of uniform) posts their picture online, it will be stolen by a scammer. There is no stopping it.

We can't stop them but we do put forth an effort to waste a considerable amount of the scammers time, finances and hurt them when we close their mule bank accounts.

I do target pretend soldiers for a reason. Wink

Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 3:44 pm

There are anti scam sites fighting this, like scamwarners.com. Why not post on there leaving an according statement, and asking the General on his homepage (if he has one) to make an according link?
This way, you (and he) will not need to do the explaining what scams are, how they work, why they impersonate military, what to do now etc.
And you are right, closing fake profiles is endless and possibly futile.

Baiting Guru Joined: 27 Mar 2011 Posts: 21155

Welcome to the board USMilitary, sorry we are meeting you under this circumstance. We all really dislike that people are being taken in by these and that you men and women are being used to steal from others and, in your case, dealing with the victims of that. It is a real bad situation for all of you.

I just picked up on one of these about 2 hours ago. As stated above, our sister site will have better advice and the link to your posting or the site itself on his page might deter some people. I wish we had better advice to help deter or prevent this mess.

STAY SAFE!

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18312

Welcome here! I applaud your efforts.

As others have said, our sister site, ScamWarners.com is the best resource for information. There is a section of the forum specifically for Romance Scams: http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=13
and a topic specifically explaining the scams in which scammers are impersonating military personnel, here: http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6527

Deleting the profiles is a never ending process, and sometimes counterproductive. While it can be very troubling to the soldier being impersonated to have the profiles left intact, closing them doesn't stop the scammer from just creating new ones (as you well know). Leaving them intact, while also listing them on anti scam sites like ScamWarners, however, helps save more victims than closing them does. They do create new profiles regardless, but at a slower rate if their current ones aren't closed down. Better to know where your enemy is than have to keep finding them!

If you'd like to, you can list the profiles and the info they contain on the forum at ScamWarners, including a bold disclaimer that the real soldier is being impersonated and is in no way connected to the scam.

Whether or not you choose to do so, please feel free to refer victims to the forum at ScamWarners for advice.

Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 8:07 pm

Hi US Military,

Like everybody else has said, it seems counterintuitive not to close the fake profiles etc. But potential scam victims use google and other search engines and pull up this site and others where the profiles, emails and scripts of known scammers are posted which will hopefully reduce the number of calls to your CO.

Most of us on this section of the forums loathe love scammers for the damage they do do to victims which is more than monetary. You hear and see it. I don't blame you for feeling frustrated: this is taking time from your mission. But these victims have had their trust violated and have been robbed of more than just their money.

Like Ima and others have said, ScamWarners is a good place to post your info. Perhaps you may want to include a link if you are getting victim emails. Posting it will allow potential victims using google to find the scam before disaster occurs.

Men and women in the armed forces have my deepest respect. Stay safe.

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