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#184867 by lonelytoo Fri Dec 20, 2013 10:24 pm
I'm pretty sure that I am being scammed by a person calling himself Richard Grain. I met him on Yo Darling dating site. We have been chatting on Viper Chat. In the past week he has explained to me that everyone is being deployed back home except him. He told me that it requires $300 and an application filed by a loved one to get him a flight back to the states. While I almost sent him the money I didn't, however I have sent him a picture of my license in an email. Now I'm terrified that I have really screwed up and that terrible things are going to happen to me. Can anyone help me? Tell me what I need to be doing or looking for in the future.
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#184870 by Dotti Fri Dec 20, 2013 10:59 pm
First, I know it's tough, but try not to stress too much about it.

Just to be clear: He IS a scammer. He is NOT a soldier. He is almost certainly a younger African man with no connection to the soldier in any photos he sent. He also knows nothing about the real US military except what he copies from the internet.

The good news is that these scammers are typically in Africa or Malaysia, where there is a large number of Nigerian scammers. They are not going to come anywhere near you. If all they have is a drivers license, they can't do a whole lot of real harm. He doesn't have enough for true identity theft. That's not to say that they can't use your name and that license scam in a future scam, but a small amount of basic research will be all it takes to establish that you are not involved. If you want to play it extremely safe, you can always put a fraud alert on your credit file.

As far as other things to be aware of: unfortunately, social sites of all kinds are just loaded with scammers. Here are some things to keep in mind:
-The VAST majority of dating site profiles for "deployed soldiers" are fakes created by scammers. In reality, I've never encountered a real one. Real deployed soldiers have far too many things to worry about than meeting strangers on dating sites. They also don't have hours upon hours to chat.
-If you are dealing with a real soldier, you will have NO involvement with the military. If you are not legally married to him, you are not entitled to any benefits.
-Soldiers have to request leave for themselves. Nobody else can request it, not even a wife. They have a chain of command and they must follow it. The same is true of deployment. You can't request that a soldier be stationed in a particular place, and you can't buy a specific deployment. There is NO cost to fly home--the military covers it. If loved ones could request or buy these things on behalf of soldiers, there would be no troops overseas, because their families would just pay the money to keep them home!
-The military sees an online girlfriend as the equivalent of a pen pal. She has no legal connection to the soldier or the military, and they would not contact her for any reason, or give her any information regarding the soldier that is not available to the general public.
-Any person who approaches on a dating site and starts declaring love from the start is most likely a scammer.
-Watch the English, especially if he is supposed to be educated.
- Watch for people who claim to be near you, but then are conveniently traveling, or who announce a trip right after you meet.

Need to post photos? http://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3219
Are you a victim of a romance scam? Read here for advice and FAQ's.
#184872 by jolly_roger Sat Dec 21, 2013 1:32 am
Thankyou for posting your story lonelytoo. The simple fact is you are being targeted by a scammer. If you scroll to the top of this page, the site search function appears on the right hand side. Type in the words, military scam. The results that show on the screen will amaze you. There are many stories similar to the one you describe of sending money to 'military people'.
In the real world, service personnel do not and never ask money from the general public. Here is some interesting reading on http://afps.dodlive.mil/2010/03/25/army ... nce-scams/
I'm sorry the scammer has wasted your time. Do not worry about the fact of sending the scam artist a picture of your license in an email. The chances of the scammer using it in another scam is only small. It is important to realise that terrible things are NOT going to happen to you. I myself have sent much, much more personal information to a Russian scam syndicate with no adverse effects happening.
In time you will recover, and as people say, life will go on. Be wary in the coming days or weeks of receiving emails from the same scammer (using a differing name or email address) or members of the same scam group. When you don't reply to them, they will realise you're not taking the bait and the scam artists will leave you alone. I know it's not my business but may I strongly suggest you stop participating with the silliness of so called internet dating.

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