How Do You Report a Romance Scam?

When I was deployed last year, I was getting strange emails and posts to my Facebook from women I never met. I found out that my photos were being used to con women for money and personal information. Many of the women contacted me to warn me about someone stealing my identy.

Here is how the con artist steals the image. They see your social network page, in my case Facebook. They copy the images they want and use those images to send to their victims. Sometimes they even set up fake Facebook pages with the copied photos.

The women who are victims contacted me through several channels, through my Facebook, or LinkedIn, through the Chain of Command or Army Public Affairs. It is embarassing to receive those phone calls or emails, but I do answer each inquiry.

Several of the women, that were victims felt like they were really in love with me. They become devasted when they find out that I never knew them, and in some cases were victims of a fraud. I do feel sorry for them, and several cases they want to have a relationship. Then it is up to me to tell them I am not interested and that I am not available.

Continued -

Here are some lessons learned for me. Keep your images and your soical network access on the highest security settings. Don’t let anyone you don’t know to friend you. I have noticed recently I have had several attempts from people in Africa to friend me on Facebook.

If you are a military leader, inform your warriors to secure their own settings.

Ladies, if are friended by a military member you don’t know, use caution. Don’t give out to much information about yourself right away.

If a US Service member asks for money, close him down, It is a scam.

Also be aware there is no way we as a Service will leave a warrior in a country that he needs to pay to get out.

There are no government forms that need to be filled out by you so a soldier can visit you on leave.

And ladies, if a any guy says he has fallen in love with you, just over emails or text chats, that is a red flag, don’t walk, but run in the opposite direction.

I hope this helps, because I have heard from many women who saw my photo and thought they were in a relationship with me. I felt their embarassment and hurt when they realized they were decieved. Please don’t fall victim to these criminals.

The Real, Colonel Tom Purple

ive been scammed, by a gbolly general whom set me up with a colonel john alfred. how can people be so cruel? i totaly thought this john was real & yes stupid me fell for it at the worst possible time. i cant take this its not fair, ive been through some horrible abusive relationships id much rather have my ass beat than to have my heart & head messed with & for what? for money?? & to make it worse using the army. im a single momma of two, & for someone to just use people this way gives america & its soldiers a bad name.. thanks tammy in california.

I have also been close to being scammed. The so called soldier asked me to help pay for medication for his son as his bank card had been broken. He stated he is in Nigeria on deployment yet no troops are there. He has since been injured
. But odd things keep going on with his online accounts.I actually cared alot about this person and can’t afford to help yet am being told I am cruel by not helping.

I have been scammed a lieutenant general James L Terry found me and within three days was declaring his undying love for me, he was going to fly me over to Georgia in the states and ‘present’ me to President Obama the day after he had a parcel that needed paying for £1,200 and he would give me the money back with 100% interest when he got over here I asked him for a cam chat and so far he has avoided putting the camera on so maybe I will ask him to send me a photo of him holding a board with my name on it via e-mail. He is supposedly 1 of the highest ranking officers within the US military with very high intelligence but the way he writes things down does not seem to come from a highly intelligent man I said I was a patient woman and would wait for his troops to sort his camera then his reply was ‘thank you for your patient’ does that sound like a highly intelligent man? I think not!!!!!

Dawn its all a scam just today online on a dating site I have had 4 different so called us military high rank men chat to me…..Its the same story all the time they are widowers with a child looking for long term relationships!!
they ask all sorts of questions, then it comes to the money part lol
they tell you some bull like they need so much money for either a parcel or for you to have a video call with them so they need you to send USD to an email address!! first but they will pay you the money back
its all lies DON’T BELIEVE A WORD THEY SAY!!
As these MEN are scammers who steal other men’s pictures and family details they even make up a face book page with these false details
Wish you luck in finding real love just becareful online Jan from Scotland

I think I’m being scammed. I joined a dating site to meet new people and a COLONEL THOMAS PURPLE has been sending messages. He says he is currently deployed in afghanistan on a peace keeping mission. He told me he’s been divorced for 3 years and he has a 21 year old son in military college in Georgia. He said he owns a house in Miami and is planning his retirement. When he first messaged me he told me I was like an angel sent from God. I thought it was cheesy coming from a high ranking official. He kept asking about my job and if I lived alone. I made the mistake of telling him my background. He told me he wanted to date me. I joked and asked him how I would know I’m not being catfished. He didn’t answer. When I told him purple was my favorite color, he told me his was green and pink. What high ranking US military official would ever admit pink is his favorite color? This is when I decided to google this guy and found out the real Colonel Purple is from Illinois, not Miami, and he already retired. Then I came across this site. I’m cutting contact and blocking him. This is why I hate Internet dating!

If I send a picture of someone of whom I think is scamming me on facebook,will you be able to track his real name

I received a friend request from Cpt Johnson Bennett. we have chatted for a week, he’s in Afghanistan, peace keeping. He asked and sent specific directions for a phone call 450 USD. US Servicemen don’t have to do that. REDFLAG. He sounded so sincere and was most sincere in his fb msgs. I don’t let go of my money easily. I hope some innocent soldier is not a victim along with me but fear this is the case. I will never send money to someone I don’t know.

Received a request for friendship from a Capt in US Army based in Qalat, Afghanistan. I realised it was a scam after a couple of week, when this so called ‘soldier’ started to get serious. He said he was 48 in July when he retires and will be with his son who just happens to be living in London, UK, we should all meet and go to Brazil for a vacation, then be a family! I felt that the next question he would want money! I got him to voice mail me and THEN I KNEW I WAS RIGHT! No American accent and his language changed! Well I laughed my head off, he is supposed to be 48 years old and theres me 66 years old! The mind boggles. Anyway, contacted the other ladies on his site, informed them this was a scam. Some got very upset.I was the lucky one! I have kept a transcript of our conversations if anyone ever needs them, should they find the horrible people who do this,.
The name he goes under is: CAPT GEORGE WALTER, DALLAS, TEXAS.
I wish I could put the picture on a site to warn the REAL man what is going on with his photos and family!
Good luck everyone, AND BE CAREFUL!