President/C.E.O.

Good Day.

It is my pleasure to request for your honest assistance. This request may seem strange but I will crave your indulgence and pray that you view it seriously.

My name is Mr Khan from Pakistan. protocol officer to the Jundollah Militant Group in Pakistan.

Due to the Pakistan Army's offensive in South Waziristan, I was mandated by a senior JMG leader to purchase arms and ammunition from a private dealer in

Russia worth Ten Million American Dollars Only. The said amount was moved through Iran boarder on the 17Th of December 2009 to Russia.

It was quite unfortunate that upon my arrival in Russia, I decided to change my mind against purchasing of arms in the name of war. I have succeeded on

diverting the fund into a security storage company through a help of UN staff.

I pray to God to forgive me for all the innocent people killed during my service to the JMG force. I have promise my self and God never to involve in

any form of services to humanity through out my life time.

In view of the above, I will never like to go back to Pakistan again because of my life and wish to invest this funds under your umbrella and supervision.

I will also seek your assistant to help me secure traveling documents for my wife and two children.

In summary.

I needed your assistant and protection to the funds.

I will highly appreciate it, if my request is given utmost priority and consideration.

Greetings,

Mr Ali Khan
Email: a23ki@rediffmail.com

Where's Alec Baldwin's wallet when we need it?! Seriously, though, they may actually start making quite a bit of money. The peace movement is dumb enough to fall for it and have no problem sending their welfare checks to a "worthy cause."

So, I've started to converse with these morons. Interestingly, they're starting to disappear. It's amazing what happens when you challenge them. The key is to stick to one of just three questions to assure yourself that the person you're talking to is a fraud:

1. What is your AKO?
2. What unit are you in?
3. Send me a picture of you holding a sign with a heart around my name (for the ladies).

That first question is the kicker. I asked one guy to tell me his AKO and he sent me his first name. I asked him what that was and he said his user name. Ladies and gentlemen, that's not an AKO user name. The unit one is fun if you know anything about the military, but if you're not in the military do some research if he answers that. It's not hard to figure out if the unit he claims to be in is actually deployed (as most of the these scammers claim to be).

One such guy I've been messing with lately scams women by the name of "Jakson Adams," a Soldier who doesn't exist by the way. I traced his IP back to Africa and asked him about that.

Hello CJ,
I still defend my self and you don,t know anything about me. stop saying what you don,t know and don,t think you can put me to fear. I am who i am as i stated, and stop talking rubbish. You said i should,t contact the ladies again and i think you must come and get me rather than wasting your time over where you are. I reply this mail to you because i wanted you to come traced me.

Grammar is a major indicator of a scam. Very few Soldiers type as bad as EVERY SINGLE one of these scammers does. So, I asked two simple questions: What is your AKO and what do you do in the Army? His response? "I don,t have time for you." That was cut and paste by the way, comma and all. I explained to him that if he didn't answer these simple questions that the good "Jakson Adams" would be exposed as a fake. He didn't seem to care much.

Tell everyone that am fake. I don,t have time to prove my self to you. If i do what will i gain by wasting my time to prove who i am. I have a lot to do and please tell everyone that am fake because that is your job. try and contact [name deleted to protect victims] to send you my picture so you can past it at all the dating site including my name. i think that will make sense, don,t write to me anymore because i will not reply. i have giving you the go ahead and do what ever.

Well, "Jakson Adams" did provide some pictures that he most likely got from elsewhere on the internet. I'll publish those at the end of this post, but first my continued pressing into who this dude is.

You will just change your name to another fake Soldiers name. You just wasted more time not telling me what unit you are in. The picture you sent Trish is not you, it is a REAL Soldier. Someone worthy to wear the uniform. Someone who isn't a criminal panty waste who doesn't get scared from his own shadow like you are. Why is your email coming from Africa if you're an American? Can you explain that to me? That seems weird!! Oh wait, you AREN'T an American.

When you change names, I will find you again and post that name. You will change again and I will post it. I will continue to hound you because I now have your IP address and find you wherever you go! Maybe you should just start finding real ways to make money by actually working for a change. You can start by cleaning up elephant poop.

Hehe, I said elephant poop. He didn't like it, either.

You are a fool to tell me to start cleaning up elephant poop. I can see you don,t have anything better to do. Just write back to me and let me know the kind of job you will like to do. I said this because you are always on you computer doing nothing and i suggest you need a job. waiting

Well, you know me. I'm not one to leave a good scammer waiting. He has a lot of women to get to and no time to be waiting around on me.

Me: I'm in the army, unlike you.
"Jakson Adams": So you think i don,t know who is written to me? I do and just pretend i don,t know.
Me: Yeah, you're a great pretender. Like when you pretend to be a soldier.

For some reason, I haven't heard from him since. The same goes for "Christain Browning" that I was talking with for a LONG time on Yahoo Messenger who also "didn,t have time for me" when I continued to press for his AKO. He has oddly disappeared from Yahoo as well. Here are the photos of "Jakson Adams" being circulated among various women.

Now, "Jakson," if you're a real Soldier, I challenge you to leave a comment to this post and prove me wrong. I'd hold my breath, but I'm not ready to beat the crap out of Murtha's hellbound soul just yet.

Now as for the photos, a dead giveaway that they've been stolen from another person's blog or Facebook page is the size of the images. Typically, they won't be bigger than about 130kb, the size that most Facebook photos are edited to. If you the REAL Soldiers in these photos, please have them contact me.

It's clear in reading these emails and comments that a lot of people just don't understand the military that well and how it works on a personnel level. I don't think anyone would disagree with me that we have some morons that wear the uniform, but even morons could write better than the bozos perpetrating these scams from across the pond.

These guys have all the time in the world to convince you that they love you (and I say "guys" generically, because there are scammers posing as female servicemembers too). They takes weeks and months saying all the right things and using stories that will tug on your heart strings. They are typically widowers with young children left behind. They are or are about to be deployed. These deployments are generally of short length, 1-3 months, so as to have as many reasons as possible to bilk money from you. And, most of them are near retirement. None of them use .mil email addresses that ALL military personnel have. These are just some of the tipoffs you should be aware of.

They use sites like 101date.com, match.com, MyYearbook.com, OKCupid, Friends Reunited Dating, and others. They use military ranks and names, most of the time made up but occasionally real troops. They get the photos from internet trolling and other profiles on the dating sites. Blogs, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites are prime real estate for those seeking photos of military members.

I won't use the name of the readers that sent their stories, but think that telling them will serve to protect women in the future and show how these guys work. Nearly all of them are located in Africa. Some use IP anonymizers to hide their true location and make it more believable by creating fake IPs in the U.S. Before I begin to dissect these scams, I want the people who fell for it to understand they don't need to feel embarrassed. By sharing this information, others will not fall for it.

Sgt. Kella sent his first email to me through the dating site OKCupid at the end of August. He told me he was stationed at Camp Lejeune in NC, but lived in Beeville, TX when not on base. His wife died in a car accident 5 years ago and has an 18 year old son. He told me as a teenager, he lived in London with his uncle. He gave me the address as 118 Piccadilly. His son would go and stay with his uncle whenever he was at Camp Lejeune.

I talked a little about this on the You Served Radio Show this week. How many Marines (or other military people for that matter) do you know that commute over 1400 miles to work? That's how far it is from Beeville to Camp Lejeune. Even a National Guard or Reservist Soldier wouldn't make that commute once a month. The pay is nowhere near worth it. Then, he says that his son went to live with an uncle in the UK while he was at Lejeune?! Wow. You'll find that a lot of these scams may also use the UK as part of the scam. They think that if we hear the UK, we're more likely to believe it than if they tell the truth they're writing from Nigeria or some other impoverished African nation. As you can see, the standard "my wife died in a tragic accident and we have a small child" bit is played here.

He also told me he was to retire from the Marines in December and was ready to start a new life. After about 2 weeks of exchanging emails and chatting on yahoo, he told me they wanted to send some marines to Afghanistan and would know if his name was on the list by the end of that week. Well, his name was on the list and he then told me that he would be leaving the following Monday night. When he got "there", he told me he was at the base camp in Kabul and would be going out to field in a few days and would not have internet access.

There are many variations out there, but this one seems an attempt to legitimize their military affiliation. Many of them are already in theater when the scam begins. Once contact is made, they are miraculously going to be shipped to a remote outpost with no internet access, phones, toilets, or even sunlight! It doesn't exist out there. THe mission is so top secret, even they don't know where they're going. But, once they get there, they realize that there is ONE way that the nomads have found to tap into the rocks and dirt to extract internet access:

He got information from his "colleagues" that most marines used amilitary@usa.com as the means to communicate with people back home. He said he would go to field with a pam top but needed a pin code to communicate. I was to get in touch with this agency and apply for a code. When I told him that it would cost $250, he made it sound like he didn't know you had to pay for the service. I sent the money, but he said the code was not activated and was afraid it would not work before he left. At the time, I was having problems with my yahoo mail going through, so it seemed legit that this was happening. I resent the email through another email account, and after he left, he sent an email saying that the code was finally activated. About a week later, he said the connection was bad and could I help him get a better connection by subscribing to http://pps.nntime.com/signup to change the IP address.

As if changing the IP address will make the connection better somehow! [rolls eyes] nntime.com is an internet anonymous proxy service that is based out of Russia. There are no standards for hosting a "proxy" on the server which is why the scammers are able to use this service. There are literally hundreds used on the site. Some are used simply by people wanting to hide their true origin, which is why some of the email IPs you see appear to come from places like Atlanta or El Segundo. Most Marines use military connections to access the internet, though I think some of the more established camps in big cities of Iraq may be contracted out.

One of the other things you'll start to notice if you're playing into the scam is that the scammers will be accident prone and procrastinate a lot. All kinds of misfortunes will befall them as they attempt to suck more and more money out of you. Sometimes they ask for hundreds at a time and sometimes just a few dollars.

It was $10, so I did that. He was only to be in Afghan for 1 month and after about 2 weeks there, he told me it seemed that they were going to make them stay longer and wanted me to help him apply for his retirement account and to request leave since he was retiring. He told me he would then be home in 7 days. I sent an email the the military agency requesting this information. They wanted $450 to open up the retirement account and wanted to know that if he was cleared to leave, would he wait for home flight or did we want the agency to arrange the flight home. The flight home was a month away, so we said to let them arrange it. That was when I found out I would have to pay for the flight. Sgt. Kella kept telling me that as soon as he was home, he would pay me back for all of this help I was giving him.

Here's where us military people really start shouting at the computer screen. No one "applies" for a retirement account in the military. And we sure as heck don't need civilians to help us with getting our retirement checks. Funny how the scammer never identifies this "military agency" that supposedly handles retirement accounts. I think we call it the VA! The email address was to a .com email and not a .mil or .gov, which is where any official emails to a government agency will be sent.

Folks, the military pays for flights home, even when there is a family emergency. Do NOT pay for a flight home. At the most, a Soldier will be able to get stateside before needing help, if any. Of course, a scammer will never pay the money back, because he'll never be "home."

Well, I couldn't afford the whole amount, so he had a "friend", an Andrew Grant (whose email address ends with uk-andrew.grant27@yahoo.co.uk), help pay for part of it. By the time we got the money together, he supposedly missed the first flight on Oct. 15th and would then come home on the 26th. Around the 18th of October, while chatting, Sgt. Kella was telling me if I didn't hear from him in a few days, he had added my name to the list of people that could get information from the military agency to let me how he was. After a few day, I wrote to them and they told me he was on a special assignment but would be back to his base to make his flight home on the 26th. Around the 24th, I got an email with the flight information for his connecting flight from Kabul to Dubai. With that email they told me they still had not received any word on Sgt. Kella, only that they knew he was alive. On the 26th, I got an email saying he had been injured and he was being sent to Dubai to the American Hospital there for further treatment. After a couple of days, I got an email from Sgt. Kella saying he had been on an assignment with 8 other marines and that a bomb went off injuring his left leg. He was to have surgery on it in Dubai.

Here's another tip for the non-military types: when Soldiers are injured in combat, they are NOT taken to Dubai. Once they are stabilized, they are taken to Germany. Most Soldiers also don't leave the theater of operations by way of Dubai. Now, you're going to start seeing a lot of stuff going wrong here on "SGT Kella's" trip back. Why? Because he doesn't exist and isn't on the way back. So, they invent all these different "problems" that will surface which delay the homecoming. After feeling like they've milked it for all they can – or until the scam is realized – they'll simply stop responding. Or, they'll fake their own "death" and make you feel really bad. Someone from the family will contact you for help with the funeral. Let's continue…

Well, they were finally getting ready to release him from the hospital for his return flight home to the states, but we had to pay for his medical bill. I asked didn't the military take care of that and he told me he had medical allowance, and would be reimbursed from that account. After getting his medical bill and new flight information taken care of, I get an email on the day he was to fly out that he had fallen and reinjured his leg. This was Nov. 10th. We go through about 2 weeks of his staying in the "hospital" going through therapy. During this time, the retirement account comes up in an email from the agency. They needed the information that was given to me back when I opened up the account at the beginning of Oct. I told them that I had never received any account information, that I thought it was sent to Sgt. Kella. I found out the account was never opened and they wanted me to open an etrade account to put his retirement benefits and benefits of services money into. Sgt. Kella told me that his "boss" said that an Ally account would be good to have too, so I opened one. The Ally account was trying to be accessed by an outside bank and was closed by ally. While talking to them, this was when I started thinking that some of this might have been part of a scam. I assumed it was with the military agency and not Sgt. Kella. In the meantime, we asked that the $450 that was sent to open up the account be sent to Sgt. Kella for traveling money. The agency did that, so I'm thinking how many scammers would send my money on my request (never dawned on me that they were all working together!)

Thankfully, the Ally people noticed the scam, but for some reason the individual kept in contact. There's a part of this scam that is alarming and begins to lend a false sense of credibility to it. The scammers use other susceptible people within many different to unsuspectingly help them. Soldiers do not need help opening retirement accounts. As a matter of fact, it's a rare troop that doesn't already have one by the time they decide to make it a career. Many of us use the military's Thrift Savings Plan to stash away money for retirement as well as Roth IRAs and other investments. We definitely don't need complete strangers (or even our friends) doing it for us. The most simple advice is that is a troop asks you for money for ANYTHING, dump 'em! They're either scammers or freeloading good-for-nothings! Now here is where the water gets muddied through unwitting participants.

Anyway, Sgt. Kella had a friend who had just come back from over seas and was going to help us find out who hacked into the account. I actually talked to him on the phone. He had an accent and when I questioned Sgt. Kella on this he told me he was Latino. I know it was not that kind of an accent, so that raised some questions on my side. This "Michael Williams" was from San Antonio, TX and that is where the call originated from. The number was (210) 591-8707. This person said they would help get Sgt. Kella home for me, as well. Sgt. Kella got extremely upset by still being in the hospital and demanded that he be released. This was the first of December. When they agreed to release him, the bill was outrageous. His friend from San Antonio said he would pay for it, but ended up not being able to pay the full amount. By this time, I was having doubts and told Sgt. Kella I couldn't send any more money. I held out for a little bit. He knew exactly what to say.

If the phone number is real and "Michael Williams" is located in San Antonio, he is most likely and unwitting participant being scammed as well. He helps facilitate transactions without realizing he/she is being used. It's usually elderly men and women that are used to assist in these types of scams. As the scam progresses, they'll begin tying multiple people into the scam. That is usually when it begins to fall apart because Americans tend to be smarter than the average…Nigerian.

At this point, our reader is starting to catch on. But, the scammers know exactly what to say when it looks like they're losing their prey.

When the agency wanted to add $100 for changing his flight information, I reminded them of something they had said in an email and they made someone else pay the $100. Once the bill and flight were taken care of, he was moved to a "guest house" of the hospitals on a Friday waiting for the flight home on Sunday, December 13th. We sent the money on a Friday and then got word over the weekend that the accounting department of the hospital was not open and this delayed Sgt. Kella's return home on the 13th. They set up another flight for the following Wednesday, but I later found out it was delayed because of bad weather. I looked on the internet, but couldn't see anything that would delay flights for him. By this time, Sgt. Kella was getting very upset with all of the delays. His doctor was supposedly helping him get home as well. They went to the airport where I got an email from Sgt. Kella that they (the doctor and Kella) were trying to change his flight over to British Airways because that was the only airline flying out. It took a few days for the agency to transfer the flight from Delta to British Airways. On the 17th of December, I got an email from the agency saying they got the money transferred and he would be flying to London. On the 21st, they needed money to then fly him from London to the US. He then supposedly flew to the UK on the 21st. There was a delay there because the agency told me that the British Airways strike delayed him and he would be able to fly home on the 27th. I immediately wrote them and told them that the strike never happened. (now I was really suspicious) After that, I got very few emails from them (hence my thinking that it was the agency doing the scamming). They did tell me that they put him in a hotel until his met his flight to the US. For a few days, I didn't hear from anyone. I knew he told me his son and uncle were in London, so I sent an email to Sgt. Kella saying he should meet up with them, but he didn't want to at first because his son would want to come home with him and he wanted his son to come home a little later on so we could spend time together. After Christmas, he finally went to his uncle's house. He asked if I could possibly help get him home and I told him I had no more money to send. The agency still had about $1000 that was not used for his return flight from London to the US. He said he was told by the hotel, the agency was having trouble and he didn't want to deal with them any longer.

Keep in mind that this is only one incident. Not all of them are alike, but by reading this you will understand the basics of how they operate. They all have the same template, just different stories and minor differences. Okay, last part of this email:

He went to the base there in London and talked to the commanding officer about a return flight home but they didn't have any in the next few days. He also told me he wrote an email to his commanding officer complaining about this agency. His uncle knew someone here in the US and called her and she said she could get him a ticket, but needed money. I was told she worked for some airline. We wrote the agency one more time about transferring the money to her, but that was the last I heard from them. Sgt. Kella told me he was not going to go through the agency anymore, and that when he was back in the states he was going to take care of getting any money back plus have them pay for "damages" done. With all of these delays, this was when I finally went with my gut feeling and started researching dating scams. As you can see, a lot falls under a scam. But he is smooth. When we are chatting, I can bring up a topic that he couldn't possibly have time to get his facts straight on, and then I think that he isn't involved in any of this. I did do an IP address check on the amilitary@usa.com, and it came up out of the UK. The website that was sending this, or was a part of this, was connected with some fraudulent dealings. Sgt. Kella did tell me a few days ago that he was to be home soon-that his uncle's friend would have the money on Tuesday. He is still communicating with me even though he knows I am not sending any more money. He is now telling me his uncle is sick and having to take him to the hospital and all. Another delay…

Again, as a Soldier, I can pinpoint all the absurdities of this, but your average non-military civilian may not bat an eye. He went to a base in LONDON and talked to his commanding officer? I thought his commanding officer was at Camp Lejeune (or in Afghanistan)!! We don't have bases in the UK. Notice more tragedy in the family – another heart wrenching story to suck more money out of the victim.

This entire post can be summed up easily: if they ask for money, dump them!! They're losers. Troops are independent and able to take care of themselves. Even privates make plenty of money to subsist upon, but definitely troops retiring are self-sufficient.

Here's what the email looks like from the "Military Communication Service" that doesn't exist and wasn't sent from a military email domain (amilitary@usa.com):

The military communication service offers a reliable and efficient means of communication in the military.

For more than 75 years, we have been a leading manufacturer of dependable, top-of-the-line communication equipment.
More than 70 percent of commercial airline pilots count on our headsets during flight. Emergency dispatchers use our radio dispatch systems to manage clear communications.

Our revolutionary talking book players help people with blindness or learning disabilities enjoy reading. Our antenna code keep troops connected on the ground and in the air.

HOW TO USE THE ANTENNA CODE

With our Antenna code and wireless headsets, you can connect to any Military HB in the world to stay in touch with troops.

All you need is Subscribe for an Antenna code and an activation code by applying and providing us with the following informations

1. Your Full Name
2. Your Address
3. Your Telephone Number
4. Full Name and ID Of The Officer You Want To Connect
5.The Department Of The Officer
6.The Base Name Of The Officer

If you get Approved , you will have to pay the sum of 250 usd for the connection.This Amount covers the approval fee, connection and activation.

As soon as payment is made you will be given an Antenna code number from us which you need to send to the officer, He should use the code any time he want to connect to internet no matter any location in the world and follow the instruction .You will be put through withing few seconds.

Lt. John Gerard
Military Communication Service(MCS)

For the record, there is no such person as a Lt. John Gerard.

Recently, the name Festus Smith, Kells Kline, Billy Farris, Steven Gaines, and others. After writing about the Festus Smith fraud, he decided to leave a comment on this blog.

You can right-click the image and view separately if you're having trouble reading it.

Interestingly, a "woman" named Jennifer accompanied Festus to the site and also began leaving comments, in the same broken English that all these Nigerian scammers use. It's hilarious when they use this poor grammar and spelling but tell their victims they are full bird Colonels. Here's one from "Colonel Billy Farris":

Then Talking about my Job…I Graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and held a Degree in Masters of Military Arts and Science from the Army Command and General Staff College,Fort Leavenworth,Kansas .Then I worked for the Military and later Got promotions becoming an Officer..I was Deployed to Iraq and later Transferred to head my Squadron and the Special forces team in Afghanistan. .I was the Former Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division,Fort Bragg ,NC .Which I was Just transferred to the Pentagon and also Active Duty Mission in Kabul,Afghan.
Sending a pic of me also

Bill Farris

First of all, Colonels don't command Divisions, Generals do. Second, we don't "later Got promotions becoming an officer."

Anyway, this "Jennifer" person is trying to provide Festus with an alibi and make out others to be supposed frauds.

You can right-click the image and view separately if you're having trouble reading it.

Notice anything interesting about those two comments, other than the terrible English spelling and grammar? Check out the IP addresses! Then, pay attention to what is says AFTER the IP.

Ladies, don't fall for these scams. Real troops ALL have military email accounts. If they tell you otherwise, it's a scam. If they ask you for money, it's probably a scam. If you're unsure if the guy you've been hooking up with online through a dating site is actually in the military, ask him to send you an email from his military email account. There is nothing illegal or wrong with this. If they say they aren't allowed to use their military email for this purpose, they're lying to you and you should drop them like a ton a bricks from a Chinook!

As you know, I've tackled the issue of all these Nigerian and foreign scams for quite some time. I get emails and comments almost weekly from people who read one of my posts while doing research about a possible scammer. These people have become quite sophisticated in their methods. They've gone from the old "you've won a multi-trillion dollar lottery! Just send me $2500 and we can send it to you" to "I'm a Soldier in Iraq who found millions of illegal money Saddam was hording and I need your to bring it back." The latest trend involves trolling internet dating sites and convincing women that they are honorable Soldiers who have fallen in love and would do anything to communicate with the object of their affection. But, because they are deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, they need you to sign up for an expensive telecommunications service like "Military TELEX" in order to make that happen. They profess unending love as their motivator and, unfortunately, many women have fallen for it.

I got an email from a reader who came across my Military TELEX post. She told me about a man she met through MyYearbook.com that had introduced himself as Major General (MG) Tim Canny. Thankfully, she became suspicious after reading this "general's" poor grammar:

I'm happy that you are able to release your email to me and i will like to share with you more information about me that will help us to start knowing each other better ….
I was giving birth to a wonderful family 49yrs ago. My dad was an American man that married a Malaysian woman due to his service and work in malaysia when he was younger, he was in the marine until he left and become civil engineer. I was their only son and child. I'm very simple, caring, honest and self independent..

I got married and enjoyed my matrimonial home. I and my then wife gave birth to a girl and she's so beautiful and I love her wholeheartedly. Well, I and my wife lived happily and I worked as an Engineer before I later joined the Army 23yrs ago. I fix and inspects Cars and trucks, but I have special interest for the Military because my dad was once in the Military before He retired and started His Civil Engineer Career.

My late wife was dead 5yrs ago due to lungs cancer and I became a widow. Since then, it has been one bad experience after another; I also lost my dad last year. I really loved my wife and dad because of the relationship between us.. …She had loved me with all her heart and she had loved me for me. She was so caring and possessed all of the qualities a woman should possess. She was so much an angel that I treasured her so much but God knows why that happened to me. I also give thanks to God that she gave me a beautiful daughter Monica…
I just need someone that can love me for me and we will love each other for the rest of our lifes, because i know life is too short to play with…

I have learnt to leave my past behind and move forward to the future, though my past makes part of my life and I need to plan for my future. I need love again in my life. I had love once in my life and I need a woman that can be mine on a longterm goal. I hope I will still find love someday soon, that’s all I believe and I'm so optimistic about it.

I am ready to date from any part of the globe. I need to meet my true love, because we don't know where our love is at the moment and we have to keep searching for it anywhere, any time and any way we can.

Presently, I'm active in the Army and been stationed at Fort Lewis, Barrack Washington State . I live alone on base, while my girl ives with my Mom in Malaysia ….though I planned to retire from the Army soon in order to start a family life
I really need a woman to come up to and be when I will be back to the state, a woman that will be mine forever and that will cherish me for me….

Thank you for spending your time in reading this long note/essay about me….if you think we are still on the same looking page let me know so we can know the waay forward…

TIMMY

Last time I checked, most generals were quite well versed in the English language. The way this scam works is the individual takes some time to get to know the target woman. Once he's gained her trust and confidence, he tells her that pretty soon he will be deployed to an area without internet or communication services and won't be able to write to each other. He then sends an e-mail address with something like, "Well to get registered with the telecommunication you will have to email them with gsatcom@programmer.net and you have to tell them you want to use the phoning facility system with MG TIM CANNY presently on deployment in Afghanistan. The service is a way we can talk on phone without no call charges attached, all is 100% free after we get registered and pay the registration fee"

Here's the catch: if there isn't service in Afghanistan where a Soldier is being deployed, there isn't service period! And I have no doubt that a MAJOR GENERAL will ever be sent anywhere that he can't communicate. That's where the Army sends peons like Lieutenant Colonels and below! No general officer would ever stoop so low as to be so archaic. To be honest, few LTCs do either.

If you email the company, you're likely to get a response like this:

Dear Subscriber,

Thank you for the enquiry, our service is to provide phoning and Satellite facilities for civilian and Military Personnel.

Gsatcom provides essential communications services to and from remote areas where no other form of communication is available. Whether at sea, on land or in flight, our services ideally suit the maritime, aviation, government/military, emergency/humanitarian services, mining, forestry, oil and gas, heavy equipment, transportation and utilities industries.

We specialize in providing global satellite access services. Gsatcom solutions have been implemented for United States Marine Corps (USMC), U.S. Army Corps , Australian Defence Force (ADF), Command of Polish Navy, Special Military Formation GROM Especially for US Army soldiers we ship VSAT equipment within 72hrs in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East.

Satellite phones are about 3 times more expensive than GSM phones, but have the best coverage. Often they are the only choice for a soldier that is deployed at a remote forward operating base (FOB) that a cell phone network cannot reach.

Basic advantages of our service for Military personnel;

Possibility of communicating freely in 110 countries in Europe, North and Central Africa, Asia, and Middle East

- Satellite and GSM connectivity in one telephone
- No prepaid cards needed
- Free Iridium 9555 handheld satellite phone
- Free unlimited calls for Military Personnel.
- Payment incure refundable when the officer leave the war zone

The Facility involves $400 registration fee(s).

In other to register for our phoning facility, you are advice to provide us with the information below;

YOUR INFORMATION:

- FULL NAME:

-HOME ADDRESS:

- PHONE NUMBER:

- PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER:

MILITARY PERSONNEL INFORMATION:

-NAME:

-RANK:

-MOS:

-LOCATION (COUNTRY WHERE HE/SHE NEEDS THE SERVICE):

Once you provide us with the above information you are no longer anonymous to us.

(We) protect your privacy. We do not insist you to provide extra personal information than necessary.

All information collected will not be used for any illegal activity

The information is what we are going to use to register you with our service.

Regards,
Gsatcom.

Satellite Provider – Technologie Satelitarne

First of all, Iridium phones are uber-expensive! Anytime someone mentions a satellite or iridium phone being "free," ask some serious questions, especially in an austere place like Afghanistan. If you ask too many questions about the service, you'll miraculously get an email from the "soldier" in question professing his undying love for you. Coincidence? No. More thank likely, the email to the GSATCOM goes directly to the "soldier."

So, if you get an email from a "Tim Graham Canny" – who doesn't exist in the Army – send it to your spam box immediately. These people use these internet dating services as the initial opportunity, then progress to Yahoo chat and other methods of email communication. Oh, and here's the clincher: he made Major General in less than 23 years!!! This guy should be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff if he keeps this up. And if that doesn't convince you, these photos of the good "general" will.

Yes, these are the actual photos sent to back up his story and sucker these women into giving them money. Don't fall for it!

The FBI is warning the public to be aware of three new fraudulent e-mails that are currently in circulation. One claims to contain "Intelligence
Bulletin No. 267;" another purports to be from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI Counterterrorism Division; and the third claims to contain an FBI intelligence bulletin from the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate. Do not click on any links contained in these or similar e-mails; they are hoaxes and may contain viruses or malicious software.

Below is an example of the fraudulent e-mail message:

INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN No. 267
Title: New Patterns in Al-Qaeda Financing
Date: August 15, 2009
THREAT LEVEL: YELLOW (ELEVATED)

THE INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN PROVIDES LAW ENFORCEMENT AND OTHER PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICIALS WITH SITUATIONAL AWARENESS CONCERNING INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC TERRORIST GROUPS AND TACTICS.

HANDLING NOTICE: Recipients are reminded that FBI Intelligence Bulletins contain sensitive terrorism and counterterrorism information meant for use primarily within the law enforcement community. Such bulletins are not to be released either in written or oral form to the media, the general public, or other personnel who do not have a valid "need-to-know" without prior approval from an authorized FBI official, as such release could jeopardize national security

As with many fraudulent e-mail messages, this message contains multiple spelling errors and poor grammar.

If you have been a victim of Internet crime, please file a complaint at www.IC3.gov.

Email 1
Good Day,
Thanks for the request about the MILITARY TELEX communication. This is the phoning service through which you can communicate with your military friends and the families.

Telex offers superior sound equipment for aircraft, audio, broadcast, communications, multimedia and wireless applications.

Telex intercom systems are modular in design and known for their reliability. With a range of components and products,Telex can help you build a communication system for a small office or a global enterprise.

Telex offers technical solutions to build systems connected via LAN, WAN, ISDN, VPN,20 VoIP, twisted pair, fiber or other networks—for several users, or thousands. We advice you to please provide us the Informations below.

-You Home Address

-Your Full Name

-Your Phone Number & Service provider
Once you provide us with this information you are no longer anonymous to us (We) protect your privacy. We do not insist you to provide extra personal information than necessary All information collected will not be used for any illegal activity
This is what we are going to use in registration with the Military Telex Service in other to have the access to our Telex phoning facility.

Regards,
Telex Inc.

I've highlighted some common indicators that this email or promotion is a scam. Any self respecting company will not send out such unprofessional communication. Additionally, the entire last parage lacks virtually any punctuation – another tip-off. Finally, if a company has to say "all information collected will not be used for any illegal activity", it is probably being used for just that!! This email could easily influence those who are adamant about supporting troops and constantly looking for ways to do so, but don't fall for it.

After responding to the email, our reader got the following email:

Email 2

Good Day,
Your message received via SF/ AKO/ Sergeant Christopher Anderson/E-5
We need your phone number and your area code, we shall start the processing as soon as your request is confirmed.

You are duly permitted to make a payment worth of $810 to the underneath WU account details, and have your copied ID attachment scan via email, for us to endorse your application with the immediate release of the Telcomm paper works.
Installation will be done as soon as possible via Sate lite 180000KHz surface from your Iraq XTelcomm base interconnectivity to WA and to your location.
THE WESTERN UNION ACCOUNT DETAIL.
RECEIVER'S NAME: KIM GATTIS
ADDRESS: TACOMA WA, USA.
And you send me the Western Union MTCN details as given.

TELEX CONFIGURATION DETAILS AND SOFTWARE ROUTINE CODE WILL BE DISPATCH TO YOU AFTER SERVICES PAYMENT FOR THE CONNECTION.Thanks for the consideration.
Regards,
Telex Inc.

DING DING DING!! All kinds of tipoffs that this is a scam here. Here's how these Nigerian scammers work. They find unsuspecting fools like "Kim Gattis" and nurture a relationship of trust. Then, one day, they come up with a story and ask for their help with a business since they are not in the country. Or they may use a sob story about how they have nothing or they're trying to create change in their corrupt government. The person, in this case Kim, agrees to collect money on their behalf and send it to them later. What this person doesn't realize is that SHE is the one committing fraud.

The last thing these scammers wants you to see is a Nigeria connection. That is why they use American surrogates. The next tipoff is that the sender must send the money via Western Union or some other wiring company. Having to send a payment like any other real business mean they would have to give out an address that can be checked and cross-referenced. Finally, extensive use of all caps in an email is another tip-off. All emails of this sort should come from an official source. These emails came from a Yahoo account, not from a telex.com or similiar official email. Telex Incorporated is an actual company, but does not provide the services mentioned in the email.

Thankfully, this individual did not go beyond giving her name, address, and phone number before finding us. If you find yourself in a similar situation, here is some advice:

1) Do NOT give out any more personal information, especially birthdates and SSN
2) Keep all correspondence, including your responses someplace safe
3) If you receive standard mail at your address from anyone associated with this scam, DO NOT OPEN it. Contact your local FBI office and/or Postal Service Postmaster to initiate charges for mail fraud.
4) If you receive a phone call from anyone associated with this scam, write down the number they are calling from. If you do not have caller ID, call the phone company and ask them to track the call you just received. At a minimum, you should be able to get a number they called from. Give this information to the FBI as well.
5) If you continue to get harrassing calls, change your number.
6) Relax. These people are in Africa and cannot touch you. They may seem scary, but they're 95 pounds of skin and bones living in a mud hut with a recycled early 90's computer trying to get something for nothing. If you ever truly feel threatened, contact the police.
7) NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER send money to anyone that contacts YOU through email if you did not sign up for their service beforehand!! I can't stress this enough. As a matter of fact, don't even do business with anyone contacting you by email.
Be aware of anyone claiming to love you and then starts asking you for money. A real man will pay his own way to see you, period. Yes, that goes for those legitimate relationship as well!

One of the downfalls of our interconnected world is how easy it has become to steal someone's identity on the internet, especially troops. The Nigerians have begun hitting hard on that last one. As a public service, I'd like to sort of reiterate what my buddy David Sneakers has been trying to warn everyone about all this time.

The first is a company called Military Telex Communication. I wrote about this when it first started coming out last year. Telex itself is an actual company, but the scam emails claim that there is a division that handles military communications for troops in combat. This is not true. Telex does have a military branch that produces military antennas, headphones, and similar equipment, but have nothing to do with how our troops are able to call home.

Here's how this scam works. The scammer contacts its victims through chat rooms, IM, and dating sites. They claim to be Soldiers or Marines in Iraq or Afghanistan to gain the sympathy and support of anyone willing to listen, especially women. Some claim to actually be stateside and preparing for a deployment.

They string along the individual (or most cases many individuals) until they actually "deploy" to a combat theater. Once it's obvious that there is a pretty decent relationship developed, either romantic or friendly, the scammer will make up some story about a loss of communication. Either the scammer has recently moved to a "secure" base or the command has forced them to pay for calls themselves because of budget cuts. The only way, they say, in which they can communicate is through this Military Telex Communications company. Naturally, this service doesn't come cheap costing anywhere between $200 and $750 initially.

Naturally, most troop supporters don't have that kind of money to be throwing around to keep up these relationships. No problems, says the scammer. He'll simply Western Union some money to you via a "Telex agent". You just need to pay a small fee to pick it up. Then you can pay for the service and all is good. If you pay that fee, there will be complications and more fees with result.

The scammers are using a number of Soldiers names for this. Some recent ones include SGT Kenneth Klice, whom I've confirmed does not exist in the Army. Another uses the name of a SGT in the Marine Corps. These guys pluck photos off the web from Facebook, MySpace, or even DOD websites and assume these identities.

So how do you know if the person you're talking to is really a Soldier or a scam artist from Nigeria? The most glaring would be that they ask for money to communicate. This is simply not true. Soldiers have so many options of communications in today's combat environment, it's unbelievable. You don't need to send any Soldier or Marine hundreds of dollars to talk to him or him to you.

The second is how they ask for that money. It is a rare, if any, military member who will write all their emails in all CAPS. Additionally, troops don't ask for "350usd" when they are are asking for money. WE'RE AMERICANS FOR GOODNESS SAKE!! Maybe if I were trying to scam a Japanese citizen, I'd ask for 350usd, but I still wouldn't say it like that! If you are ever asked for any amount of money followed by "usd" cease and desist all communication. You've been had. Report all the communications to your nearest Secret Service office immediately, especially if you've actually sent money.

The third is the use of non-military email. Granted 99% of the troops in theater probably email their friends and family through Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or some other anonymous webmail service, but if you're suspicious about this person, ask them for a .mil email address. EVERY military member in today's military has a .mil email address. It is usually set up in basic training and, if not, immediately upon arrival at their first unit. If it is a scam, i'm willing to bet that they look for all sorts of excuses not to give you one (because they don't have one).

While there are some complete retards and uneducated people in the military (you're reading one right now), most Soldiers and yes, even Marines, know basic grammar. If the person you are talking to speaks in broken English and can't put simple sentences together, it's probably a scam. Just check out the wording of ANY Nigerian Scam email David Sneakers has put up and you'll see what I mean.

Finally, any Soldier or Marine who says they have an "agent" or "representative" who will handle any of these dealings with money is a liar. The people that actually handle these things are one of two types of people: con artists themselves or have also been naive and are being scammed themselves. If you see something that even mentions Military Telex Communications or just Telex in an email or solicitation, just ignore them right off the bat.

If you truly want to find some troops to support, there are a number of ways to go about it without getting swindled. The first of those is a group called Soldiers Angels. They have a program where you can sign up to adopt a service member legally and ethically. They do a LOT for our troops who are deployed and can be relied on. The other group is called Adopt a Platoon. Similar to Soldiers Angels, AAP is more of a grass roots community of hard core military supporters whose sole purpose in life is to ensure that our troops are getting letters, cards, and care packages. Supporters and troops are linked up by marital status, sex, and age to the greatest extent possible.

I wholly endorse both organizations and have dealt with each in a deployed environment. They are all angels to me.

If you're unsure if you're being scammed, you can always email me with your communication. I've become sort of an expert at fishing these things out. If I can't help you, David can!! My email address is on the sidebar.

From : Mr Strasford Bexters ,
Auditor : Alpha Bank Uk ,
London – UK .

Attention : Sir ,
This letter might surprise you , because we have never met either in person nor by correspondence. But I believe it is one day that you got to know someone either physical or through correspondence. Please accept my sincere apologises if my email does not meet your business or personal ethics. I will first introduce myself as Mr Strasford Bexters, an auditor with a bank in United Kingdom . One of our accounts, with holding balance of 15,000 000.00 GBP(Fifteen Million Great Britain Pounds Sterling) has been dormant, and last operated many years ago. Nobody has done anything as regards to the claiming of this money, because the account owner ,has no family member or friends that has any knowledge , as to the existence of either the account or the funds; I have decided to find a reliable foreign partner to deal with. It may interest you to hear that I am a man of PEACE and don't want problem, I only hope we can assist each other. If you don't want this
business offer , kindly forget it as I will not contact you again .My proposition to you, is to seek your consent to present you as the Next of kin and beneficiary of this late client, that the proceeds of this account valued a huge sum shall be paid to you, and then we can share the amount on a mutually agreed percentage .

This transaction is totally free of risk and troubles , as the fund is legitimate and does not originate from drug, money laundery, terrorism or any other illegal act. The funds will be released to you after necessary processes have been followed. As an officer of the bank I can not be directly connected to this money, so this informed my contacting you for us to work so that you can assist receive this money into your bank account for us to SHARE the proceeds,40 % for you . I would have gone ahead to ask the funds be released to me, but that would have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the deposit. I assure you that I could have the deposit released to you within few days. There is a reward for this project and it is a task well worth undertaking. I have evaluated the risks and the only risk I have here is from you refusing to work with me. I am the only one who knows of this situation . Alternatively,you can write me back with
my private email address (email deleted for my pleasure). As soon as I receive your response I will details you on how we can achieve it successfully .
Mr Strasford Bexters .

You know me, I'm not one to pass up a good business deal. Besides that's a lot of money I can use to buy first rate alfalfa for Larry. Here's my reply, to "Strasbex".

Dear Strasford,

Can I call you Strasbex? Get it? The first parts of both your names. I'm all about efficiency as are you obviously. I had to look up the word "ethics" before I responded, but couldn't find it any dictionary I own. So, I decided to just take a leap of faith and tried that Crystal Pepsi I've been holding in my basement for ten years. Not bad.

So, Strasbex, I have no idea who this Sterling dude is, but if he weighs 15,000,000 British pounds, that's one big dude. Unless the gravity in Great Britain is different than here in the states. Granted, there ARE a lot of people around who seem to be light in their loafers, so you may not be that far off. Word on the street is that our new President, umm…never, mind I forget his name. Anyway, he is going to upgrade our military's combat boots to light loafers when he takes over soon.

Anyway, about your offer. I was a little apprehensive at first until I read that you are a man of PEACE. I, too, am a huge believer that Positive Energy Always Corrects Errors. All too often we dwell on our mistakes and end up just making more and more. The next thing you know a simple broken pencil leads to a noose in your attic with 15,000,000 British pounds dangling from it while a llama nibbles on your toes and all you had to do was take the initiative and sharpen the darn thing.

So, as I was saying. I'd like to know more about this. It seems from your letter here that I am going to have a large role to play in this whole transaction. If that is the case, I think I deserve a larger cut of whatever money comes out of this. I'm thinking at least 60%, but I won't accept any less than half. That would mean I take home at least 7,500,000 for myself. But, with our new President's promised tax increases, you have to allow me to have at least 14,648,913 so I can afford to pay them. If this isn't amenable to you, I'm surely willing to work out a deal. I've been a fan of Howie Mandel for the past three years and know how this works.

Get me some more information and we'll see what comes of this. Take care my friend. I look forward to hearing more about this.

DAVID SNEAKERS, ESQ

For those that are new to these, these emails are scams and you should leave the communication with the originators to highly skilled and competent people like myself – or Alex P. Keaton. He's also good with money.