Am I being scammed by US Military Captain

Hi
I have been in Msm contact with a Captain Ramos Carson US military supposedly based in Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire UK who today is going to Kabul.

We have been talking for a few days and I wanted to hear his voice but he said I needed to contact his General to request Call Activation. Please see body of emails sent and received.

He has, over a very short space of time told me he loves me!!! and wants us to be together. That he is a widower and has two young children who live in Texas with their grandmother. I hate to think that I am being taken for a fool but some things dont add up. He asked me to go to his passing out parade before he left for Kabul, when I said I would try he then told me the parade would start at 5am as they were leaving at 7am!!!

Please see emails below - THIS ONE IS THE FIRST WITH PHOTOS

Sun, 19 December, 2010 18:18:50Hi hun
From: Rasom Carson <[email protected]> View Contact
To: <Snipped>

2 Files View Slideshow Download All
cpt Ramos.jpg (43KB); mnnn.jpg (35KB)


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I really hope you like them......XxXxXxx


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2 Images | View Slideshow | Download Selected | Download All

Sun, 19 December, 2010 18:18:50Hi hun
From: Rasom Carson <[email protected]> View Contact
To: <Snipped>

2 Files View Slideshow Download All
cpt Ramos.jpg (43KB); mnnn.jpg (35KB)


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I really hope you like them......XxXxXxx

THIS IS THE ONE RECEIVED FROM THE GENERAL!!!

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Mon, 20 December, 2010 8:27:01Re: Caotain Ramos Carson
From: billy hertz <[email protected]> View Contact
To: <Snipped>


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Ms <Snipped>

Generals' Secretary,

Herewith i will like to notify you that you Kindly scan attachment
copy of your driver license and Int'l Passport ID
verification for a proper documentation on the Call Activation
approval Certificate.Alongside your mobile number.

Due to the fact that this is a military process and it has to be safe
and secured.

After this has been verified a UK Sim will be given to Captain Ramos
Carson of the special allied force unit ,activated for text only.

Which only your mobile number will be active on it.

Best Regards,



GCON

THIS IS THE NEXT - A REPLY FROM RAMOS TO MY EMAIL

Mon, 20 December, 2010 23:40:13Thanks so much xXxX
From: Rasom Carson <[email protected]> View Contact
To: <Snipped>


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thanks so much my love.....Yeah its nice talking to you.am going to miss you so much.
Try and do all they said you should do in the morning so we can talk on phone soon,i will mail the general as i said hun
I will mail you immediately i get to Kabul.Miss you loads and i wish Kez safe trip home.
Talk soon my love ..Kisses and Hugs for you XxXx

Tue, 21 December, 2010 7:22:17Call Activation Radar As Been Set Up!
From: billy hertz <[email protected]> View Contact
To: <Snipped>


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AND FINALLY THIS ONE I RECEIVED THIS MORNING
I HAVE NOT SENT ANY SCANNED DOCUMENTS UNTIL I KNOW THAT THIS IS A GENUINE MAN

Ms <Snipped> ,

I notify you that our radar as been set up so your call activation
can proceed by the Us military Call Activation Department.

So Kindly scan attachment copy of your driver license and Int'l
Passport ID verification for a proper documentation on the Call
Activation approval Certificate.Alongside your mobile numbe

Thanks for th mail

Best Regards

GCON

I hope you can help me as I feel a bit of an idiot to have fallen for this if indeed it is a scam. I really hope it is not.

Kind regards

<Mod edit: personal data removed - Michael>

Hi lanzalynn, and welcome here.

I am sorry to tell you that this is 100% a scam. A fairly common one, and one that is particularly despicable because romance is involved.

Aside from the fact that the emails simply LOOK like scam emails, the main thing that stands out to me is that when I google "military call activation" the first hit is this very thread. The US military doesn't operate this way. You would very likely have found that the "call activation approval certificate" costs money that the military wouldn't provide and that he would sweet talk you into sending via Western Union.

I'm VERY glad to see that you stopped here before sending him anything. Scammers very often ask for scans of your drivers license and passport so they can recycle them for use against other victims. You are certainly NOT foolish for getting as far as you did. MANY people go much further and lose lots of money with these scum.

PS - Please edit your personal email address out of your post - we want google to be able to find the scammer's address, not yours

Welcome Lanzalynn,

As Jim said, there is no doubt you are being scammed--but the scammer is not an American soldier, he is an African who has absolutely nothing to do with the US or the military--he has simply copied photos of a real American soldier from the internet, and is claiming that he is the person in the photos. The language of the "General" tells me that for certain--the English is definitely not that of an American, or anyone who speaks English as a first language. The specific mistakes made in the writing are typical of an African. Even the small amount of writing from the "soldier" says African.

The US military has a very strong, well-defined reporting structure, and all service-related requests (this is also true of leave) are handled internally. Requests for ANYTHING for soldiers have to be made by the soldiers themselves, or in some cases their commanding officers--never by civilians. Military requests cannot be made on behalf of soldiers by outside parties--not even by legal spouses.

But the truth is, in the eyes of the military, if you aren't legally married or a family member of a soldier (by that I mean blood relative or immediate relationship through marriage, e.g. stepchild of a soldier), you don't exist at all. Even if this whole "phone with only number" arrangement was real (it's not--this arrangement only exists in the minds of the scammers who created it), if the need for security was that high, the US military certainly would not allow the soldier to be in contact with a non-related civilian.

The best thing to do at this point in time is to drop all contact with this scammer immediately, post more of his earlier emails here if you have them, and block him from your email, messenger, etc.

If he's at Upper Heyford he must be a deserter because there's no US military base there nowadays.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Upper_Heyford

His knowledge is quite a bit out of date. Maybe the USAAF left him behind when they left in January 1994.



There isn't even an RAF base there now. The annoying thing is that this information is online and available to anyone, so this isn't just a scammer - he's a useless lame brained idiot too.

On 1 January 1994, the 20th Fighter Wing inactivated at RAF Upper Heyford and was transferred without personnel or equipment to Shaw AFB, South Carolina, where it inherited the personnel and F-16s of the inactivated 363rd Fighter Wing.

Tell him he's expected in South Carolina, not Kabul.

Actually it's best if you don't tell him how you've proved he's a fake, otherwise he'll tidy up his story for his next victim. Just tell him that he is talking utter drivel.



If you need photographic evidence, people have visited the derelict site and taken photos and the sports stadium sign unsurprisingly evidences that all activity stopped quite some time ago.

Think of that poor soldier all alone in an empty airbase. Hasn't he noticed ?