Military leave request

I have been corresponding with a man over the internet for the past several weeks. This man states that he is in the army and stationed in Afghanastian. He has stated that he wants to take a leave and come home. He is telling me that before he can do this he has to pay for some damages that he caused. Since I am not familiar with military life, would this possibly be a factor in him not being able to get his leave? He states that he has to pay $4,500 dollars before his leave will be approved. I asked him why he could not access the money from his bank account. He has said that his money goes straight to the states and that he can't get access until he is back in the states. Everything that I have read regarding a deployed soldier states that they have access if necessary to their money as well as being able to make phone calls to family members in the states. I don't know what to believe now. I have no money to send to him to help, but don't want to just not try to help do something if what he is saying is true. Please help.....

Hello MeSandi366!

I'm sorry to say you are not in contact with a real soldier but a scammer most likely a black man from West Africa. This is unfortunately a very common scam. All the pictures he sent were just stollen off the Internet and everything he has told you is a lie in order to steal your money.

You are correct soldiers have access to their money it is earned for their duty and avalible to them while serving. They do also have access to phones in forward areas. The reason he is saying he can't talk to you is you would instantly be able to tell he is not American from his West African acent.

Stop all communications with him. There is no reason to confront him he is a liar for a living and will not admit he is a scamner.

Please post his details here like his name, email address and a couple of his initial emails to you. Potential victims may search these details find this site and avoid being scammed by him.

You can read more about this scam here viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6527


I'm sorry to hear you were targeted by this scammer but glad you found the site before loosing any money.

Justin

Welcome MeSandi366,

As Justin said, this is a total scam. To add to the points he has already made--soldiers receive a paycheck from the US military. If a soldier owed money to the military for some reason, he wouldn't have to take it from his bank account (even though he could access it)--the military would simply deduct that money from his pay. That is the military's standard practice.

Yes MeSandi366, what this supposed 'soldier' tells you is lies and fantasy. It's just another scammer trying it on. If you scroll to the top of this page to the search box and type the words military scam, you will see too many similar stories. Unfortunatly the forums are littered with them.
Military people do not pay to take leave and don't pay for breakages. The best course of action is to publish as many details you can and simply stop all contact with the fraudulant scammer.

Thanks

Welcome to Scamwarners, concerned123!
Yes, this definitely sounds like a scam. Why wouldn't he set up his own Intuit GoPayment account? Have you asked him, and if so, what was his answer?
The email address [email protected] looks like it's supposed to be a legit business account but inmail24.com is a free email address that anyone could sign up for, like gmail, hotmail, Yahoo etc.
I think that you are being set up as a "mule". That is someone who is given a fictitious reason to accept stolen money from victims, and then send it on to the scammer.
Have you received any emails from this man? If you have would you please post the headers of one of the messages. We can likely see where the message was sent from.

Thanks

It's very simple. He wants money.

He is not an American soldier. He is an African scammer. Typically, African scammers are involved in multiple kinds of fraud, including credit card fraud. Phished, hacked, and stolen credit card information can be bought on the internet for only a few dollars, and scammers buy several credit cards at a time.

He has you set up an account that can receive credit card payments, then makes "payments" to the account using stolen credit cards, and has you transfer the money to mules who will forward it to him. In other words, you are helping him to convert stolen credit cards into cash for him, making you an accomplice to a crime that can easily land you in jail.

As to why he doesn't set up the account himself? Because he can't set one up. He's not American, he doesn't have an American bank account, and he doesn't have an American address. He needs a real American to set the account up.

As to his other claims: A soldier on active duty in Afghanistan has access to military forms and is able to file whatever he needs. He does not have to return to the states to apply for retirement--that's typical scammer fiction. And his name matches the name on the uniform because he stole pictures of a real soldier from the internet, and then used the real soldier's name, or just used the uniform name with a random first name.

Do not confront this scammer, and do not try to get him to confess or to feel guilty for what he has done. He will continue to lie, and he will say whatever he thinks is necessary to get money from you. He has no conscience, and sees you as nothing more than a means to get money. Pointing out his mistakes will educate him so he can improve his scams; and telling him you have listed him on fraud sites only encourages him to change his name and email. The best thing to do is to cut off all contact with him. Block him from your email and/or messenger, and don't answer any messages from him.

Thanks

He won't have you mail it. He will have you transfer it via wire transfer and account transfer.

I did not check out the institution to see whether it is legitimate--but it doesn't matter if it is. Scammers throw around the names of legitimate companies and organizations all the time. Just like the email address he used is not legitimately connected to American Airlines, the recipient (bank account or person picking it up) will not be legitimately connected to the organization.

Just out of curiosity, what has led you to believe the USM headquarters is a legitimate institution?

THANKS

Thanks

Hello concerned123!

The reason Dotti said she did not check if the institution is legitimate is it does not matter. Scammers can claim anything they like but that does not mean its true. They often mix in real companies or orginizations to try and legitimize their story. The fact of the matter is the scammer your involved with has nothing to do with the military and he is not a soldier. He has just created a story that we know from years of experience holds no truth. Soldiers do not need private citizens they just meet in the Internet to open accounts for them or help them retire.

He is trying to involve you in laundering stollen money. You would be at risk of being prosecuted for the crime as the money trail leads directly to you and the accounts you would set up to conduct the illegal activity. He could care less what happens to you as long as he got the money.

I'm sorry you were targeted by this scammer. As stated previously the best thing to do is stop all communications he will eventualy go away.

Justin

If a soldier is retiring his personal belongings are packed and shipped by a military contractor to his new civilian home without any charge to the soldier.
A soldier with internet access for email also has internet access to setup accounts and transfer funds without the aid of a third party.

The locations he gave you for Clark AB are not correct, I have been there myself.