by USMilitary
Wed Oct 09, 2013 1:38 pm
My heart goes out to those who have sent money to Romance scammers. However, there is a group of people who are often overlooked--those whose identities have been used to fraud victims from money, and those who field complaints from victims of romance scams.
I am a US military officer, and I work for a US military general who is frequently impersonated by romance scammers from Ghana and other countries. Our headquarters fields calls from women from all over the world who are complaining that "General X" has scammed them out of money, or that they are running away with him to elope. It takes up a great deal of our time, and causes "General X" (and all of us) much personal embarassment when they do so. Some of them have even found his mailing address and sent him letters in the mail. One even emailed his wife, letting her know that "General X" and she are running away to elope.
I've been put on the case because I'm savvy with social media, and because, well, I'm one of the lower ranking people in the headquarters building. I've had some success in deleting scammers, so it's taken for granted that this is my job now. Let me be clear that I have full-time duties...I am not the US military's official Ghanian email scammer tracker task force!
Every week, I delete about two dozen fake Facebook accounts, and over 200 fake Skype accounts...only to have more pop up the next week. Most scammers aren't that bright, but occasionally, they do get clever. I looked at "General X's" Wikipedia page and noted that scammers from Ghana (according to the IP address) had edited his Wikipedia page to match their scam..."General X's" bio had him listed as being divorced and with a kid in the hospital.
As I talk with people in my position in other units, I've discovered that I'm not alone...countless "worker bees" within the DOD are hard at work each day deleting these accounts. There's no end to it.
The worst is dealing with the victims. I feel sorry for them, but at the same time, the ones that call our headquarters seem to be histrionic. I get about 5 emails a day from a woman in Italy, routed through Google Translate, chronicling her daily search for Ghanian email scammers.
Sadly, I think she is contacting me because she is lonely and is looking for attention. She asks me very obvious questions every day, and seems to be deliberately putting herself in the way of these scammers, just to get emails from the US military. I suspect she thinks that she is in the middle of a manhunt, like in Zero Dark Thirty, and that my emails are feeding some bizarre thirst for excitement in her life. She has sent me screenshots of her Skype screen, and every single Skype contact is a fake Soldier...the accounts are so blatantly obvious, but she keeps talking to them, no matter what I tell her. Her "tips" are never very helpful, either.
As I talk with others in my position, I have found that female victims quickly back off if a woman answers the phone.
Has anyone else had bad experiences dealing with victims (those who are scammed, AND those who have their identity stolen)? How do you respond and/or deal with victims? I feel sorry for them, but I simply cannot spend my time dealing with them. And, let's be honest, I did not join the Army to deal with this.
(As I write this, the US military has its own problems with the current budget shutdown...I really have better things to do than this!)
I am a US military officer, and I work for a US military general who is frequently impersonated by romance scammers from Ghana and other countries. Our headquarters fields calls from women from all over the world who are complaining that "General X" has scammed them out of money, or that they are running away with him to elope. It takes up a great deal of our time, and causes "General X" (and all of us) much personal embarassment when they do so. Some of them have even found his mailing address and sent him letters in the mail. One even emailed his wife, letting her know that "General X" and she are running away to elope.
I've been put on the case because I'm savvy with social media, and because, well, I'm one of the lower ranking people in the headquarters building. I've had some success in deleting scammers, so it's taken for granted that this is my job now. Let me be clear that I have full-time duties...I am not the US military's official Ghanian email scammer tracker task force!
Every week, I delete about two dozen fake Facebook accounts, and over 200 fake Skype accounts...only to have more pop up the next week. Most scammers aren't that bright, but occasionally, they do get clever. I looked at "General X's" Wikipedia page and noted that scammers from Ghana (according to the IP address) had edited his Wikipedia page to match their scam..."General X's" bio had him listed as being divorced and with a kid in the hospital.
As I talk with people in my position in other units, I've discovered that I'm not alone...countless "worker bees" within the DOD are hard at work each day deleting these accounts. There's no end to it.
The worst is dealing with the victims. I feel sorry for them, but at the same time, the ones that call our headquarters seem to be histrionic. I get about 5 emails a day from a woman in Italy, routed through Google Translate, chronicling her daily search for Ghanian email scammers.
Sadly, I think she is contacting me because she is lonely and is looking for attention. She asks me very obvious questions every day, and seems to be deliberately putting herself in the way of these scammers, just to get emails from the US military. I suspect she thinks that she is in the middle of a manhunt, like in Zero Dark Thirty, and that my emails are feeding some bizarre thirst for excitement in her life. She has sent me screenshots of her Skype screen, and every single Skype contact is a fake Soldier...the accounts are so blatantly obvious, but she keeps talking to them, no matter what I tell her. Her "tips" are never very helpful, either.
As I talk with others in my position, I have found that female victims quickly back off if a woman answers the phone.
Has anyone else had bad experiences dealing with victims (those who are scammed, AND those who have their identity stolen)? How do you respond and/or deal with victims? I feel sorry for them, but I simply cannot spend my time dealing with them. And, let's be honest, I did not join the Army to deal with this.
(As I write this, the US military has its own problems with the current budget shutdown...I really have better things to do than this!)