US Soldier Scam

Removed intentionally.

I'm sorry that you have found yourself targeted by multiple romance scammers. Unfortunately, the reality is that for every real person you meet online, you will likely find a dozen or more scammers! The best thing you can do is learn to recognize and drop them before you waste your time and risk emotional harm to yourself.

A few quick points based on what you wrote here:

-First, can you post some of the actual emails he sent you, especially the early ones and those around money requests? In general, romance scammers are lazy, and they will often create scripts that they can reuse (in part or in whole) over and over again, allowing them to scam more victims with less work. Posting them may help a future victim to recognize the scam.
-The scammer was never in Afghanistan, and he was never in the US either. Inktomi is owned by yahoo. The IP you are referring to is simply one of yahoo's IP's. The only thing certain from the IP is that the scammer used a yahoo email. It is extremely likely that the scammer was in Ghana all along. This particular scam format is frequently used by scammers in western African countries, especially Nigeria and Ghana. Scammers located in these countries will often pretend to be elsewhere, but as the scam progresses, they will eventually "travel" to their home location. The reason for this is simple: it is far easier for the scammer to receive money in his own country than it is to recruit mules in other countries, and it also means the scammer can avoid having to share the money or pay fees to have it send to him. Many people will avoid anyone claiming to be in an African country because of the number of scams, so a lot of scammers wait until the scam has progressed and the victim is hooked before mentioning Africa.
-No soldier doing secret work is going to reveal this fact to a stranger. It could land him in a whole lot of trouble.
-All soldiers can send and receive email from their .mil accounts. If he doesn't give one or it doesn't work, he's a scammer.
-There is no way to buy leave or retirement, and there is no big payout when a soldier retires either.
-The roses were likely purchased with a stolen credit card that he simply bought on the criminal open market. There is nothing you can do at this point, but just be aware in case an investigation occurs.

Hi VNA, OMG! I feel for you. This is all classic scammer material but of course you didn't know that when you were in the middle of it. They love to say they are widowed- mine did. Mine also had a teenage son and an aging mother. It is all about getting you to feel sympathy for them and to reinforce that they are alone in the world and you are their only hope.
There is always a lot of emotional blackmail tied up. That is what the romance is all about. It is to get you so twisted up inside because this person makes you feel loved and adored. It is all to make sure you understand that if you love them, why wouldn't you do everything in your power to help them? My scammer did the same thing, except he didn't ask for money right away. I became the last resort. And he would call me begging me for money, talking of love and care, and how he would give it all back plus more when he came to me.
Please make sure there is no more contact with this person. He will only continue to call and contact you in hopes you give more money. There will be excuses of how he is real, how you must not believe anyone else but him. My scammer called and emailed and rang chat over and over again for several weeks and I just had to ignore it. It was all about the money.
If you need help, if you can post some of the emails and pictures via Dotti or one of the Mods, please do so others will know the truth.