It's important to understand rule number one when dealing with scammers: Scammers lie. Lies often come more easily than the truth. What this means, is that even when they "confess," scammers will continue to tell lies. They might tell the truth in some things, but they will continue to lie on others--whatever is convenient for them or might lead to money for them.
First, the scammer's real name is not George. He is living in Ghana (that much is most likely true), and is either from Ghana or Nigeria. His real name would be Ghanaian or Nigerian. The name George is neither. It is a name of Greek origin. This is what Ghanaian names look like:
http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/category-ghanaian-names.html As far as the other things he told you go, they are as likely to be false as true.
There is absolutely no reason to believe the soldier in the photos is involved in any way. More likely, the real soldier has a facebook, myspace, or other social networking page that has or had open access, and the scammer has simply been helping himself to everything posted. The real soldier may be named George Miller, but he is as likely to be Scott Miller, Jim Miller, or one of thousands of other names (assuming the name on the uniform is not altered--if it is, there are millions of possibilities). He is also just as likely to be married, and to not welcome intrusions into his personal life from strangers who have been scammed using his photos.
The Army itself is aware of these scams, but they simply can't do anything. They don't have jurisdiction in Ghana, and they don't have the manpower (or authority) to track down individuals in Ghana who are hiding behind fake identities and logging on through IP's used by hundreds of other people. They are also going to be unwilling (and unable according to privacy policies) to invade soldiers' privacy by sharing their personal information with total strangers, so if you contact them trying to find out who the real soldier is, they are not going to give you information. The military has posted warnings about these scams, but beyond that, they are unable to do much.
It is not a good idea to continue communicating with scammers who have your real life information. If you are interested in baiting, visit 419eater.com to learn about how to do it safely.
