US Military Intelligence Phone/Communicator Scam

Hi,

I live in Australia – and the scammer found me through the legitimate dating website http://www.rsvp.com.au his user name was sgtelek
He has since terminated his membership after becoming ‘exclusive’ with me.

His profile was that of a 39yr old Military US Army Intelligence Officer.
His name: Elek Watkins
I have four photos some with his name ‘Watkins’ on the army uniform, so I guess these photos have been stolen.
Email: [email protected]

Over a 7 week period, he was unbelievably convincing, he played me superbly. He showed me a site http://www.usima.us which I thought did not look legitimate, however he convinced me otherwise, he had me enquire about getting a two way secured communication device – which I believe some army wives do have? I did pay $1650 USD through Western Union to:

Name: Constance Culver
City: Wilmington
State: Delaware
Zip Code: 19808

Of course this took about a week – where they said they had bought all the VSAT cables and things and wanted more money because of my location being a problem to some kind of frequency issue. This is where I started to get really suspicious.. in my mind $1800 (AUD) was a fair bit of money – but I felt comfortable around the excuses Elek had explained why he could not pay. He was a special ops intelligence army officer and his accounts were monitored due to the nature of his job. He then was ‘shot’ in the leg early last week and had developed thinking around being desperate to get out of the Army, not wanting to die… and wanting to be with me. At the same time the phone scam had ramped up, after being shot, I received another email from usima about wanting another $2650 (USD) from me. Elek also started to concoct plans to get out the of army – by using his Commander to get him ‘an outside replacement’ quoting how the army is actually corrupt if you know the right people and that it could cost anywhere between $30-40k to 300k to get this person. So some real pressure was being applied to me, to be his ‘miracle, his saviour’ to get him out there… and I was the only one that could possibly help him. His mother had passed away from breast cancer just 3 years ago, and his father died a couple of years ago from alcoholism… he talked about being wealthy, having a yacht back in VA, USA.

When I used his photos and put them through http://www.tineye.com I saw that he has a profile on http://www.datepad.com (his profile on that http://www.datepad.com/pad/wakeup2luv/) and the way his profile is written I believe it is the same person – there are four photos on the site that I had not seen – so this person has quite a collection of whomever is in the photographs.

The first letter I received from USIMA:

Dear XXXXXXXX,

Thank you for the inquiry, our service is to provide communication services to our various personnel of different offices and duties allowing free flow of communication between authorized families and friends within the intelligence circle. With basic advantages of communicating freely in 110 countries in Europe, North and Central Africa, Asia, and Middle East.

With Reference to your request, we recommend our High Definition Communicators, which can be made available ONLY to the two parties concerned. Below are available specifications and specification codes:


COMMUNICATOR SPECIFICATIONS:


1. VOICOM 2200
Dual-mode Voice Transmission
Dual-mode Video Transmission
50M WATER-RESISTANT DEVICE
GPRS ENABLED(Available for intelligence personnel ONLY)
Price: $1050usd (Prices Include Registration fees)
Specification code: V0220DD


2. VOICOM 2500
Dual-mode Voice Transmission
Dual-mode Video Transmission
100M WATER-RESISTANT DEVICE
High Definition Video Mode (HD)
GPRS ENABLED(Available for intelligence personnel ONLY)
Price: $1280usd (Prices Include Registration fees)
Specification code: V025HD


3. VOICOM 3500
Dual-mode Voice Transmission
Dual-mode Video Transmission
150M WATER-RESISTANT DEVICE
High Definition Video Mode (HD)
Weather Resistant Reception (New Technology)
Climatic Adapter (New Technology)
GPRS ENABLED (Available for intelligence personnel ONLY)
Price: 1650usd (Prices Include Registration fees)
Specification code: VD35CA


Benefits of our Devices:

* No prepaid cards needed
* Free unlimited calls for Military Personnel in Active Duty.


Note: (ALL EQUIPMENTS SUPPLIED FOR MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS OPERATE ONLY IN MILITARY FREQUENCY RANGES). For all devices for US Army soldiers, we ship equipments within 5-7 days in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East.

In other to register for our phoning facility, you are advice to provide us with the information below;

YOUR INFORMATION:

-FULL NAME:
-HOME ADDRESS :
-CITY:
-STATE:
-ZIP CODE:
-COUNTRY:
-PHONE NUMBER:
-PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER:
Please specify (Mobile) for Service Provider, If only mobile phone is available.

MILITARY PERSONNEL'S INFORMATION:

-NAME :
-RANK :
-INTELLIGENCE AUTHORITY CODE:
-LOCATION (COUNTRY WHERE HE /SHE NEEDS THE SERVICE):

SPECIFICATION NEEDED:
- SPECIFICATION CODE:

Once you provide us with the above information you are no longer anonymous to us. (We) protect your privacy. We do not insist you to provide extra personal information than necessary. The information is what we are going to use to register you with our service.

Regards,
United States Intelligence Military Affairs.



Copyright by USIMA. All Rights Reserved. ©2011

<Mod edit: usima.us will be reported soon - Michael>

Welcome to Scamwarners tiggress2011 and you're not alone in being in getting snagged by these scammers, and it's quite a blow when you discover what's happened.

If the cash loss is not too hard on you (and some women have been taken for fortunes) it's best to just consider you tripped over some trash on your quest and get on with life, wiser and a little more cautiously.

It sounds like he had big plans to milk you dry, and these scum don't have a 'stop' switch, they just keep sucking money out of you and have no morals. It's not unknown for them to suggest victims take out loans or borrow and steal from friends and relatives. They're sick, but not deserving of pity.

It can't be stressed enough, but Western Union should only be used to pay relatives, or friends you know face to face, otherwise it's the scammers' favourite tool. I wouldn't compliment these scammers by saying they're smart. They just sink to lower depths normal people wouldn't go, like the scammer who said they had a crippled daughter who needed a wheelchair, and this as to back up a counterfeit cheque fraud.

Welcome Tiggress,

I'm sorry to hear you were scammed. As you suggested, the photos will be stolen.

While in some (but nowhere near all) cases, communication may occur through special military channels, it is the soldier who requests and makes those arrangements, not someone from outside the army! The truth is, the moment the soldier asks you to make a request of any kind, you can be certain he is a scammer, as the army handles everything internally. You should also realize that web addresses ending in .us are not affiliated with the US government or military.

He has since terminated his membership after becoming ‘exclusive’ with me.

More likely, he was reported by someone else he tried to scam, and his profile was removed. We see this all the time.

As far as the website goes, it's a fake created a couple of months ago.

Domain Registration Date: Wed Dec 15 03:17:31 GMT 2010
Domain Expiration Date: Wed Dec 14 23:59:59 GMT 2011
Domain Last Updated Date: Wed Dec 15 03:17:32 GMT 2010

Can you post the headers of one of the emails from the "communications" site? It will help our site killers who will be working on getting the site closed down. Also, if you can post the initial letters from the scammer's character, it will help, as those will be part of his script.

This is the header of the last email I received from USIMA:
Delivered-To: xxxxxxxxxx
Received: by 10.216.168.144 with SMTP id k16cs32643wel;
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:17:02 -0800 (PST)
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 10.150.143.13 as permitted sender) client-ip=10.150.143.13;
Authentication-Results: mr.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 10.150.143.13 as permitted sender) [email protected]; dkim=pass [email protected]
Received: from mr.google.com ([10.150.143.13])
by 10.150.143.13 with SMTP id q13mr3471931ybd.82.1298632621620 (num_hops = 1);
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:17:01 -0800 (PST)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
d=gmail.com; s=gamma;
h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:sender:date:x-google-sender-auth
:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type;
bh=7OdiR3w+TYzijUpcUMwiAbsPKqUf/e3amBcpRS9hnno=;
b=gNRn943ErszufjMGFKTtpi+dE3IaIw2tb8yW69MfvfT3mqq0R0oiQZMKr1ptCW5mi7
VORGnKHsW+saJ75f8+bjk68Hg9KXoIkpaH0lHTaylso2Imbr8XKtu/8+4t7YK52UDm4Z
zQAiSmvZAhrHCITor0fjPfHY36ppcfbAKLd4c=
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws;
d=gmail.com; s=gamma;
h=mime-version:sender:date:x-google-sender-auth:message-id:subject
:from:to:content-type;
b=QGjjekwQxb0oQHl6gd7VXvstJprcHSxFIPWWh7aiEFOKSbV+5AgM9mJJwqg/kO9vk3
nm65tEo7+BlScQRDIjfhMGi+ySRi4j7FKM6KywDrvaJ1bVvAQmXHpKteMiJaROetT4Lf
XW7R2LZHdQi+qtHKaUibAEzxl5ecfJ8jpOpKc=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Received: by 10.150.143.13 with SMTP id q13mr3471931ybd.82.1298632621605; Fri,
25 Feb 2011 03:17:01 -0800 (PST)
Sender: [email protected]
Received: by 10.151.110.17 with HTTP; Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:17:01 -0800 (PST)
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 06:17:01 -0500
X-Google-Sender-Auth: BIk3aoYs37ZtgjvJdZCkBvlGJb8
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Subject: REQUEST CASE: ****004***: ATTN
From: USIMA <[email protected]>
To: xxxxxxxxx
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=000e0cd56ae01ac3f7049d19786f

--000e0cd56ae01ac3f7049d19786f
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

*Attn: xxxxxxxxx

*With the reference to your application been forwarded to our SAT Telecoms
Office, your application has been approved under the Military Hi-Tech Code *
USIMP9099.*

However, it has been detected that your location has been a major problem to
the installation department since your location has low level of HM Degree
and Ultra High Frequency Signal Reception. This is why our technicians have
*NOT* been able to deploy equipments to your location for over the
stipulated 48hrs.

Please note that your Registration fee(s) have already been used for the
registration purpose and also to purchase necessary VSAT cables, Chips and
also to secure Notary Permit from US Military Legal Defense to commence and
seal this installation on *USIMA* Inter-connectivity between the both
parties.

To conclude this, a notification message has been sent to the concerned
officer *SGT. ELEK WATKINS *of the Intelligence Unit of the US ARMY Military
Base. Afghanistan, to prepare to do more on expenses to secure an upgrade
equipment for successful USIMA VSAT connection by applying for a Refundable
expenses while in services to the Department of SF Telecoms Database
Financial Dome.

Therefore *SGT. ELEK WATKINS *will be required to pay a sum of ($2,250:00
USD) to the Afghanistan *USIMA* Phoning Service to secure him a
Oscilloscope Aerial
for Ultra-Frequency Reception.

However, you *xxxxxxxxx** *are required to remit the sum of ($2,650:00
USD) for the immediate Installation of the Ultra High Frequency Reception
Aerial Hosted by USIMA Satellite Technology.

Remember all these aforementioned payments are set to be refundable to both
parties as soon as Officer ***SGT. ELEK WATKINS *applies for a Refundable
expenses while in service to the *DEPARTMENT OF SF TELECOMS DATABASE
FINANCIAL DOME* as soon as he hopes to visit States soon.

Do inform us as soon as you are ready to make payments so as to be able to
provide you with payment information.

Regards,
*USIMA*

I edited out the text coding from the message body to help readability. ~Bubbles

Welcome tiggress! So glad to see you posted this information!!

To all: I already have the info for the fake site from email correspondence from tiggress.

Hi,
The guy that i have been talking to for 4 month is Sgt. Elek Watkins and his profile is the same as yours except he had a daughter that was killed in an auto accident when she was 15 in 2005. Each month I would go online to see if i could find his name. Well last Wednesday I found your article March 16th. I want to thank you for stepping up and writing the article. I felt like i had been punched in the stomach but i guess i knew it was coming. He keeps trying to email me and i will not respond back. I would like to know if your pictures and the ones i have are the same, if you feel like share them please let me know and i will show you the ones I have. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for your article.

Welcome to ScamWarners goofee71. I am sorry you found us with this news. I am pleased that you now know the truth about the person you were in contact with.

It is shocking to find out that the person you have been communicating with is not a real person, but someone with the sole intent of stealing money from you.

As you know, the pictures will not be of the person you were communicating with. The pictures will have been stolen to make the scam story seem more believable. Feel free to post the pictures you have here. The instructions to post pictures are in my signature below.

We are glad you are here, though the circumstances were quite startling for you.

I dont know what to do, i have been talking with "Elek for months. Met him on a dating sight his mother died of cancer his sister lives in russia father died from alchohol daughter died in car crash when she was 12. about 3 months after we started talking he asked about the com, well being me i looked in to Elek not beleaving him at all. I surched evey military database i could find and yes i found a sgt elek. I refused to send money for com and he gave me the same talk im sure he gave you but it was dropped. 2 months after that he asked if i would marry him , he wanted us to move to virgina beach and yes he has lots of money. i told him i really dont care about money and no i wanted to live close to friends. this entire time i'm still trying to find out info on him but was getting no place. about 15 days ago he started with the "i want out of the army" stuff. said something about 10,000 is needed for a sucurity deposit and that the paper work wold be maled to me. i never agreed to pay anything even though at this point i really wanted to beleave him. i havent heard from him in 9 days now, lol i was just in bed looking on line and came across this sight. I think i would of rather lost money than to feel this way i do now. my familey and friends are going to know about this and all along they were telling me he is fake, witch i knew deep inside he was. how can we stop him? when i question him he knew everything from the weather to the pizza hut being reopen !!!! 7 months of this! what can be done?

Welcome to Scamwarners, although I'm sorry about the reason that brought you here.
The nature of internet scams, and the ese of being able to create false identities,make it almost impossible to stop them.
I wouldn't worry too much about telling those who warned you, that you now know it's a scam. Judging by the friends of victims who contact us, I expect they will just be relieved that you know the truth. It wasn't your fault. These scammers are very good at what they do.

Welome to Scamwarners michellewawrzycki. Quite simply michellewawrzycki, if he doesn't have a bank account in the USA in his name, he isn't a US soldier.

I could provide links and details to make it clearer but scammers will only use any information I give to formulate another fairytale.

West African scammers are the only ones queuing up at Western Union offices to collect cash. US soldiers are in the modern world and use cards, and there are specific ones they can use that make it preferable over cash. This scammer is particularly dumb to mention the destination as Nigeria.

Once a scammer makes you believe his lies, it's hard to break the spell he has on you, but paying him money won't make him what you see in your mind, and you'll have to come to terms with the situation sooner or later, because he will only keep asking for more and more money from you. In the scammer's mind he believes that saying he loves you entitles him to cash and that's as deep and profound as his thinking goes.

Hi.
I'm new here and need to ask a question. I live in Sweden
A friend of mine has met an US staff sergeant online. He's sais that he's stationed in Afghanistan. He wants her to pay to get to call him over there.
He want's her to send a request with name, phone number and date of birth to [email protected] and they will grant a permit for her to call him. He sais it will cost about 600 usd. She asked if he could pay it, but he can't because he's stationed in Afghanistan and has no access to his bank account until he gets back to the US.
If you people suspect it is a scam I will release more information to help others.
What made me suspicious was that the US army would use a mail adress that ends with .com, but I have no idea. And why would the US army stop calls from the soldiers to people abroad?

I hope I get some answers in here.
Cheers Peter

Hi Peteyswede!
Welcome to Scamwarners!
Yes, it's 100% scam. Please direct your friend to this post to learn more: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6528 or search "military phone" on the forum.

It's not suspicion. I can tell you for certain it is a scam.

American soldiers are given the opportunity to keep in contact with their loved ones. There are no fees to get in touch. The military also makes sure they have access to their money.

There are no Americans involved, and your friend has had no contact with anyone who is really from the US military. This is a bog-standard African scam.

The email domain is a fake, not connected to the US military in any way. It was created only 2 weeks ago, and registered for a year. The whole purpose of the website is to make the scam look more real.

Our site killers will work on getting that domain killed--if you can post emails from that domain, including headers, it will help them with the necessary evidence.

Domain Name: USMILITARYDIV.COM
Registrar: TUCOWS.COM CO.
Whois Server: whois.tucows.com
Referral URL: http://domainhelp.opensrs.net
Name Server: PDNS1.ULTRADNS.NET
Name Server: PDNS2.ULTRADNS.NET
Name Server: PDNS3.ULTRADNS.ORG
Name Server: PDNS4.ULTRADNS.ORG
Name Server: PDNS5.ULTRADNS.INFO
Name Server: PDNS6.ULTRADNS.CO.UK
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 17-aug-2011
Creation Date: 17-aug-2011
Expiration Date: 17-aug-2012

Thanks for the help. I think he calls himself Steven Bauer or Stephen Bauer on Facebook. From Colorado. He has two bad photos on Facebook.

Hi Peteyswede,

Thanks for reporting! Could you please post the email where you were referred to that email address? If possible, emails coming from that address as well (plus headers). Basically, everything you have on them We'll try to get the domain suspended.