US Army/Iraq War Scam

Scammers are notorious for capitalizing on recent tragedy and other current events to make their stories seem believable and dramatic. War is no exception. A fairly well-known advance fee scam that is making the rounds comes in the guise of a solider (usually a U.S Army sergeant), seeking your assistance in sending found money back home.

What makes this scam particularly insidious is the heavy use of "guilty patriotism" to make the recipient feel obligated to help out the soldier combined with the notion that the money was taken from terrorists, so really, you're not doing any harm in helping out (in fact your helping the war effort!).

In the below example, another twist is used with the U.S. soldier soliciting the help of an unwitting U.K. soldier to transfer the $10,000,000 into the U.K. where it is waiting for you to "take custody" of it.

Dear Xxxxxxxx:

How are you and your family? Hope all is well. My name is Sgt. Barry Crawford; I am an American Soldier serving in the Military in the peace keeping mission in Iraq. I am in need of your assistance. we have each other at get to gether party some time ago and I believe you can help me.Please send your replies to my private email Addr([email protected])


I am seeking your kind assistance to move the sum of ($10,000,000.00 US Dollars) Ten Million US Dollars to you for safe keeping, as long as you will assure me that my share of the money will be safe in your care until I complete my service here and return home.
This money was discovered in some barrels at a farm house near one of Saddams old palace in Tikrit-Iraq during a rescue operation. While we tortured 3 terrorist we captured during the operation to extract information, they confessed being rebels for Ayman Al-Zawahiri and followers of Mahmoud al-Hassani, a Shiite cleric known for anti-American veiws. They took us to a cave in the farm house which served as their operating base. It was here me and staff Sgt Richard Burnette made the discovery of the money. We agreed to keep aside some of the money for ourselves before disclosing it. Altogether there were 100millon dollars in the Barrels but we are disclosing only 80million dollars, keeping 10 million dollars for ourselves. I know you may wonder why, but no compensation will make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell called Iraq. Master Sgt Richard Burnette just recovered from a very serious injury which almost claimed his life. Thousands of American families have lost their loved ones to the war. Reports shows that at least 3,576 members of the U.S. military have died and 26,350 wounded since the Iraq war started in March 2003.


Please see check this link to know how the United States have lost many souls just because of Iraq:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/f ... asualties/
http://www.defenselink.mil/heroes/50her ... nette.html
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/10/ ... index.html
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2006/agosto ... suman.html


My friend, I am sure you can understand what it means to fight war. We are in need of an honest person who will help us to keep this money in safe custody until our assignment here in Iraq elapses and we return back to the United States. We assure and promise to give you 20% of this amount if you help us to keep custody of this money until our return. Also we require you to keep this information top secret between you and us to protect our job with the US Military, since we are top military officers.
We have been able to get the money out of Iraq in a box to a safe location through our colleague here who is with the British Army. We did not let him know the content of the box as we made him understand that it belonged to one of the medical team attached to the US military who died in a recent Iraq raid. We made him understand that we are returning the personal belongings of the medical officer to his family in the US.

We are believing that you will help us keep custody of the funds until our return. But should you have any reasons to decline this request, please destroy this message as any leakage of this information will be too bad for us soldiers. Also do not let anyone know what we have discussed with you. As long as you do not let anyone know what we are doing, this transaction is safe for everyone.

Thanks for your anticipated help. Reply immediately so that we can give you instructions of what you are to do.

Sincerely,

Sgt. Barry Crawford

Another popular name the scammers use for the fake US soldier is variations of "Capt J Maxwell Reeves Jnr". I've seen quite a few of them.

And another one, this time using the name Sgt Rob Johnson:

From: "Sgt. Robert Johnson" <[email protected]>
To:
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2007 20:36:33 -0600
Subject: PERSONAL
Hello,

My name is Sgt. Robert Johnson, I am in the U.S Army and I am serving in the military of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, in Iraq. I am presently in Kuwait for the mean time. I apologized using this medium to reach you for a deal of this magnitude.

We have in our possession the sum of US$10,000,000.00 (Ten Million U.S Dollars), which we found during our patrol in Iraq. These funds have been moved and kept safe in a Security Company, please view this link for more details:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

Basically since we are working for the American Government, we cannot keep these funds, but we want to move the funds to you, so that you can keep it for us in your safe account or an offshore account.

Therefore, if you are interested, please reply immediately via my private email: [email protected] with your Current Mailing Address and your confidential Telephone and Fax numbers for easy communication.

Upon your response I shall then provide you with more details that will help you understand the deal. Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest assured that this deal is risk free.

Respectfully Yours,

Sgt. Robert Johnson
Pls reply to: [email protected]

Here's another:

Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:20:29 -0500
Subject: GoodDay & Compliments !!
From: [email protected]
To:

Dear Friend

Good day and compliments, i know this letter will definitely come to you
as a huge surprise, but I implore you to take the time to go through it
carefully as the decision you make will go off a long way to determine my
future and continued existence.Please allow me to introduce myself.I am
SSgt. Skye W. Heiker, a US serving in the Hqs.Multinational Corps Iraq,
III Corps-Camp Victory, which Patrols the Baghdad province. I am
desperately in need of assistance and I have summoned up courage to
contact you. I am presently in Iraq and I found your contact particulars
in an address journal. I am seeking your assistance to evacuate the sum of
$12,570,000(Twelve million Five Hundred and Seventy Thousand USD) to the
States or any safe country of your choice, as far as I can be assured that
it will be safe in your care until I complete my service here. This is no
stolen money and there are no dangers involved.

I have now found a secured way of getting the package out of Iraq for you
to pick up. I do not know for how long I will remain here as I have been
lucky to have survived 2 suicide bomb attacks by Pure Divine
intervention.This and other reasons put into consideration have prompted
me to reach out for help. If it might be of interest to you then Endeavour
to contact me and we would work out the necessary formalities but i pray
that you are iscreet about this mutually benefiting relationship.
Contact me via my private box: [email protected] so that I can furnish
you with more details.

Respectfully,
SSgt. Skye W. Heiker
Email: [email protected]
United States Marine Corps. IRAQ.