Some of you who also frequent are probably familiar with CJ’s section called Nigerian Scammers where he’s posted Nigerian scam emails that he’s received and responded with his persona David Sneakers. There’s now a new scam out there, purportedly from Gi’s who are attempting to secrete money out of Iraq. I’ve received a few of these emails myself. Some of them claiming to be Captains, SSGs and other various ranks. Some will claim that they’ve been punished in some way, or a myriad of other things. Each of them signs their supposed name along with their supposed rank. Each one I’ve gotten, I’ve looked who they claim they are up in the Army Knowledge Online System and not once have I found one who actually exists in the Army.
Some of them, can appear to be pretty believable. One even went so far as to say that he was located at FOB Warhorse. I got that one while Marty was home on R & R and of course we both felt it reeked of being a scam. So, we looked the person up on AKO and sure enough, they weren’t listed. Marty, being Marty, thought maybe he’d be able to catch this person red-handed and emailed them back, telling them he was also currently serving at FOB Warhorse. Funny thing happened….. they didn’t respond back! Not surprising, considering that they were just attempting to sucker some poor US Citizen into falling for their scam.
On Tuesday, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center issued an alert, warning people about this latest scam. What angers me the most about this, is that by sending out this type of scam, not only are they attempting to sucker someone out of their hard-earned money, but they’re impersonating Soldiers!
“In this particular case, they’ve got what appears to be a rogue GI who is looking to take money looted from Iraq and get it out of Iraq to the United States and try to prey on the greed of American citizens,” Shawn Henry, deputy assistance director of the FBI’s cyber division, told ABC news.
Some of the emails will claim that the supposed US Servicemember found 10 of millions of dollars. Others will claim the money was taken from insurgents or they may claim to be someone who has endured a horrendous mission, or who had gotten in trouble with the Army. As the Nigerian Scams, each asks for help to bring the money to the United States, and asks the person receiving the email to send them personal information about themselves. They of course will promise in return, that the person who agrees to help them, will be provided with a portion of the funds and ask for bank account information, in order to finish the transaction. The emails appear to be using fabricated names and none appear to be in the US Military.
So far, the FBI has received quite a few complaints about this new scam. According to FBI experts, it’s not unusual for hundreds of people to get caught up in these scams, many losing large amounts of money in the process. The FBI is asking for anyone who receives any of these emails to contact them by going to FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center and filing a complaint. They also suggest that people not open any links that might be included in these emails, so as not to open yourself up to the possibility of downloading viruses or spyware to your computer. The FBI is troubled, just as I am, that these people are attempting to portray our Troops as corrupt.
“We’ve got servicemen and women overseas who are representing the United States of America, and making a great sacrifice, and to portray them in this light, I think is egregious,” Henry said.
Here’s an example of one that I’ve received. Of course, as I said, none that I have gotten show up in the AKO system at all. Notice as well, that they’re using a yahoo email address with a “jp” designator at the end. So, if you get emails like this, REPORT THEM at the link for the FBI’s cyber crime unit that’s linked up above.
From: “SGT. JARVIS M. REEVES, JR.”
To:
Subject: FROM ENGINEERING MILITARY UNIT IN IRAQ.
Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 04:34:41 +0000My name is Sgt. Jarvis M. Reeves, Jr.I am in the Engineering military
unit here
in Ba’qubah in Iraq,we have some cash that we have moved out of Iraq.My
colleagues and I need a good partner,someone we can trust.It is oil
money and is
legal.Please do get back to me for more details.- SGT. JARVIS M. REEVES, JR.
July 19th, 2007 at 2:51 am
[...] Link to Article yahoo Military Spam Scam » Posted at A Soldier’s Mind on Thursday, July 19, [...]
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:37 am
http://www.419eater.com/
This is one of the many anti-spam/419 Scam sites out there. Direct some of these emails to them and let these people have fun with the spammers.
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:54 am
LOL! I’ll do that with the next one that I get. Thanks Chris!
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:27 pm
There was a great discussion/documentary about scams on NBC Dateline yesterday (Sunday) evening. Amazing the extent these crooks will go to steal money from people.
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Yes it is amazing. CJ’s Nigerian Scammer column at ASP was hilarious, as he’d carry on correspondance with them, making them think that he was falling for their scams. I think they’re still in the archives over there. If you need a laugh, that’s the place to go, because they’re a hoot.
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:57 pm
The 419Eater site also has list of their baiting counter-scams and the work they make the scammers to only to find out that they, the scammer, gets nothing in the end. It is a blast to see the “Hall of Shame” photos.
Not only are these scammers on email sites, but some go onto dating sites and try to scam that way. Pretty soon we will see them emailing schools to get chirdren to send them money. These thugs have already gone after the elderly, single, lonely, giving, and everyone else so why not kids.
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Yeah isn’t that the truth. They’ll stoop to any low to further their attempt to scam people out of their hard earned money.