I wish you guys knew how much of my day is taken up with women asking me about their “new love” that they found on a dating website somewhere. The fellow who immediately fell in love with them through emails and private messages. He loves her so much that she should send him a few thousand bucks to pay the military to process his marriage request, or he wants to meet her so she should send him some money so he can take leave from Africa or Syria to be with her. Oh, don’t worry, he’ll pay you back as soon as he gets to his bank, because you know, he’s the commander of all of the troops in Afghanistan, or SOCOM. <\/p>\n
We even saw a case where the woman was in love with the former Sergeant Major of the Army. I met his wife last year, and I don’t think she’d appreciate it very much if some random woman was planning on eloping with the man. By the way, she is way more attractive than most of you women trolling dating websites.<\/p>\n
Scammers are taking photos of the troops that they find on the internet to make phony profiles on Facebook and Twitter. We try to shut those down when we find them, but, there are so many, it’s hard to track them all down. If you find one, report it to Facebook – Facebook staff are pretty good at recognizing them. Mostly those profiles are just a few days or weeks old and only have a picture or two and not too many “friends”.<\/p>\n
Most of these guys claim to be widowed and single parents, I guess that makes their story even sadder and makes them a more sympathetic figure. But, ladies, it’s all BS. If a guy who has never met you, wants to marry you, don’t you think that’s a little odd? <\/p>\n
My rule of thumb is; never send money to someone you’ve never met face-to-face. If you find yourself here on this blog questioning the veracity of your new love’s internet messages, you probably already know the answer to your question. Go with your instincts.<\/p>\n
But there’s an article in the Fayetteville Observer<\/a> which gives you a phone number and an FBI website where you can report the crime;<\/p>\n If you believe you are a victim of such a crime, report it at ic3.gov\/default.aspx<\/a> or by calling 1-877-ID-THEFT (438-4338) or TTY, 1-866-653-4261<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But the best way to not be a victim is to use a little common sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"