Is this correspondence genuine or a scam

I have been in communication with SFC Kevin Torres who is apparently currently deployed in Nigeria. I have been chatting with him for over 3 months and he came across as a genuine person. However whenever I asked him to speak to me or send me voice notes he said that he could not due to heightened security.
I was the one who requested to see him but he said getting leave would be difficult. He gave me an email address of [email protected] to request leave for him. I haven't been asked for any money yet.
I received a response from General Roy Williams, US Army, Africa Command, Camp Lagos, West Africa Coast saying that the request has been denied for confidential reasons.
The details he gave me for the solider was - Kevin Torres/SFC/MOS18B/Non commissioned officer/SO/Io/at United States Army.

The photos I was sent seemed genuine as one was of him as a child with his parents however I do know these can be copied from elsewhere.

Please let me know if this is one of the scams I have seen on this forum.
Many thanks.

[AlanJones]

It's a scam.

There are no US forces currently deployed in Nigeria, the scammer has just told you that as that is where he actually lives and will want the money you have to pay for his "leave" sent.

Also, real soldiers do not pay for leave, they earn it for time worked, just like any other job and the military do not communicate with outsiders - all leave requests would be made by the soldier himself.

Finally, the email address [email protected] is a free address and not a US military one, which would be from a domain ending .mil.

Just block all his mails and do not respond to him any further. Please also post the email address that the fake soldier is using as his other victims may be searching for it.

Thank you for clarifying this. I met the supposed solider on the online dating website Match.com
He is using the email address of - [email protected]

His KiK id is kevint90725

Whatssapp telephone 02347067739911

He said he is from Missouri and field name is True Order.
He stated that he is a widow and wife passed away 5 years ago.
He claims his date of birth is 30.09.72

The only reason I got in touch with him was because he stated on Match.com that he has a house in Leicester which is where I reside. He even confirmed the street name.

I sent him a birthday present which was a football jersey but he said he couldn't send me a photo with him wearing the jersey due to security issues. That's when the alarms bells went off in my head.

glad the alarm bells went off for you. Please read this article to learn more about how these criminals try to steal your money impersonating real heros. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6527

Please post the email he sent, especially the early ones, which are script, and the ones asking you to contact someone for leave. Others may be searching for text in the email.

I have been sent genuine looking photos of this solider. 2 are in his military outfit but the others are personal photos including a childhood photo with his parents.
Is there any other way of finding out who this person is please?

you really don't want to find out who the real person is for several reasons, the largest of which is that he is a victim of this crime too. There is nothing he can do about someone using his pictures to commit this crime, and even if you can locate him, the chance of you having a welcome reception for telling him about it is slim to none. Not to mention if he does have a family, it will very likely cause family problems.

There is an article in the footnotes of the article I gave to you that you can report the incident to the authorities.
http://www.cid.army.mil/documents/Looko ... Scams2.pdf

The United States Secret Service (www.ustreas.gov/usss/) and the United States Postal Service
(http://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/) are the primary U.S. law enforcement agencies dealing with
these types of scams. U.S. citizens or residents who have not suffered a financial loss and want to
report a scam may forward unsolicited emails to the USSS at [email protected]. U.S.
citizens and residents who have suffered a financial loss should contact the nearest field office of
the Secret Service by telephone.
Victims are advised to continue reporting these fraudulent scams to law enforcement agencies.

CID Lookout is a U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC) initiative to partner with the Army community by providing a conduit for members of the Army family, to help prevent, reduce and report felony-level crime.

The USACIDC, commonly known as CID, is an independent criminal investigative organization that investigates serious, felony-level crime such as murder, rape, sexual assault, robbery, arson, fraud, and even cyber crime or intrusions into the Army networks (see CID Cyber Lookout).

Solving and preventing these types of crime cannot be achieved solely by CID Special Agents and the Military Police. Together, professional law enforcement officers and the Army community must work hand-in-hand to fight serious crime.

As such, CID is On Point for the Army and depends heavily on Soldiers, family members and civilian employees to Be On The Lookout and provides assistance in keeping the Army Strong and safe.
CID Lookout provides the latest information to the Army community aimed at helping Soldiers protect themselves, their families and to reduce their chances of becoming crime victims.
For more information on CID or to report a felony-level crime or provide information concerning a crime, contact your local CID Office or the Military Police, or visit www.cid.army.mil.

I was wondering if you could check this email is legitimate. It was provided by the supposed soldier -

[email protected]

He stated that the email is for official purposes only and that I shouldn't contact him on it otherwise he'll get sanctioned? I obviously find this hard to believe. This man's command of the English language was fantastic and it flowed naturally with my chats as he used Kik and Whatsapp to chat with me.

I found this man on match.com and I contacted him first. It all seemed genuine and real hence why I feel completely devastated that he is probably an imposter.

[AlanJones]

There is no probably about it - you have already been told that it is definitely a scam and the reasons why. No matter what additional information you come up with, that is not going to chage.

The reason that you have been told not to write to him on that email address is that the email will either bounce as there is no account in that name or it will be received by a real Kevin Torres, who won't have a clue who you are or what you are writing about. Soldiers have no problems receiving mail to their official email addresses and he would not get sanctioned. The scammer does not want you to write to that address, because if you did he would not be able to answer you.

[email protected]

He stated that the email is for official purposes only and that I shouldn't contact him on it otherwise he'll get sanctioned? I obviously find this hard to believe.

First of all, trust your instincts. The army / militia provides email to their employees as a benefit. It is not solely for "official" business, as most of the troops have no reason to have an "official" presence. It is a way for them to communicate with family / friends across the globe.

Please post the pictures he sent to you. There are instructions at the bottom of my post on how to do that.

In one of those articles I asked you to read it says http://www.army.mil/article/130861/Army ... nce_scams/ :

Military members have an email address that end in ".mil." If the person you are speaking with cannot sent you at least one email from a ".mil" (that will be the very LAST part of the address and nothing after), then there is a high probability they are not in the military.

Note : in the above quote it says "if they cannot send you an email".... not if you can send to them. That is an important statement.

Seriously, do you think the brass higher ups would make claims like that if the rank and file below them got in trouble for using it?? In the USA we call that illegal, not to mention immoral ( which not many have morals these days anyhow).

The other fact is ( see above quote) it is possible ( though unlikely) that this particular soldier had his email account hacked by the scammer. Therefore he is being impersonated. He doesn't want you to send an email to him on that email address because the real soldier would learn about the security breach. More likely is what AlanJones suggested. It is an email address he can never access.

as long as he is using a gmail account, you can not trace his IP to a physical location. with a few exceptions, almost every other email provider will show an IP address of origin in the complete headers of an email.

sounds like You are emotionally invested in this person, and really don't want to believe he is not real. You have the same access to the internet we do for research, and we have told you now several times and pointed out facts why this person is only imaginary.

please read this : http://www.army.mil/faq/category/scams/ ... cat=0&id=0

and go back through the articles I asked you to read the first post I made. keep an open mind that is not to say "this is a scammer I am dealing with" but more of " what if it is a scammer??" see if you can even think it might be a scammer this time.

the very first reason you gave to us is you sent a jersey to him, and he refuses to send you a picture of him in it... why on earth would anyone refuse such a request?? There is no legitimate reason at all.

when you talk on IM, is it video or just typing??

[AlanJones]

In one of those articles I asked you to read it says http://www.army.mil/article/130861/Army ... nce_scams/ :

Military members have an email address that end in ".mil." If the person you are speaking with cannot sent you at least one email from a ".mil" (that will be the very LAST part of the address and nothing after), then there is a high probability they are not in the military.

While refusing to send a mail from their .mil account is proof they are scammers, the reverse is not true. Emails can be spoofed, so just because you receive a mail that looks like it has come from a .mil address doesn't mean it actually has. The only cast iron way to be certain that the person you are chatting with actually has access to that email account is for you to send a mail to it asking a specific question and see if the person you are chatting to can answer it.

My communication was initially by Whatsapp then Kik at his request. I have NEVER been in this situation before as I have never been on a dating website. However reading the articles on this site has definitely educated me.
I'm an intelligent professional who is on the ball but boy was this scammer good!
His command of the English language with American undertones was fantastic. His conversations seemed so genuine and caring- they clearly receive a lot of training to become a low life scammer.
I have made a report to the dating website used so they could monitor if the scammer returns.

It took me a while to get emotionally hooked to this imaginary person but after 3 months of him being patient and persistent I was hooked. I feel deeply sorry for the real Kevin Torres (although I'm not sure his first name is made up or not) as he has had his identity stolen alongside personal family photos. I dread to think how many other women have fallen in love with this poor man who has no idea about what is going on.