I think I am another scam victim

have checked some other sites too and this is the only that comes close to what I have been experiencing the last few weeks. up to now I have hesitated because nobody wants to have to admit they have been scammed plus I keep telling myself that if the person I have been communicating with is genuine I do not want him getting into trouble. he tells me he is an american soldier about to finish his tour of duty and wants to come to australia to meet me. he sent many photos and would love to have someone explain how he managed to do this. am feeling very emotional and confused at the moment and very glad I have found this website.

Welcome Moonlady.

Unfortunately, your suspicion is most likely right. It is disappointing to have to say this, but >95% of the "American soldier" profiles you will find on dating sites are fakes created by scammers for the sole purpose of stealing money from unsuspecting people. If he has asked you to apply for a phone or leave for him, or told you to contact someone in the military for any reason, there is absolutely no doubt it is a scam. As to how he got the pictures, he most likely copied them from a real soldier's facebook or myspace page. Of course the real soldier is very likely in a relationship, or even married, but that won't stop the scammer from using the pictures.

If you could post some of this person's emails (remove your name/information first) it will help.

I wish it was hello moonlady under better circumstances. There appear to be more and more scammers impersonating U.S military personnel, I'm sad to say. The person in the photo is not the one communicating with you. The people in the photo are also a victim. The photos are taken from Internet sites, sometimes the same photo will be used whereby the scammer will just change the name etc.
Some scammers do send plenty of photos, to put their intended victim at ease. Perhaps use tineye to try and locate the photos, maybe they will appear in the database?
Many of us have been in the same situation moonlady. You have done a positive action by reporting your story.
Yes, people do become confused and emotional after the realisation sets in that it's a scam. The worst thing is not saying anything. There are many people in the forums know what you are experiencing.
As Dotti said, please more info about the scummer. Others will view the post and it will save someone in future.

over time I will tell you the whole story but now I have a question. if an american army soldier does not have one of his uniforms in his possession is this a punishable crime = prison sentence?

A disciplinary offence possibly, but not one that I would expect to result in a prison sentence. Are you saying he's asking you to send money to prevent him being jailed for losing one?
That would be a scam, no question.

no he has not thought of that yet. but he claims that not having his ceremonial uniform will automatically send him to prison for two years.

No, soldiers are not sent to prison for 2 years for missing uniforms. That's typical fictional scammer policy.

He hasn't brought up money yet because he is setting the stage for the money requests, not because he hasn't thought of it--after all, your money is his goal. If he hasn't asked yet, it is because he is not certain you are 100% hooked yet, and he wants to be more confident that you are fully believing him before he proceeds.

I wouldn't be surprised if his next claim is that he can avoid jail by getting a new uniform, and of course he can't do it himself for some reason, so your help will be needed.

yesterday I told whoever I have been communicating with that I thought they were a scammer. (this is the third time I have made this accusation). but this time I copied/pasted over the scenario about the money transfer scam. also mentioned that my research showed that not having a uniform was not a crime punishable by doing jail time. whoever I am in touch with wants to explain this evening. will go online and let you know what I am told.

Hello Moonlady. Scammers do not own up to being scammers. The scammer will act indignant about your accusation or will ignore it totally. They believe that as long as you are writing to them that they have a chance to take money from you.

Personally, I would stop communicating with them. Many are masterful at finding the weak spot in you to get you to send them money. They do not want friendship or anything else, only your money. We also do not want to tell the scammer how you know they are trying to scam you. That is educating them and we don't want them to get better at their criminal activities.

Thank you for your participation here on ScamWarners.

just finished talking to him online and yes he was not happy that I am suspicious. but he also accepted that I must be careful and protect myself. suggested he prove who he is by supplying a date stamped photo. he is supposedly off getting that organised. interestingly he has not mentioned money for quite awhile. still claims the major in charge of the base camp is determined to send him to prison for not having his ceremonial uniform. said that the jag rep is not able to help him. will let you know if he provides the date stamped photo.

Hello moonlady. Scammers are very good at providing any 'proof' that you require. Most scammers have access to many fake documents, many stolen photographs, and have scamming colleagues with clever creative and image manipulation skills. Some scammers will also provide freshly-taken photographs on request, including date stamped ones.

They want to trick you into believing that they are genuine, so that when they ask you for money, you will willingly send some to them.

Often we can discover which country a scammer is really located in by looking at the headers of an email. Headers are found in slightly different ways, depending which email provider you are using. For example, with Yahoo:

1. Go to Inbox.
2. Click the RIGHT-mouse button on the 'subject' (name/title) of the email.
3. LEFT-click on the bottom option of the menu: 'View Full Headers'.

Or, in the older version of Yahoo:

1. Go to Inbox and open one of the emails you would like the headers for, as if you are going to read it.
2. Go to the bottom of the letter. On the bottom-right is a link, 'Full Headers' - left-click on that.

If you can find and post the headers from one of this writer's emails, we might be able to discover which country he is writing from. Please remove your own name and email address from the headers first, before posting, though - and look carefully, as they may appear in two or three different places.

Another thing you might like to do is to go back to the correspondent's first two or three emails to you, and google a few distinctive sentences. Scammers often send their initial emails to many many people, and also more than one scammer sometimes uses the same copy-and-pasted emails - so you may find that his early emails are already online and recognised as scam mails.

Please drop all contact with this scammer; he will tell you more and more lies, and say more and more words that he thinks you want to hear, and try his hardest to convince you that he is genuine.

he has just sent me 2 photos that are date stamped today. one of him at the base camp and another of a group that he is part of. how do I send you the header for checking?

Welcome here moonlady.

You can send the headers by personal message (the pm button next to the text field) if you don't want to post it on the public forums.

Does he e mail you often? Several times a day? Have you been chatting with him? Have you ever asked yourself why he has so much time to do that, as soldiers on a tour of duty never have time for that, neither are permitted to do that.

Date stamps can be faked with photo editing software--it's not very difficult to do.

As far as not mentioning money goes, this is actually very typical. The scammer started to set the scene for the money request, thinking he had you "hooked" enough to do so. Your reaction shows him that you still have major doubts. He knows that he is not going to get money from you right now, and he also knows that anything that suggests he is going to ask for money right now is going to reinforce your suspicions.

In this situation, any experienced scammer will back off the money requests, act offended at your suspicions, and provide "evidence" that he is real. He will also usually become even more romantic, and at the same time, try to make you feel guilty for doubting him. He will continue this for days, weeks, or even months (if he is a patient scammer) until once again he believes you are hooked, and then he will reintroduce money requests, in one form or another (he might switch to trying to use you as a mule/reshipper or having you cash checks for him that you will later discover are fake).

have asked a photography friend of mine to confirm if the photos sent last night have been doctored. will let you know her verdict.