by scootabut
I have done a reverse search with his name many different ways. I have found nothing that would throw up a red flag. Not like some of the others such as Raymond Paul btinton o others I've seen on this site.
Scammers change names all the time. A lack of search results is unfortunately not evidence that he is real, it simply means the name hasn't been used a lot before.
There's lots of good information about these scammers on the internet. Unfortunately though, there is lots of information that is not very good, or out of date. The "get a picture with a sign" advice (along with the "make sure you see him on webcam" advice' was once good, but is now very outdated, and relying on it to protect yourself from scammers is unsafe.
When these scammers first developed their romance approach, most people weren't suspicious, and it would never occur to most victims to question the photos they were sent. A scammer could pick just about any random photo and use it without being questioned. He rarely went to the trouble of editing photos--some scammers even left the original watermarks from the website they stole them from!
The more they scammed, though, the more people reported them and shared information about how they operate and how they could be avoided. And it became much more common practice to question whether the scammers were real.
When people first started asking for pictures, the scammers weren't prepared. Their photo editing skills were poor, or they picked photos that simply couldn't edit--so they couldn't provide the photos, and they lost potential victims. The test worked just as intended.
But as they lost more and more opportunities to steal money because they couldn't provide a photo holding a sign (or they couldn't appear on webcam,) the more skilled scammers began to evolve. They learned the basics of photo and video editing, or they made sure they knew someone with the right skills and software. They searched youtube and news sites for videos of men the men in their stolen photos, or at least men who looked like them.
So now, if ask a very inexperienced or extremely lazy scammer for a photo with your name, he may disappear or make excuses. But if you ask a more experienced or more trained scammer to provide a photo with your name, he is ready for the request. If he is a particularly skilled scammer, he may even offer to go on webcam to show you that he is real. He has prepared for these "tests" to make sure he can pass them. He knows that if he passes your test, he is more likely to be able to steal your money later.
For you, as a potential target, it means that you can't rely on a photo or webcam as evidence that he is real. As Byron has already said, for a soldier, if you cannot send email to his .mil address and he can't answer from that same address, then he is not real.
