Military Romance Scam: Fake US Army Leave Permit Requests (2026)

[alberta 74]

I have also been contacted about filling out a form for leave for Sgt Stout Humphrey jnr in Kabul Afghanistan and needing to pay $1550-2100 which would be returned to me once he arrived. I have not sent any money but was given email address of [email protected]

Hi there! e-mail address and the amount as well as being in kabul sounds like the one i had. if he wants you to send money to a bank account, publish that here, as well as photos if you got any! might help others!
all the best!

[Ashly]

I have been writting sergeant Derek Meek for a month now same thing you all have went through he love me I'm beautiful etc had me write letter to address to request leave for him the address must already been found out because it wasnt deliverable so then i was ask by the sergent to send 150,00 to help him get home by christmas, thak god for this sitr because i googleddo you have to pay for a leave in the service and this site came up i would like to know how he can be exposed before he hurts someone else.becareful there are cold cold people who pry on lonely hurting hearts out there.

[DLT123]

WAS ASKED TO SEND $600 US FOR A LEAVE PERMIT THAT WAS GRANTED - EMAILS TO HIS COMMANDER WAS A YAHOO ACCOUNT FOR A COMMANDER TIM POWELLS - AND THE APPROVAL WAS FROM A MAJOR GENERAL CHARLIE YOUNG - ONLY TIME SINCE TALKING TO SARGANT ALEXANDER VELASQUEZ - WIDOWER WITH A 9 YEAR OLD, BOTH OF HIS PARENTS ARE DECEASED AS WELL HAS ANY MONEY BEEN REQUESTED - BEEN SEARCHING HIS PICS ON GOOGLE IMAGE WITH NO LUCK

MOMNEYGRAM TO: BASE AGENT
JESSICA DOWDY
VIRGINIA
ROANOKE
24018

SCAM?

[Bryon Williams]

Welcome to Scamwarners,

Yes, it is a scam. The scammer is playing all roles.

Please post all email addresses used by the fake soldier, fake commander and etc.

Also post a couple emails from each that was sent to you. Remove your personal information from them prior to submitting.

[DLT123]

The email addresses used are:

[email protected]

[email protected] goes by Alex or Alexander Velasquez

The cell number used is 669 225 2852

Pretty angry and feel pretty foolish...

[DLT123]

And he is on TINDER as

Velazquez, 42

[Leapster]

[email protected]

David Johnson Fanelli
KIK fanelli223
OkCupid Davidj12345tron

I am so tired of being lied to.

Good luck

[pinkgirl912]

hi
I have received a request from a person calling himself Kings Winsett. He said, he's a soldier base on Cailo now. We chat for a week on SKOUT and Line application. Once he said, he would like to visit me in Thailand. He ask me to reqeust a leave permit to commander call Williams Robbert at [email protected]. but I did not do anything. I think it's weird!!! I think he's scammer. I told him that I will call FBI to check his real status. He seem so scare and block me. I've attahched pictures (I think, he stole them from somewhere) I hope you guys can find and catch him!! He's dangerous. Now I ask my friend to follow him with new id on Wechat too.

How to attach picture? or I should to your email dirrectly ? Please advice

[pinkgirl912]

hi
I have received a request from a person calling himself Kings Winsett. He said, he's a soldier base on Cailo now. We chat for a week on SKOUT and Line application. Once he said, he would like to visit me in Thailand. He ask me to reqeust a leave permit to commander call Williams Robbert at [email protected]. but I did not do anything. I think it's weird!!! I think he's scammer. I told him that I will call FBI to check his real status. He seem so scare and block me. I've attahched pictures (I think, he stole them from somewhere) I hope you guys can find and catch him!! He's dangerous. Now I ask my friend to follow him with new id on Wechat too.

How to attach picture? or I should to your email dirrectly ? Please advice

[Bryon Williams]

Welcome to Scamwarners,

Please post all email addresses used by the fake soldier, fake commander and etc.

Also post a couple emails from each that was sent to you. Remove your personal information from them prior to submitting.

[Bryon Williams]

It is 100% a scam.

He is a thief. Everything he has told you is a lie.

Military members do not pay for leave. They earn free leave each year. Also only the member can request leave through his chain of command. His wife, mother, children nor internet girlfriend can do this. Also they would never have contact with his chain of command.

Military members have access to their money. They also do not pay for phones, internet, flights home or medical.

Military provides all meals.

Please stop all contact with the scammer. If you confront him he will continue to lie.

Post his fake name, rank and email address. This will help other women avoid his scam.

This is a warning from the Army about this scam.
http://www.army.mil/article/130861/Army ... nce_scams/

QUANTICO, Va. (July 30, 2014) -- Special Agents from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, commonly known as CID, are once again warning internet users worldwide about cyber criminals involved in an online crime that CID has dubbed "the Romance Scam."

CID special agents continue to receive numerous reports from victims located around the world regarding various scams of persons impersonating U.S. Soldiers online. Victims are usually unsuspecting women, 30 to 55 years old, who believe they are romantically involved with an American Soldier, yet are being exploited and ultimately robbed, by perpetrators who strike from thousands of miles away.

"We cannot stress enough that people need to stop sending money to persons they meet on the internet and claim to be in the U.S. military," said Chris Grey, Army CID's spokesman.

"It is very troubling to hear these stories over and over again of people who have sent thousands of dollars to someone they have never met and sometimes have never even spoken to on the phone," Grey said.

The majority of the "romance scams," are being perpetrated on social media and dating-type websites where unsuspecting females are the main target.

The criminals are pretending to be U.S. servicemen, routinely serving in a combat zone. The perpetrators will often take the true rank and name of a U.S. Soldier who is honorably serving his country somewhere in the world, or has previously served and been honorably discharged, then marry that up with some photographs of a Soldier off the internet, and then build a false identity to begin prowling the internet for victims.

The scams often involve carefully worded romantic requests for money from the victim to purchase special laptop computers, international telephones, military leave papers, and transportation fees to be used by the fictitious "deployed Soldier" so their false relationship can continue. The scams include asking the victim to send money, often thousands of dollars at a time, to a third party address.

Once victims are hooked, the criminals continue their ruse.

"We've even seen instances where the perpetrators are asking the victims for money to purchase "leave papers" from the Army, help pay for medical expenses from combat wounds or help pay for their flight home so they can leave the war zone," said Grey.

These scams are outright theft and are a grave misrepresentation of the U.S. Army and the tremendous amount of support programs and mechanisms that exist for Soldiers today, especially those serving overseas, said Grey.

Along with the romance-type scams, CID has been receiving complaints from citizens worldwide that they have been the victims of other types of scams -- once again where a cyber crook is impersonating a U.S. service member. One version usually involves the sale of a vehicle; where the service member claims to be living overseas and has to quickly sell their vehicle because they are being sent to another duty station. After sending bogus information regarding the vehicle, the seller requests the buyer do a wire transfer to a third party to complete the purchase. When in reality, the entire exchange is a ruse for the crook to get the wire transfer and leave the buyer high and dry, with no vehicle.

Army CID continues to warn people to be very suspicious if they begin a relationship on the internet with someone claiming to be an American Soldier and within a matter of weeks, the alleged Soldier is asking for money, as well as discussing marriage.

The majority of these scams have a distinct pattern to them, explained Grey.

The perpetrators often tell the victims that their units do not have telephones or they are not allowed to make calls or they need money to "help keep the Army internet running." They often say they are widowers and raising a young child on their own to pull on the heartstrings of their victims.

"We've even seen where the criminals said that the Army won't allow the Soldier to access their personal bank accounts or credit cards," said Grey.

All lies, according to CID officials.

"These perpetrators, often from other countries, most notably from West African countries, are good at what they do and quite familiar with American culture, but the claims about the Army and its regulations are ridiculous," said Grey.

The Army reports that numerous very senior officers and enlisted Soldiers throughout the Army have had their identities stolen to be used in these scams.

To date, there have been no reports to Army CID indicating any U.S. service members have suffered any financial loss as a result of these attacks. Photographs and actual names of U.S. service members have been the only thing utilized. On the contrary, the victims have lost thousands.

One victim revealed that she had sent more than $60,000 to the scammer. Another victim from Great Britain told CID officials that over the course of a year, she had sent more than $75,000 to the con artists.

"The criminals are preying on the emotions and patriotism of their victims," added Grey.

The U.S. has established numerous task force organizations to deal with this and other growing issues; unfortunately, the people committing these scams are using untraceable email addresses on Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc., routing accounts through numerous locations around the world, and utilizing pay-per-hour Internet cyber cafes, which often times maintain no accountability of use. The ability of law enforcement to identify these perpetrators is very limited, so individuals must stay on the alert and be personally responsible to protect themselves.

"Another critical issue is we don't want victims who do not report this crime walking away and thinking that a U.S. serviceman has ripped them off when in fact that serviceman is honorably serving his country and often not even aware that his pictures or identity have been stolen," said Grey.

What to look for:

DON'T EVER SEND MONEY! Be extremely suspicious if you are asked for money for transportation costs, communication fees or marriage processing and medical fees.

Carefully check out the stories you are being told. If it sounds suspicious, there is a reason, it's routinely false -- trust your instincts.

If you do start an internet-based relationship with someone, check them out, research what they are telling you with someone who would know, such as a current or former service member.

Be very suspicious if you never get to actually speak with the person on the phone or are told you cannot write or receive letters in the mail. Servicemen and women serving overseas will often have an APO or FPO mailing address. Internet or not, service members always appreciate a letter in the mail.

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.

Many of the negative claims made about the military and the supposed lack of support and services provided to troops overseas are far from reality -- check the facts.

Be very suspicious if you are asked to send money or ship property to a third party or company. Often times the company exists, but has no idea or is not a part of the scam.

Be aware of common spelling, grammatical or language errors in the emails.

Be cognizant of foreign and regional accents that do not match the person's story.

WHERE TO GO FOR HELP

Report the theft to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) (FBI-NW3C Partnership) at http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx.

Report the theft to the Federal Trade Commission at http://www.ftc.gov/idtheft.

Your report helps law enforcement officials across the United States in their investigations.

Report the theft by phone at 1-877-ID-THEFT (438-4338) or TTY, 1-866-653-4261.

Report the theft by mail at the following address:

Identity Theft Clearinghouse
Federal Trade Commission
Washington, DC 20580

Report the fraud by email to the Federal Trade Commission on Nigerian Scams via at [email protected].

For more information on CID, visit http://www.cid.army.mil.

[RubyT]

I was just contacted by a man who says his name is Crisci Candace and I want to warn as he is a scam

He says he's from Brownsville, TX - lately I found he is on Facebook with this profile





Email: [email protected]

Facebook says Texas city, but same picture he sent to me. He sent me two pictures where you can see he has another surname on it, Snyder. So he steals from other soldiers on the internet. That is where I started suspecting him, all his pictures were slightly different. He spoke to me on hangouts pretending he was serving for the US army in Nigeria. He says he is orphan and divorced. His age changed from 49 to 47.

I want to warn other people that he is a scam. He sends an adress [email protected] where to send money. I never sent anything but I unfortunately posted private pictures and I am very very worried about them now.

He is registered on meetup and google+, he contacted me via Meetup.

Hope I can help others.

[Momchil Boychev]

hello first sorry for my english
I start to write with a girl she said that she work for US millitary
and she want to see me
then I receive mail from [email protected]

This is an official sector responsible to the affairs of all deployed military employee in the United States of America. We appreciate your understanding for getting back to us with the appropriate information's. Your request had been attended to and all your details/information's are now confirmed and correct. The necessary arrangement for your wife "....................." to be home with you will be carried out now but an estimated amount of 327 Pounds (Three hundred and Twenty Seven pounds) will be needed and to be paid before the request could be completely approved. This will be going for the Taxes, BTA, ticket, safe flight and security safe pilot and her flight arrangement. We assure you that all her flight details including the actual time she would be at the бул. „Брюксел“, 1528 София ( Sofia, Bryuksel Blvd 1) will be sent to you immediately you send the fee. You have to send the fee to the military flight agent in Washington Dc Military Guard Camp base via Moneygram or Westernunion money transfer so that her flight can be approve immediately and right away.

they want me to send them 327 pounds and then she will be free to come to see me.This money for a special plain flight.
SCAM?

[Bryon Williams]

It is 100% a scam.

He/She is a thief. Everything he has told you is a lie.

Military members do not pay for leave. They earn free leave each year. Also only the member can request leave through his chain of command. His wife, mother, children nor internet girlfriend/boyfriend can do this. Also they would never have contact with his chain of command.

Military members have access to their money. They also do not pay for phones, internet, flights home or medical.

Military provides all meals.

Please stop all contact with the scammer. If you confront him/her he will continue to lie.

Post her fake name, rank and email address. This will help other men avoid his/her scam.

[Fatima79]

WAS ASKED TO SEND $600 US FOR A LEAVE PERMIT THAT WAS GRANTED - EMAILS TO HIS COMMANDER WAS A YAHOO ACCOUNT FOR A COMMANDER TIM POWELLS - AND THE APPROVAL WAS FROM A MAJOR GENERAL CHARLIE YOUNG - ONLY TIME SINCE TALKING TO SARGANT ALEXANDER VELASQUEZ - WIDOWER WITH A 9 YEAR OLD, BOTH OF HIS PARENTS ARE DECEASED AS WELL HAS ANY MONEY BEEN REQUESTED - BEEN SEARCHING HIS PICS ON GOOGLE IMAGE WITH NO LUCK

MOMNEYGRAM TO: BASE AGENT
JESSICA DOWDY
VIRGINIA
ROANOKE
24018

SCAM?

Ive being talking to Alexander Velasquez. Same phone number and email adress. He never asked for money. Its been 1 month almost.
How to know or to lead him to ask for money and have a prove of scam.???