New Scam Targeting Military Spouses

New Scam Targeting Military Spouses

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...The caller (young-sounding, American accent) calls a military spouse and identifies herself as a representative from the Red Cross. The caller states that the spouse's husband (not identified by name) was hurt while on duty in Iraq and was med-evacuated to a hospital in Germany. The caller stated they couldn't start treatment until paperwork was accomplished, and that in order to start the paperwork they needed the spouse to verify her husband's social security number and date of birth.....

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A man goes through life and after so many years of living, he thinks he has maybe seen the worst of the worse, until this comes along. I can only hope that if caught and convicted, these scum can be donated to the nearest zoo for lion food.

My wife is prior service herself. She would not fall for this but over the years I have met many a young spouse who would not know any better. The really sad thing about this is that I knew a number of guys who intentionally kept their spouses ignorant of anything military, even refusing to let them to go to FRG meetings or talk to other military wives. I never understood that. Those guys are only setting their wives and themselves up for failure. Scams like this are predicated on the ignorance of the victim about the way it really works.

SFC W

SFC W put it well, find a loophole and you'll find a sufficiently ignorant person on the other end.

The Military member should be keeping his/her significant other in the loop, but that's a family issue.

The military services pay little attention to spouses left behind in CONUS. As far back as 84, I remember DIA almost forcing spouses to participate in training scenarios and programs. What good is it getting the military member 'smart' and leave the spouse hangin' out to dry?

Yes, we could argue, "those were the days, when spies were spies'. Actually, I think they’re not only back, but also better equipped and more ruthless than ever before.

The even more vulnerable target are the families of unmarried military members -- given the demographics of the military, this is a large and disparate audience, and they are mostly ignorant of many military processes and policies. I have had to deal with this unfortunate situation a lot during my husband's deployment.

As the KV (the only military wife-ly role I've ever volunteered for) for my husband's MTT, I included non-spouse family members in the contact group. I did this, in contravention of the rules, because I never did any of the training. I'm glad I did, because it would have been a lonely, sad group of 4 otherwise. And, as it turned out, when the "worst" happened, all the casualties were single. Had I not already established a relationship with these people I never would have been able to assist them. Now I am working to get the KV for the inbound team to follow suit.

The other thing that amazes me is the degree to which the military member will try to hide the truth of the situation they are being sent into. I can understand why -- an attempt to spare the spouse or family member pain -- but it's just ridiculous. Now, I understand that the degree of openness between my husband and me is a bit extreme, but it would probably be better to get closer to our example than the "keep my wife thinking everything's rosy" model. Yes, it's difficult to have to confront the things that are happening to and around my husband, but it's not as bad for me to hear as it is for him to experience! I would have to assume that having someone close to you that you can talk to about these things helps in the combat stress department, and it certainly helps to bridge the time and distance that come between a married couple during deployments. I can't imagine what it would be like to reunite with such a gaping chasm of known unspokens between us.

Anyway, I'm not sure I wanted to know _this_ much about my professional subject matter!

Sargent-

I applaud your efforts. Wished my Reserve Unit had someone like you, prior to my mobilization. As it was, it drifted along leaderless, which meant that FRG meetings were drunken, smoke-filled, bitch-fests that my non-drinking, non-smoking, positive-minded wife would shoot to kill if forced to attend.

I try to keep my spouse informed, but she has become very brittle when told something is "mandatory". the great majority of units I've belonged to have absolutely the wrong attitude toward spouses/dependents/significant others. Of course, I think they have nearly absolutely the wrong attitude toward their employees, (soldiers), but that's another subject entirely.

In reply to Sargent's post...

Well done expanding your KV network beyond spouses. Absolutely critical for reserve units. The reserve's demographics, and especially the geography, create a demand and an opportunity there that absolutely must be met. BTW, some of the most active KVC / KVAs in my units have been moms, and some other family members play significant roles. too.

BREAK

I note that Sargent draws a distinction between observing the absence of "truth" or disclosure, and trying to fix it. I have seen too many folks try to cross that line, with the best intentions (if they had thought that far ahead) but with the worst results. It is one thing to pass on a little theater information and goings on, maybe direct to some appropriate family PME. It is another to try to insert yourself into a family and attempt to remediate an information flow that you may feel should be there. Well, sometimes it shouldn't be, sometimes it is and they're just in denial. And finally, sometimes it should be, isn't, and it is still none of your business. The "fix" is often to just live with it. At most a bullet intel feed noting the issue, back from the KV to the KVC to the unit cmdr to the servicemember.

Another scam targeting military personnel and families:

An e-mail is circulating with the subject line "Need Your Urgent Help" and states that a USAF SGT Paul Wheeler is in Iraq and needs help transferring money to his lone surviving daughter.

There really is a USAF SGT Paul Wheeler - but the e-mail isn't from him. This scam is similar in intent to the common Nigerian e-mail scams that have been around for a while.

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Originally Posted by Jedburgh

Another scam targeting military personnel and families:

An e-mail is circulating with the subject line "Need Your Urgent Help" and states that a USAF SGT Paul Wheeler is in Iraq and needs help transferring money to his lone surviving daughter.

There really is a USAF SGT Paul Wheeler - but the e-mail isn't from him. This scam is similar in intent to the common Nigerian e-mail scams that have been around for a while.

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The Nigerian scams have been infiltrating AKO lately. I've had three in the last month.

Just make sure you don't do what this guy did...

Check the DHS Daily Report and links (scroll down to number 8).

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An e-mail circulating the Heartland is targeting people’s bank accounts by taking advantage of their patriotism.

Tammy Westhart, who lives in Auburn, Nebraska, received one of the email notes titled, “I Need Your Urgent Help.”

According to the e-mail, Air Force Sgt. Paul Wheeler recovered millions of dollars while serving in Iraq and needs help transferring the money to his lone surviving daughter.

Sgt. Wheeler is a highly decorated officer in the Air Force, but he did not send the e-mail.

The Better Business Bureau says the e-mail is the latest version of the Nigerian letter scam.

Jim Hegarty of the BBB. says, “Every month, every week, they get more and more sophisticated and more and more difficult to detect."

Westhart says she’s appalled the e-mail uses an airman as a cover. She once served in the Air Force herself.

"I can't even tell you how mad it made me to read it," Westhart says.

The best way to protect yourself from this scam is before taking any action on an e-mail request, let a friend, family member, or the BBB look it over.

The BBB says over the years it estimates Americans have lost close to a billion dollars to various version of the Nigerian letter scam.

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Army Times, 12 Jun 08: Scammers Back to Prey on Troops' Families

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Scam artists of the worst sort — those who prey on families’ fears about their service members getting wounded or killed — have resurfaced, according to officials with the American Red Cross.

In one recent example reported to the Red Cross, a mother in Austin, Texas, got a call from scammers claiming her son had been injured in Iraq. The caller claimed to be from the Red Cross and asked for $5,000 for assistance for her son, said Joe Moffatt, senior vice president for service to the armed forces for the American Red Cross......

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