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Romance Scam

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Officer: My identity was stolen to seduce and scam

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FrumpyBB
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Officer: My identity was stolen to seduce and scam

Postby FrumpyBB » Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:20 pm

The article that follows emerged when we were discussing scammers using pictures of Maj. Chris Haggard today; our topic on scammers using his pictures is here BTW: http://www.romancescam.com/forum/viewto ... 26#p257426" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

From http://militarytimes.com/blogs/outside- ... -and-scam/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; :
Officer: My identity was stolen to seduce and scam

February 15th, 2011 | Outside the wire | Posted by Joe Gould

photo illustration: Bryan Smith/Army Times

Maj. Chris Haggard, a fire support officer at Fort Sill, Okla., picked up his office phone to an earful of cussing and yelling from a woman who said he had seduced her online and scammed her.

But Haggard had never heard of the woman. His photos and personal information have been stolen and used over and over again by con men in Africa to suck in lonely-hearted women on dating sites and swindle them out of their money.

“She was very upset and she accused me of scamming her, and I finally got her calmed down and told her it wasn’t me, and it’s been going on for at least a year and a half, and she wasn’t the first one,” he said.

This week’s Army Times discusses these scams with a few broken-hearted victims and what the Army’s doing about it. Thanks to blogger Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham of “A Soldier’s Perspective” for the introduction to Haggard, but we were unable secure him for the article *cough-public affairs-too-slow-cough*. We finally got to chat with him.

Haggard took to his Facebook page Monday to fight back, posting information about how the scam works and what victims duped by their ignorance of the Army need to know.

“The scammers use a family emergency as a vehicle to garner sympathy or their location is so bad–and I’m sure there are places in Afghanistan like that–that they don’t have access to money, and the civilians don’t know the Army has systems in place to take care of situations like this,” he said.

Since Fort Drum, N.Y., Criminal Investigations Command contacted Haggard in 2009 about the misuse of his image, he’s seen a number of photos of himself online, mostly from his OIF tour in 2007 and all lifted from his wife’s Facebook and MySpace pages:

Haggard at a restaurant in ACU’s and a cowboy hat, posing with an Iraqi counterpart in East Baghdad, flying in a Blackhawk with his 10th Mountain patch visible. (That’s how CID found him to tell him his photos were being misused.)

“CID told me they weren’t able to do anything about it, and that the FBI weren’t able to do anything about it either because they (the scammers) were in Africa,” he said.

Haggard now has credit monitoring, and he’s “sanitized” his Facebook profile of some personal details, but it sounds like a big headache.

He, his wife, brother and even one of his nieces have gotten phone calls from women claiming to have been in romantic online relationships with Haggard or, if they’ve already figured it out, someone posing as him.

“Personally, I haven’t had any repercussions but it does have the possibility of harming my reputation and I did get that one aggravated phone call that I want to avoid in the future,” he said.

“Someone’s using my name and my image in a criminal enterprise and that has the possibility of impacting my personal life and my career.”
Please try your best to block ALL your scammer´s still incoming messages and calls!

What is all this? => The FAQ

The scammers vs. Why is "he" still doing it?

Why is alerting the man in the pictures DANGEROUS?

Please click why confronting my scammer is terribly wrong :)

Officer: My identity was stolen to seduce and scam

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Chris.Haggard
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Re: Officer: My identity was stolen to seduce and scam

Postby Chris.Haggard » Wed Oct 24, 2012 6:08 pm

All ~

I am the real MAJ Chris Haggard and below is a copy of the note I posted on my Facebook page the Joe Gould mentions in his Military Times article. The easiest and quickest way to identify a scammer posing as a Soldier is to ask for an e-mail from his official US Army e-mail account (the domain name is @us.army.mil). If he refuses or says he cannot do this, he is a scammer.

Okay, I have not been on Facebook for many, many months now for various reasons; however, recent events have brought a new purpose to my Facebook page. Some of you may be aware that my image, name and duty in the Army have been used by criminals in Africa to scam unsuspecting women out of money and expensive electronics. During my last deployment to Baghdad in 2008, I would send digital photos to Angie and she would post them on her Facebook and/or MySpace pages. These African criminals would “steal” the photos and make up alternate identities bases on my last name, rank and Army service. These “alternate Haggards” would gain the target’s trust and then lay a huge sympathy play on them to steal money or high-dollar value items (cell phones, laptops, plan tickets, etc).



I was first made aware of this in the summer of 2009 when a Special Agent from the Fort Drum, NY Criminal Investigation Division office called me (one of the stolen photos showed the 10th Mountain Division patch). There is not anything I can do to stop this from continuing except to educate those who may be susceptible to this.



A few things things to look for in a military scam:

1. The e-mails are written with improper verb conjugation, improper use of pronouns, improper noun/verb agreement and miss-spelled words. It is fairly obvious that these e-mails were written by someone who learned English (very poorly learned) as a second language in the British style.

2. Deployed Soldiers are compensated very well with special pays, bonuses and tax exemptions. It is not uncommon for a Soldier of any rank to realize a “third paycheck” when they are deployed. And a Soldier always has access to his/her money in one way or another. How can these scammers have access to the internet to troll dating sites looking for targets but, cannot use the internet to purchase the items they are asking for themselves.

3. Also, in regards to money, there are very few places for a Soldier to spend their money while deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. A Soldier maybe broke before or after a deployment but, a Soldier is usually pretty flush while deployed. Except, of course, if he spends all his money on the internet.

4. With regards to family emergencies, all Soldiers and family members know to contact the American Red Cross if a deployed Soldier has a family emergency at home. A Red Cross Message is the only way a deployed Soldier will return in cases of a family emergency. The Soldier’s chain of command will get the Soldier home if a valid Red Cross Message is received. The Army will provide transportation from Iraq or Afghanistan to Atlanta or Dallas; from there, the Soldier must provide his/her own transportation (just as if the Solder we not deployed). If the Soldier cannot afford a plane ticket from Atlanta or Dallas to their hometown, the Army Emergency Relief will provide the funds, as a grant or loan, to purchase the ticket. And this will all be coordinated before the Solder leaves his unit; a Soldier will only be stranded if he/she does something stupid.

5. If you are still unsure if you are being scammed, ask the Soldier to send you an e-mail from their AKO account. Only Solders, a very few family members, and certain contractors have @us.army.mil e-mail address. If they refuse, tell them to take a flying leap! If they get angry with you and accuse you of not trusting them, tell them to take a flying leap!

Bottom line, NEVER send a deployed Soldier money or high-dollar value items, especially if it is to be sent to an address anywhere in Africa. All deployed Soldiers have an APO AE or APO AP mailing address. I cannot provide you with any information regarding a specific name or Soldier but, I can and will tell you if the person you are in contact with has an AKO e-mail address (just don’t ask me for it).

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Re: Officer: My identity was stolen to seduce and scam

Postby Pinky » Wed Oct 24, 2012 6:41 pm

Excellent points! Chris, may we use them in a sticky (a permanent post) in a thread or forum regarding Military Scams?
If your question isn't answered in the FAQ, please message a green Moderator or red Admin. We need to know.

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Chris.Haggard
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Re: Officer: My identity was stolen to seduce and scam

Postby Chris.Haggard » Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:04 pm

Yes, Pinky, you may. That is why I wrote that note.

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