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New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

African scammers posing as military personnel.
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ghannett
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New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby ghannett » Thu Feb 14, 2013 7:03 pm

Hello all,

I think it's important that everyone knows that the U.S. Army has transitioned to a new format for official e-mail addresses. I don't know if the other American military services have made the change. For years, the primary format for Army e-mail looked like this: firstname.lastname@us.army.mil. Of course, soldiers with common names would get an address like: firstname.lastname23@us.army.mil.

Now, the Army has created a new format that looks like this: firstname.middleinitial.lastname.mil@mail.mil. That's what a soldier's e-mail address would look like. An Army civilian employee or contractor would have an e-mail address like this: firstname.middleinitial.lastname.civ@mail.mil.

However, the old format is still being used. Bottom line - don't automatically assume that you're talking to a scammer if his e-mail address looks like one of those listed above. Be warned though - unless you can send to and receive from one of these official e-mail addresses, you're probably talking to a scammer. Many of them will tell you their official sounding e-mail address but never write to you from it.

New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby Stealth » Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:59 am

I have a question *raises hand* is there ANY way at all that either of these offical army email addresses can be forged? I'm not asking for an instruction manual on it, after all, we don't want to teach lurking mugus how to do it, but just wanting to know if there is any way possible that it can be faked and look exactly like one of the above types of military addresses.
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ATTN GUESTS!!Telling your mugu that he/she is busted will accomplish absolutely nothing but teaching them how to be better at scamming/victimizing, as well as cause other victims unnecessary duress. Unless this is what you hope to cause, do NOT confront them!

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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby FrumpyBB » Fri Feb 15, 2013 2:28 am

I could imagine that with a faked "From:" line, and the real scammer´s email in the "Reply-to:" line, which is often only visible in the email header, it would be fairly easy to do :(
419ers, Lotto scammers and Senegal spammers do their format throwing like this all the time.
They will receive your replies to their "Reply-to"-mugu email, since most people will just hit the reply button believing the reply would go to the "From:" email and not to a hidden "Reply-to" one, which is different and no official (military) email addy extension any more but some yahoo, live etc. And spoofing this is fairly easy. The header would reveal it though, the receiver sits at the end of the "Reply-to" email address.

Here is a part of a lotto scam header that I posted earlier tonight: http://www.romancescam.com/forum/viewto ... 67#p294767" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Received: from [72.13.84.186] <= important
From: "Mr. Glen Robert" <glan5robert111@gmail.com> <= the throwaway format bombing email
Reply-To: glan_robert90@yahoo.com.hk <= the important email, where the scammer will reply you from
Subject: VIEW THE ATTACHED FILE FOR YOUR WINNING INFORMATION.

It cannot be impossible for a scammer to insert any made-up us.army.mil - email addy into the "From:"-line, which in fact will never receive the victims´ replies, as the "Reply-to" one will.
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 :)

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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby Marisa » Fri Feb 15, 2013 3:03 am

The above can be easily avoided by asking a suspect to provide the military address and emailing to it YOURSELF, instead of asking a suspect to email you something from it.

I have another question though. Does every military have this email? are they allowed to use it for personal stuff?

If somebody meets a military online, is it okay to ask them: give me your official military email, if you are real. And if they refuse, does it mean they are AT LEAST trying to hide something?
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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby Marisa » Fri Feb 15, 2013 3:16 am

This is important to know, because some victims and baiters DO ask scammers for such email. And their usual excuse is:

- I don't have one (for this reason or another)
- we are not allowed to give it to civilians
- we are not allowed to use it for personal stuff

Can it be true or is it a fat lie?
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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby Stealth » Fri Feb 15, 2013 7:40 am

What will happen if you email it to yourself oppose to him emailing you from it, that will prove positive fraud? just curious.
"Scam signs"

ATTN GUESTS!!Telling your mugu that he/she is busted will accomplish absolutely nothing but teaching them how to be better at scamming/victimizing, as well as cause other victims unnecessary duress. Unless this is what you hope to cause, do NOT confront them!

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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby Marisa » Sat Feb 16, 2013 1:15 am

if he gives you a real military address, you email to it and he receives your message, than he is a real military, not an African scammer.
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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby ghannett » Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:49 pm

After 28 years (and counting) in the U.S. Army, I've learned a thing or two about the American military culture. One of those things is that deployed soldiers are happier and do their jobs better when they're able to communicate with friends and family. During the Gulf War, we had hardcopy letters and telephone calls. To make communications easier, it was FREE for a soldier to send a letter back to the States. Regular, but infrequent phone calls were also FREE.

Now that we've entered the digital age, the Army has become even better at keeping soldiers in touch with loved ones. When I deployed to Iraq in 2005, my team of ten soldiers had three Iridium satellite telephones. We could call back to the States for FREE at any time and talk for as long as we wanted. We were also ENCOURAGED to use our official Army e-mail accounts to contact our friends and families. A soldier can get into trouble for not setting up and maintaining his official e-mail account. So, if someone tells you he doesn't have an official U.S. military e-mail account, it's because he's not a member of the U.S. military. Finally, there is NEVER a security reason for not using these accounts. I've never heard of one anyway. If a soldier has an internet connection, he has access to and free use of his Army e-mail account.

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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby ghannett » Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:11 pm

Marisa made a good point. A scammer can tell you his fake military e-mail address and he may even be able to create and send an e-mail that appears to be coming from an official military e-mail account. What he can't do is RECEIVE an e-mail going to an official military account (because he doesn't have such an account). So, if you hit "Compose" (not REPLY) and type in the e-mail address he's given you, your e-mail should go through if it's legitimate. If you're talking to a SCAMMER, one of two things will happen: it will be returned as undeliverable or it will go to a real soldier who has no connection to your SCAMMER. As an example, John Smith is probably the most common male name in America. I guarantee that there are dozens of American soldiers with that name. One of them is bound to have the e-mail address john.smith@us.army.mil or john.smith.mil@mail.mil. If your SCAMMER gives you one of those e-mail addresses, your e-mail will go to the REAL soldier with that name and e-mail address. Your SCAMMER will never see the e-mail.

I still think the best test for sniffing out a SCAMMER is to ask him for his PHYSICAL address and send him a small box of cookies. A REAL deployed soldier will never turn down homemade cookies. A SCAMMER sitting in an internet cafe in Ghana will though. For him to receive the box, the word GHANA has to appear in the address. That's why they come up with the craziness about sending packages to a diplomat in Ghana. EVERY soldier has an "APO, New York" or "FPO, New York" mailing address. Deployed soldiers are ALWAYS able to receive mail. Commanders get into trouble if they hinder a soldier's access to mail.

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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby Marisa » Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:02 am

Thank you very much Gordon, this was VERY helpful and informational, and we will use it as a reference.

So, all military scam victims - pay attention!!

- ask a suspect to give you their OFFICIAL army email address, ending with @mail.mil. (former @us.army.mil). If he refuses - he is FAKE.
- ask a suspect to give you a mailing address. Tell him you want to send him homemade cookies. The address should be "APO, New York" or "FPO, New York". If he refuses, or gives an address that is not "APO, New York" or "FPO, New York" - he is FAKE.

Very simple check, anybody can do it.
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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby Marisa » Thu Feb 21, 2013 12:30 am

Gordon, 2 more questions.

1) can the US military personnel stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan have cell-phones with the US area codes? Often scammers claiming to be in Iraq or Afghanistan drop some American cell-phone number and say "call me". Is it possible?

2) is there any certain Internet Service provider that is used by a military personnel stationed in Aghanistan and Iraq (if you know)? In other words, IPs of which provider should be in email headers of the real military stationed overseas?
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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby ghannett » Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:09 pm

Hello Marisa -

Wow! You have some tough questions for me today. I may have to do a bit of research on this. Another Army major who works down the hall from me just returned from a deployment to Afghanistan. I'll run your questions past him. While I'm waiting for him to reply to my e-mail, I'll tell you what I know about the topic.

When I was in Kuwait and Iraq in 2005 and 2006, I found AT&T Calling Centers on every American base that I visited. These centers had regular pay phones that required pre-paid phone cards for use. The cards were not expensive and soldiers often (but not always) received them for free. Many private organizations in America donated phone cards to soldiers serving overseas. (Note - if any of your readers would like to donate phone cards, homebaked cookies, cards, letters or other items to soldiers serving overseas, they can visit http://www.anysoldier.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) In any case, the phone centers were open 24/7 - except when an American soldier was killed in the country. The Army closed the centers briefly to allow for the official death notification. They didn't want the dead soldier's friends calling the family and telling them about their loved one's passing. Soldiers were also able to purchase disposable cell phones while in Iraq. As at the Call Centers, they had to use pre-paid phone cards to make calls on these cell phones. Finally, some units provided their soldiers with satellite telephones. The phones were government property used primarily for Army business, but could also be used for making calls to friends and family in the States.

I'll post again after I hear from the good major down the hall.

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Re: Telephone and Internet Access in Afghanistan for Soldier

Postby ghannett » Thu Feb 21, 2013 6:16 pm

Here's what a recently deployed soldier has to say about Marisa's questions. Note - I added a couple of questions of my own that might be of interest to your readers.

First, can a U.S. soldier use his American cell phone in Afghanistan (keeping his American phone number)? I don't think so. The problem is the SIM chips, you have to use a local Afghan cellular network provider and their SIM chips will have an Afghanistan phone number.

Second, do they have AT&T Call Centers (using pre-paid phone cards) at American bases in Afghanistan? I don't remember seeing "AT&T Call Centers" specifically, all of the bases I visited had "Sniper Hill" call centers with both internet and telephones for use at a nominal price per minute. See http://www.sniperhill.net/plans-pricing-personal.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Third, is there a certain internet service provider that is used by military personnel stationed in Afghanistan? In other words, IPs of which provider would be in email headers of military folks stationed overseas? There are many ISPs with access to the U.S. bases who provide connectivity, it varies by the specific base that you are stationed at but even small combat outposts had network access. The 1-month cost was about $90.00 through Sniper Hill with the other plans being cheaper.

Fourth, can soldiers use webcams for video chats while deployed to Afghanistan? Absolutely! I Skyped with my wife twice a day. I used the on-base ISPs, the connection is not fast enough for on-line gaming, like World of Warcraft, but there was almost never any latency with Skype.

The major gave me very detailed answers to my questions, but I'm not able to reveal everything he said (for security reasons). Just as U.S. soldiers have network access in Afghanistan, so do members of the Taliban. There's no point in telling them the specifics of how our communications systems work. In any case, I hope this was helpful.

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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby Marisa » Fri Feb 22, 2013 1:08 am

Thank you very much Gordon for researching this subject. I understand the security issues involved. But the information you provided is helpful.

So, if I understood correctly:
- their cell phone numbers should either contain the local country code (Iraq or Afghanistan), or at least it should be AT&T number, not just ANY cell phone number.
- the provider should be the one serving these areas (like SnipperHill). It cannot be America Online, for example. ;)
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Re: New U.S. Army E-mail Addresses

Postby GIJANE30 » Sat Mar 02, 2013 1:06 am

Does anyone know of the "Secure Link" which I am told it is a registration of your phone numbers so that you can contact a soldier or any soldier once your number is registered with the administration. The email adress I was given is leaveusarmydepartment@usa.com. I was to send a letter to this email address stating my name, number, and purpose of wanting the "secure link' and to whom I wanted to communicate with. So I did send a letter and it was answered within an hour giving me an address in which I was to send the money ($830.00) for my number to be registered for a year and it was to be sent Western Union only. After the registration was processed and the money was verified, I would recieve a conformation on my cell phone within 48 hours to let me know that my number had been registered.
The address was in the Phillippine. I have sent no money.
Can you tell me if this is for real or is it a scam also? :thinking:

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