Military used in Romance Fraud
Military personnel remain one of the top most used pictures in Romance Fraud.
The military, like doctors and others are seen as a trusted profession and are ideal to start the manipulation process in Romance Fraud. Follow this with the fact that the military, for most of the public are shrouded in mystery with stories of special ops and deployments to dangerous locations.
This means that these individuals who have dedicated this part of their lives to serving their country and protecting its civilians, are the choice of many criminals to create a relationship to commit fraud.
Military Generals are also used with the same effect and in conjunction with other military professionals.
Many people who have been targeted by military photos on social media or dating platforms will be introduced to the ‘Peace Keeping Missions’ in Afghanistan, Syria or similar. This is a very common scenario or format, used by these criminals to lure in a target.
Currently there are no peace keeping missions. Military will NEVER divulge where they are deployed to others. This is a breach of very basic security.
Other times, the story will be that they are freshly deployed or due to be deployed to somewhere which is relevant in the news such as Ukraine or the Israel/Gaza conflict.
Other scenarios used, are that the individuals are working alongside the United Nations (UN) or the World Health Organisation (WHO) or UNICEF.
The criminals will often use the unknown protocols of the military professions to make the victim believe that they are unable to make contact through phone calls or video calls. This can be because this particular fraudster doesn’t know how to create a fake video call or to clone a voice, or they will say this, so that later when they are pushed, they can make the victim believe that they are putting themselves at risk by doing so, which creates a power imbalance and feeling of gratitude by the victim, which will be used as a tool by the criminal at a later date.
Military personnel can make phone calls and video calls when deployed. They have access to wifi and do not need gift cards or money to be able to pay for wifi or calls.
The criminals will introduce other people to the victim, sometimes a child, colleagues and often a commanding officer as well as on occasion, someone in the legal sphere. All of these characters (much like a cast in play) will have parts to play in the manipulation.
If money extortion is part of the criminals plan, there are several ways used in the military format.
- Military Leave
The individual will use growing feelings of the victim to push for help with leave so that they can be together. They will imply that the leave needs to be requested and that forms need to be filled to send to a commander. Sometimes, the criminal will have already convinced the victim that they will be together and as the only trusted individual, they will have completed a form which place the victim as next of kin and/or the status of a ‘fiance’ to the soldier in case of emergency. These practices, as well as building trust and a feeling of importance with the victim, are a way for the criminals to collect personal identity information and details for use in other frauds.
The criminals will declare that there is a fee attached to the special leave. The fee will depend on the amount of time being requested. This can also be attached to marriage leave. They will declare that they don’t have access to their bank accounts while away and will ask for a loan until they are back. It is sometimes the case that the criminals will have created or cloned a bank account login page, which they will present as being the characters own. They will give login information to the victim to check and confirm that there is money to pay them back. They may also claim that they need to pay for a replacement.
The criminals may have already introduced the victim to a bank account login page which shows that the character has plenty of money to fulfill the work they are doing, possibly asking the victim to make a transfer for them as they are too busy and of course, the victim is trusted. They may also have sent fake notifications where an unusual login attempt has arrived on their device after instructing the victim to do so. Later down the line, this can be used as the reason the online banking has been blocked.
2. Early retirement
The criminals will use a similar scenario to ask for help with getting released from a contract for early retirement. The criminal will have built up a story which creates empathy with the victim, possibly using the child. The victim at this stage will want the character created by the fraudster to be back at home and safe and happy. They will likely tell the victim that on release from the contract they will be reimbursed funds which will repay any fees.
Military personnel do not pay for leave (special or otherwise). Leave is earned like in any other occupation. It is requested in much the same way by asking their next in line boss. They do not need a family member to do this.
3. Emergency transportation or supplies
The criminals may imply that they have an emergency at home and need to fund emergency transport to get back from deployment. The bank account story may be used here too.
Sometimes the criminals will claim that they need money for food or medical supplies while deployed, often citing that the unit came under fire and their supplies destroyed or used and there is need to replenish to survive. In extreme cases they will claim that they need to negotiate to buy weapons.
Military are never required to pay for any transport or food, medical supplies or weapons. The military are one of the wealthiest organisations and military members are considered family.
4. Package Scams
Like many other scenarios used by these fraudsters, the package scam (aka the consignment scam) is used in the Military Format.
The package scam is where the criminal will tell the victim that they are sending some important documents and/or gifts to the victim from the place of their current residence. On rare occasions in the military format, they use the story of gold being discovered and that it is being sent back to their home country. This story derives from a news report many years ago of a military unit uncovering what was thought to be gold bars in the back of a truck crossing the border, while on deployment.
As with all package scams, the victim will have other characters brought into the cast, this time that of the courier and/or a customs official. In the case of the shipping agent or courier, the characters will send emails to the victim with notifications. This is also the part of the story where other fake websites are created to mimic that of the courier company and the tracking number sent in the email can be loaded into the website, the package can then be tracked as it makes it’s journey. Once at the destination point, the victim will be contacted by customs, this can be via email or a phone call if the criminals have employed a worker (or blackmailed another victim), to impersonate this department where the voice on the end of phone will be the local language. The victim will be informed that there are import taxes due to be paid on the package before it can be released for delivery. If the victim challenges the cost of these taxes with the scammer, they will declare that there is cash in the box to cover the cost when it is delivered.
5. Inheritance Scams
Inheritance scams can be stand alone scams in other fraud but are used in many scammer scenarios for romance fraud and the military is one of them.
Once trust has been built and the relationship secured, the scammer will discuss with the victim that they have had notice that a distant family member or friend has died and that they are listed as the beneficiary. There will be a problem that they are unable to conduct the necessary legal requirements whilst they are on deployment in another county and that inheritance laws there would mean a risk to the payments (or a similar scenario). The victim, as the only trusted contact, will be asked to deal with the lawyers to sort out the estate.
There can be two scenarios here. One is that the scammer asks the victim to open a bank account so that the funds can be deposited and kept safe while the military personnel is on deployment. This is one way in which scammers create a story so that they can use the victim as an unwitting money mule. Criminals need ways to launder money and romance fraud victims are used to do just this. The money is safe, as the victim believes they are in a relationship and this money has been sold as helping to secure their life together.
The other scenario is that the victim, when communicating with ‘the lawyer’, will be told that there is an inheritance tax to pay to get the funds released. Stuck on deployment, the scammer cannot access funds to sort this problem, so the victim is asked to comply with the request in order for the inheritance to be released.
Other financial exploitations may happen in this format depending on the criminals in question. You can find other ways these fraudsters exploit money here.