Romance scams become more advanced over the years as culprits assume new identities to lure the victims on social media, dating apps, or work-related sites like LinkedIn. Military scams are a popular means to attract vulnerable victims with a trustworthy facade in order to take advantage of them later. Discover how you can protect yourself from being fooled with a few questions that will catch the fake lover off-guard.
What Is an Army Romance Scam?
In a nutshell, it’s a type of fraud in which a scammer pretends to be a part of the army in order to deceive the target and lay hands on their money, assets, or data. Army romance scammers build emotional connections with their victims in order to put off their guard. Then, military scammers often pretend that they are deployed overseas and have faced some major difficulty, so they beg their target to help.
How Does an Army Romance Scam Work?
The scam typically begins on social media platforms, dating websites, or through email, where the culprit creates a fake profile using stolen photos of real soldiers to craft a believable military persona. Let’s overview the most likely steps military scammers might take in order to extract what they want from the innocent target:
- After establishing trusting relationships with the victim, army romance scammers pretend that they have faced a massive hurdle and need help asap. These fabricated emergencies can include needing financial resources for medical treatment, helping a fellow soldier, paying for leave or travel expenses to visit the victim, or securing the release of valuable items from customs. In case the target questions why they can’t provide for themselves, romance scam culprits concoct various believable reasons. The army romance scammer might claim they can’t access their own funds due to being in a remote or war-torn area.
- The requests for money often start small but can escalate quickly. One common strategy for army romance scams is to use unconventional means to send money like transfers, gift cards, or cryptocurrencies. That’s how criminals make sure the victim will not be able to track them down and recover resources.
- In some cases, the army romance scammer might be looking to get the target’s sensitive info and blackmail them with it afterward. The culprit can use the victim’s personal details to steal their identity, open credit accounts, take out loans or deceive other targets. Otherwise, the criminal might demand ransom and threaten to leak private information or adult content that features the victim. In any case, the prey of romance scams suffer immensely and lives in constant psychological pressure due to the manipulations of fraudsters.
What Are the Signs of a Military Scammer?
If you have met a person who you want to date online, be sure to erase any doubts about their true intentions before kicking off the relationship. Here are the warning signs that the lover might be lying to you about their army background:
- Their Story Is Too Good to Be True. Scammers often create a generic, heroic backstory that feels like it was pulled from a movie script. They might claim to be in elite army forces or on dangerous missions without providing credible details. Also, their claims might change over time and lack consistency.
- The Romance Unfolds Quickly. You should have suspicions if your new army acquaintance pressures you into moving fast with your relationships. For example, a military scammer might profess their love right after finding you online, often after just a few messages or conversations.
- No Video Chats or Real Life Meetings. Army romance scammers come up with various excuses to conceal their real identity and fool you into believing in their made-up story. They quote deployment, military restrictions, or security concerns as reasons why you can’t do a video call or meet face-to-face.
- Strange Requests. Be mindful and cautious if your new lover asks strange intrusive questions. They might be curious about your Social Security number, exact location, and bank details, or pressure you to send intimate photos or videos. Always stay your ground and don’t give away sensitive data that can be potentially used against your best interests.
- Suspicious Photo Quality. Pay attention to what pictures they share to spot the common patterns of an army romance scam. It should raise doubts about the legitimacy of the person if they post or send only poor-quality, staged pictures that seem to be heavily edited. Moreover, be sure to reverse image search any photo of the loved one with OSINT data aggregator tools like X-Ray Contact. It’s the easiest way to reveal whether the person lies about their appearance and online identity with just one search session.
What Questions to Ask a Military Person to See If He’s Real?
Use HUMINT techniques to check whether your loved one is a military scammer. We recommend asking them valid and specific questions to reveal whether the person has lied to you about their army background.
- What is your military occupation specialty? Navigate how the person uses military jargon and whether they can name specific army codes to substantiate their words.
- How long have you held your current rank, and what’s the promotion process like? Take note of whether they can describe their duties and the army structure with confidence.
- Can you explain to me the difference between the military terms? For example, ask them to explain the difference between a “brigade” and a “battalion” to test their knowledge about army affairs.
- Where have you been deployed? Observe how the person describes the location and experiences.
- When is your exact discharge date? If the soldier is real and not an army romance scammer, they should know this info from the top of their head.
What to Do in Case of an Army Romance Scam?
Unfortunately, your gut feeling might be correct, and you’ve become a target of the romance scam. What to do next?
- Don’t Waste the Time and Record. If you’ve exposed a romance scam, act immediately and take screenshots of the whole communication as well as the military scammer’s profile.
- Protect Yourself. Change your passwords and freeze your bank cards in case the scammers have managed to compromise your online security.
- Report the Military Scammer. Contact the support of a platform where you’ve met the scammers as well as local authorities to make sure this army romance scammer will not harm anyone else.
Conclusion: What Questions to Ask a Military Guy to See If He’s Real?
Now you know that digging into army specifics and asking narrow-themed questions is a way to go in order to undermine a romance scam. Use these tips from X-Ray Contact to catch the culprits and safeguard others who might be the next victims of the army romance scam.