Dating a Soldier Online? Think Twice…

That soldier you met online who seems too good to be true? That’s your instincts kicking in.

Who Is It Targeting: Social media users

What Is It: Military romance scams

What Are They After: Romance scams and online dating scams are bad enough, but to drag members of the US military into it is lower than low. One woman outlined her experience for a local news channel in the hopes that others wouldn’t fall for it.

As so many other victims can attest, it started out innocently enough on a popular dating site. Things quickly turned romantic for the pair, which is odd given that the man claimed to be a soldier from Arizona who was deployed to Afghanistan. The woman began to look forward to their long messages online, but fortunately, she had the good sense to look up the soldier on the internet after receiving his picture. What she found was devastating: not only was he not who he said he was, multiple websites had the same picture with warnings about dating scams.

How Can You Avoid It:

• Meeting someone online is perfectly acceptable, but you have to be smart.
• Be on the lookout for red flags, like out-of-town jobs that prevent the other person from communicating regularly.
• If you’re ever asked for money or information, no matter how plausible the story may seem at the time, stop all communication immediately and give yourself a chance to assess the situation.

If you think you may be a victim of identity theft, contact the Identity Theft Resource Center for toll-free, no-cost assistance at (888) 400-5530. Find more information about current scams and alerts here. For full details of this scam check out this article from ABC15.com.