What Are Military Officer Scams?

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Military Officer Scams are common scams involving people claiming to be in the military. Or in some cases they say they are a doctor or someone else working as a contractor for the military. But usually they claim they are a military officer (a Colonel, a General, a Sergeant, a Lieutenant, a Major, a Captain, etc) and stationed in war torn countries like Afghanistan, Lybia, Iraq, Syria, etc.

Usually the scammer claims to be returning from a recent war or overseas mission and that they have access to a large sum of money that they confiscated during an operation. They will then claim that they need assistance in transferring this large amount of money in cash, moving it out from wherever they claim the money is lodged, and that they will gladly share a large portion of the money with you for your kind assistance in helping them to move the money. Often they will say that the so-called cash (also referred to by these scammers as “a consignment”) is being stored in large cases, trunk boxes or some other type of secured container. They might also claim in some instances that the money is being held somewhere by a "security company", “a diplomatic agent” or securely stored at an embassy. Of course all of what they are saying is pure lies because they are scammers and there is no real money that exists within their possession.

This type of scammer may also start out their contact by suggesting that they are also interested in a romantic relationship after you help them move the money and they usually will send out a number of photos depicting themselves in military uniform to try to increase their credibility, but the photos are all photos that the scammer has stolen and which belong to someone else whom really is in the military, but who has no knowledge of the scam. And the person contacting you is of course an imposter who is illegally using someone else's stolen photos without their permission.

During the course of the scam the scammer may also ask you to contact 2-3 different people that the scammer claims are also involved with the transaction. This is used as a psychological technique designed to make the transaction seem more legitimate. In most cases though you are dealing with only one scammer who is the same actor behind all of the various different names and email addresses being presented.

The scammer will eventually ask you to send some money before any of the money being promised can be sent out to you. This is a type of scam known as Advance-Fee Fraud. Advance-Fee Fraud is best described as an offer of money, merchandise, services, employment, or even romance, but where the victim is asked to pay a fee in advance to obtain whatever is being promised to them by the scammer. The main scam strategy of all advance-fee fraud scams is to try to persuade the victim to send money, and then continue to send more money to the scammer, as many times as possible, until the victim eventually runs out of money and/or goes into debt as a result of losses from the scam. And in the end, the victim never receives any of the money at all being promised by the scammer.

Please click here to read more about the psychological techniques used to deceive people with these types email scams. The following article on Wikipedia also explains more about Advance-Fee Scams in general: Wikipedia Link