Love Scammers Use Dead Soldiers to Snare Victims

Love Scammers Use Dead Soldiers to Snare Victims
Michael Brick

(Oct. 6) -- Tired of masquerading as the obscure nephew of some deposed banana republic dictator? What if I told you that you could make a good income, starting today, all from the comfort of your own neighborhood cafe in Lagos, Nigeria -- or wherever? Using the quick, easy, not-patented method of impersonating fallen American soldiers, you too can exploit the trust of lonely women. All you need is an Internet connection!

Yes, it has come to this: Twenty-one years after Elwood Edwards recorded the announcement "You've got mail" and nearly nine years into one of the country's most prolonged overseas military engagements, purveyors of fraud have built a ghoulish trade on the combination of those two seemingly permanent aspects of modern life.

"They look for patriotic women, and they play on their heartstrings," Christopher Grey, a spokesman for the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command, told AOL News.

Using photographs and biographical details culled from Facebook pages, memorial sites and news accounts, the perpetrators pose as living soldiers looking for love online.

In response, the U.S. government has issued warnings, with its embassy in London going so far as to post online examples of fraudulent military papers used in scams.

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Love Scammers Use Dead Soldiers to Snare Victims

Facebook contest helps Fort Bliss soldier fly home

Facebook contest helps soldier, family reunite

The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Sep 11, 2010 17:55:27 EDT

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — An Army sergeant was able to surprise his four daughters after his wife won a contest on Facebook and flew him home.

Casey Boyette, a combat engineer, is stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, and had been separated from his family since March. He met his daugthers, Destiny 9, Aaliyah, 7, Adriana, 2, and Ava, 1, at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.
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Facebook contest helps soldier

Facebook Virginia Tech blogger ordered by judge to join military

Judge orders man to join military

By Scott Johnson - The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser
Posted : Friday Aug 27, 2010 13:00:19 EDT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A judge ordered an Alabama man to join the military as a condition for of his probation for a provocative Facebook message about the mass killing at Virginia Tech.

Zachary Lambert pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of harassing communications, and a judge in Montgomery placed the 23-year-old man on probation.
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Judge orders man to join military

Death on Facebook:“Rest in Peace 1Lt Joe Theinert"

July 2, 2010, 3:12 pm
Death on Facebook
By MARK LARSON
They say war isn’t real until you’re getting shot at or shooting at someone, but the true reality of war doesn’t hit until you lose one of your own. This terrible knowledge is shared amongst the comrades, family and friends of some 5,517 Americans who have lost their lives fighting for their country in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past eight years. For the first time since the war began, I now regrettably count myself amongst those who personally know the terrible cost of war. A friend, First Lt. Joe Theinert of Sag Harbor, N.Y., was killed in an ambush in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, on 4 June.

I found out about this sad loss on Facebook when I noticed on my newsfeed that several of my Army friends had joined a group called “Rest in Peace 1Lt Joe Theinert, a True Hero!” I was taken aback at first, so unexpected was the news, when suddenly it struck me: I actually had heard about his death shortly after it happened when a colleague of mine mentioned that a lieutenant from 1st Battalion 71 Cavalry Regiment – one of our sister units in 1st BCT, 10th Mountain Division – had died in the south. He asked me if I knew him, but not knowing any information about who had died or what had happened, I said I didn’t, said a quick prayer for the deceased, and returned to work.

The sad reality is that soldiers die every day in Afghanistan and most of these deaths pass unnoticed within the vast majority of the Army’s ranks. Very few of us search out casualty reports to see if we may have known the deceased. I’m no different, and after hearing the news it quickly passed out of my mind. Only when I came across it on Facebook did I realize I had lost a friend.
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http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/death-on-facebook/

linked from ICasualties.org

Wainwright GI told to remove Facebook video

Wainwright GI told to remove Facebook video
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
An Alaska-based soldier is under investigation for a video on his Facebook page that taunts smiling Iraqi children by asking if they're gay, if they engage in certain sex acts and if they would grow up to be terrorists.

ACLU fights to protect rights of Marine posting anti-Obama Facebook page

Marine's anti-Obama Facebook comments fuel debate
(AP) – 12 hours ago

SAN DIEGO — A Camp Pendleton Marine has removed his Facebook page after his comments fueled a free-speech debate about whether troops are allowed to criticize President Barack Obama's policies while serving in the military.

Sgt. Gary Stein said he was asked by his superiors to review the Pentagon's directive on political activities after he criticized Obama's health care reform efforts and then was asked this week to talk about his views on the MSNBC cable TV channel.

Stein said his supervisor told him of his right to an attorney about the matter. He said he decided to close his Facebook page and review his military code obligations. He also contacted private attorneys who told him he had done nothing wrong.

"There's this illusion that when we sign our contract and voluntarily commit, that we lose our right to speak out," Stein told the San Diego Union-Tribune in a story published Wednesday.

The local American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement Wednesday that it has sent a letter to Camp Pendleton's commanding officer urging the Marine Corps to protect Stein's right to freedom of speech.
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Marine anti Obama Facebook comments fuel debate

2,000 Facebook users comfort fallen Marine's family

Austin News
Memories, friends comfort Rochester Marine's family
4/7/2010 9:54:02 AM
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By Matt Russell
The Post-Bulletin, Austin MN

After getting support from more than 2,000 people on Facebook in recent days, the family of a Rochester Marine killed in Afghanistan last week say they are overwhelmed by kind words from friends, family and people they've never met.

"It's mind-boggling," said Kay Swenson, the mother of Lance Cpl. Curtis M. Swenson, 20, a 2007 Mayo High School graduate. "It's really been a comfort."

Swenson's family returned to Rochester on Monday night from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where they attended a ceremony marking the return of the soldier's body to American soil. Swenson is the 1,037th American solider to die in Afghanistan since 2001, according to icasualties.org, a site that tracks coalition deaths.

"It was devastating," Swenson's father, Dave, said Tuesday as he recalled the experience of seeing his son's flag-draped coffin., when a black SUV parked in the driveway of their southeast Rochester home and two Marines got out.

Dave Swenson recalls standing frozen with his hands in a questioning gesture as they approached. No words needed to be spoken, he said, for him to realize his son had passed away.
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Memories, friends comfort Rochester Marine family

Marines lift social media ban

Marines lift social media ban
By Warren Peace, Stars and Stripes
European Edition, Wednesday, March 31, 2010
STUTTGART, Germany — The Marine Corps lifted its ban on social media sites Monday, allowing Marines from Japan to the States to sign on to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and other sites.

But it looks like European-based Marines — along with other troops in Europe — will have to wait a little longer: As of Tuesday, servicemembers in Europe were still unable to log onto the sites from their government computers.

The Defense Department had lifted the ban on social networking sites in late February, but Army and Air Force officials in Europe said earlier this month they were trying to determine the best way to proceed.

“Local commanders still have to weigh security risk and bandwidth issues in their area of operation,” Chris Joseph, a spokesman for U.S. Army Europe’s 5th Signal Command said at the time.

The day after the Marines reversed their position, one official spoke about maintaining a transparency with the American public.
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Marines lift social media ban

DOD to allow Facebook and Twitter access to troops

DoD opens access to social media sites

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 26, 2010 14:54:36 EST

All users of unclassified computers in the .mil domain now will be allowed to access social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter — subject to local control if bandwidth demand or Web integrity become issues.

The announcement reverses a nearly three-year ban on access to bandwidth-heavy sites such as MySpace, and the Marine Corps’ August ban on access to social network sites, the Pentagon said Friday.

The open-access policy will rely largely on the responsible use by troops, much as they practice operational security in other means of communication, such as telephone conversations and letters. It is also a reflection of “increased security measures” the Defense Department has taken, said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/02/military_socialmedia_022610w/

U.S. Marine Corps bans Twitter, Facebook, MySpace

Marines ban Twitter, Facebook, other sites
Story Highlights
U.S. Marine Corps bans Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites

Order, issued Monday, states that information on the sites poses a security risk

The Marines' ban is effective immediately and will last a year

U.S. Army recently ordered all U.S. bases to provide access to Facebook
By Noah Shachtman

(WIRED) -- The U.S. Marine Corps has banned Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites from its networks, effective immediately.


The Marine Corps fears that social media sites such as Facebook could pose a security risk.

"These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries," reads a Marine Corps order, issued Monday.

"The very nature of SNS [social network sites] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts OPSEC [operational security], COMSEC [communications security], [and] personnel... at an elevated risk of compromise."
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Marines ban Twitter, Facebook, other sites

Military using Facebook and Twitter to recruit

Services turn attention to Facebook, Twitter

By Sagar Meghani - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday May 1, 2009 14:10:45 EDT

FORT MONROE, Va. — You don’t often hear a three-star general using the word “friend” as a verb.

But for Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley and other Army brass, a new era has brought a new language — and new tools like online social networks Twitter and Facebook — for seeking out young recruits and spreading the military’s message.

Freakley, who heads the Army command that oversees recruiting, says social networking sites offer another way to reach tomorrow’s soldiers.

“They live in the virtual world,” Freakley said. He cited Facebook as a key component in targeting 18- to 24-year-olds. “You could friend your recruiter, and then he could talk to your friends.”

Even Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, has a new Facebook page to answer questions about the mission in Iraq and spread the word about what the troops are accomplishing there.

The Army isn’t the only branch of the military with Facebook friends or that has a following on Twitter. The Air Force has also established a Facebook page, Twitter feeds and a blog, while the Marine Corps is using various networking sites mainly for recruiting purposes. The Navy is “experimenting” with several forms of online media, and some of its commands are using Twitter, a spokesman said. Even the Coast Guard commandant regularly updates his Facebook status while traveling.
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Services turn attention to Facebook, Twitter

Finding Jesus on Facebook, and Checking Podcasts for a Pew That Fits

Finding Jesus on Facebook, and Checking Podcasts for a Pew That Fits
By APRIL DEMBOSKY
Some churches are branching out into sites like Facebook and MySpace and weaving multimedia elements into their services in an effort to attract younger worshipers.
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UK:Man murdered wife over Facebook posting

Man murdered wife over Facebook posting

PA
Friday, 17 October 2008
A jealous husband who repeatedly stabbed his wife because he felt "humiliated" over a posting she made on the social networking website Facebook was jailed for life today.


Wayne Forrester told police he was "devastated" that wife Emma had changed her online profile to "single" four days after he had moved out.

Forrester, an HGV driver, drove to the marital home in New Addington, near Croydon, south London, armed with a kitchen knife and a meat cleaver in the early hours of February 18.

Fuelled by cocaine and alcohol, he attacked his wife as she lay in bed, beating her, tearing out clumps of her hair, and stabbing her in the head and neck.

Neighbours who heard screaming called police, who found him sitting outside covered in blood, and he confessed he had killed her.

Forrester believed his wife, a payroll administrator, was having an affair and had made threats to kill her, the Old Bailey heard. The couple had been together for 15 years.

Judge Brian Barker, the Common Serjeant of London, told him: "You committed a terrible act. There is no possible excuse or justification.

"This is a tragic killing and what you have done has caused untold anguish."

Relatives of the victim wept as the 34-year-old, who had pleaded guilty to murder, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years.
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