Yahoo! and Federal Agencies Must Investigate Internet Scam That Defames U.S. Soldiers
I received an email last week, as well as several of my friends, that I have not been able to dismiss. Why? Quite frankly, it's because it really made me angry. When I read it for the first time, my initial reaction was to just laugh it off and hit the delete button. After reading it a second time, I realized this was something that should be made public because I truly believe it implies that a U.S. soldier is acting in a criminal manner, which tarnishes the reputation of soldiers currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as soldiers that took their last breath in these war-torn regions.
The email reads as follows:
Subject: "Can I Trust You?"
Dear Friend,
My name is Sergent Thomas Allen. I am an American soldier presently on active service with Squadron battalion here in Afghanistan. I served with the Third Infantry Division in Iraq since 2003, before thousand of my lucky colleagues were pulled out in August last year, leaving my superior and myself among the unlucky ones redeployed to Afghanistan where I am serving presently.
During my call to duty in Iraq, my superior and I moved US$25million (Twenty five million US dollars) being part of funds recovered from late Saddam Hussein during a search in one of his palaces in 2003. Through the assistance of a Senior Red Cross Delegate to Iraq, this fund has been safely moved out of Iraq to a secured location.
Basically, since my superior and I are still on active service, we can not continue to keep these funds in the secured location due to a classified information we received from our "Contact Person" where the funds are deposited. Hence, my Superior Officer has authorized me to look for a reliable and trustworthy person that could assist us to retrieve the funds immediately for investment placements. This is why I am sending this mail to you, seeking your urgent intervention and assistance.
Once you retrieve the funds, you shall take 30% of it which from our calculation is US$7.5million, 5% of it set aside for expenses while my superior and I shall require your candid assistance to place the remaining 65% in a good investment platform in your country on our behalf.
Due to my call of duty here coupled with the secret nature of this transaction, I prefer you communicate with me through email at the moment. If you know you could keep this transaction very secret, please get back to me.
Respectfully submitted,
Sergent Thomas Allen
Sergent Thomas Allen
Guess what, "Sergeant Allen"? I'm not keeping sh*t secret! Again, I could've very easily dismissed this email for what it is: an Internet scam or a joke. It's similar to those emails from some Nigerian or Chinese businessman that wants to you to help them funnel money through your personal bank account. Claiming to be one of the aforementioned is one thing, but claiming to be an American soldier stationed in Afghanistan takes the con to a whole new level. There will be those who read this and state, "Dude, it's not that serious!". I beg to differ.
I don't consider this a laughing matter because of the level of shrewdness involved in the con -- embedding an actual news report from the BBC in order to substantiate the claims being made by the "soldier" -- and the implication that the Red Cross and U.S. soldiers are inherently corrupt.
I also have concerns because numerous broadcast and print news reports have indicated how many Americans have fallen prey to Internet scams in recent years, with many of them being the elderly. Given that this scam utilizes the U.S. military -- whom many in this country support -- and that people are desperate to earn money any way they can to alleviate economic hardship during the recession, a good number of people could be sucked into this ploy. You'd be surprised at some of the online cons people have fallen for, so don't laugh.
The email was sent from thallen001@yahoo.com and the reply address lists as thallen001@live.com. It should be noted that the email addresses used may have been hijacked and the person holding the actual account may not even be aware of it. Nonetheless, I believe Yahoo! and federal government hackers need to trace these emails to their original source and press charges against the person or people responsible.
In addition, elected officials need to seriously consider drafting legislation to thwart email scamming, especially if it involves U.S. service members or national security. I don't believe the majority of Americans are silly enough to fall for this hoax, but the fact that some sick bastard or group is perpetrating it at the expense of living or slain U.S. soldiers means it needs to be addressed.
The men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces are serving and have died honorably for this country, and to make them part of some two-bit con game is unacceptable, unconscionable and unforgivable. I truly hope that I'm not alone in making this assessment. Step up and speak out, America!
This commentary is from the heart and......From The G-Man.
Image courtesy of http://internet.phillipmartin.info
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