Cybercriminals impersonating servicemembers

Be on the lookout for social media scams, CID warns

By United States Army Criminal Investigation Command on May 30, 2019

U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command's Computer Crime Investigative Unit is once again warning soldiers and the Army community to be on the lookout for "social media scams" where cybercriminals impersonate servicemembers for romance scams and other impersonation crimes such as sales schemes and advance fee schemes.

"By monitoring your social media identity, you can protect your Army family and your reputation," said Special Agent Marc Martin, deputy director of operations for CCIU. "The criminals will use factual data from official websites and soldiers' personal social media sites, then prey on vulnerable people's trusting nature and willingness to help the soldier."

Frequently, CID receives notifications from individuals stating they were scammed online by someone claiming to be a soldier, but in reality it was an online scammer who has used an unsuspected soldier's name and available social media photos to commit a crime.

No one is immune from becoming a victim. Scammers steal the identity of senior officers, enlisted personnel, contractors and civilians.

According to Martin, CCIU has seen a resurgence of scammers using fake Common Access Cards, because they give their ruse a greater level of legitimacy.

"Using a fake CAC is not a new tactic," said Martin. "At first glance it could look almost legitimate, but if you look closely you will notice errors such as incorrect pay grades and other inaccurate markings."

Another recent scam that is gaining steam begins when a soldier receives a letter demanding money or embarrassing information about him/her will be released to their spouse, family, and friends. The letter purports to be from someone who knows the soldier and no specific misconduct or crime is identified. Large payments are usually demanded in Bitcoin.

Mitigating fraudulent social media accounts can simply start with searching for your name and photo on various social media platforms.

If you find yourself or a family member being impersonated online, immediately contact the social media platform and report the false profile.

Keep in mind that criminals create impersonation accounts to look just like the real account of a servicemember by using very similarly spelled names and replacing characters with dashes, spaces, and/or homoglyph characters. Be on the lookout for simple changes such as zeros (0) used instead of the letter "O" or a number one (1) instead of the letter "l."

Impersonations can be classified as Confidence Based/Romance Relationship, Sales Schemes or Advance Fee Schemes.

Sales Schemes: Most frequently carried out on sites that facilitate sales of various products, scammers lure victims by offering goods well below market price, such as vehicles, house rentals, or similar big-ticket items. The scammer advertises an item for sale, at a too-good-to-be-true price, and describes it in the broadest of terms. A person showing interest is soon contacted by the "seller" who claims to be a servicemember with a military unit that is being deployed abroad. The scammer uses the pending deployment to explain the need for a quick sale and the below-market sales price. The scammer insists that money changes hands quickly using some untraceable and irrevocable means such as Western Union, MoneyGram or gift cards. The merchandise is never received and the scammer is not heard from again.

Confidence Based/Romance Relationship: Scammers defraud victims by pretending to be servicemembers seeking romance or emotional support and companionship. In these scams, cybercriminals often derive information for their fictionalized military personas from official military websites and social networking websites. Scammers gather enough detailed personal information, including pictures, to concoct believable stories tailored to appeal to a victim's emotions and then lure them into sending money to help them with transportation costs, marriage processing expenses, medical fees, communication fees such as laptops and satellite telephones. They typically promise to repay the victim when they finally meet; however, once the victim stops sending money, the scammer is not heard from again.

Advance Fee Schemes: These schemes defraud potential victims by promising big profits in exchange for help in moving large sums of money (or gold, oil, or some other commodity or contraband). Claiming to be high-ranking or well-placed government/military officials or the surviving spouse of former government leaders, the perpetrators offer to transfer significant amounts of money into the victim's bank account in exchange for a small fee. Scammers that receive payment are never heard from again.

The Computer Crime Investigative Unit has found that the longer an imposter account is active, the greater the likelihood of misleading others," Martin said. "Protect yourself by conducting Internet searches on yourself and your family. Expediency is paramount."

For more information about computer security, other computer-related scams and to review previous cyber-crime alert notices and cyber-crime prevention flyers, visit the Army CID website at: cid.army.mil/cciu-advisories.html.