(WHAS11) The popularity of online dating services has made internet-based relationships extremely common; and easy targets for scams. Its reach has now extended into the U.S. military.
This is a cautionary tale. A Louisville woman said she thought she found ‘the one’. A U.S. soldier abroad that seemed to be head over heels in love. Saying he needed money to come home and meet her, she gladly obliged; today she discovered it was all a lie. Now her heart and bank account are empty.
“I really thought he was the one,” she said. It was an internet relationship bubbling with excitement. An army soldier in Iraq and the Louisville woman waiting for his return. “It was exciting you know.”
They met on an online dating site and for a month talked through emails and instant messaging, sharing long love stories and occasional pictures. She said he was an attractive, good looking guy.
She said one day he asked her to send an email to a general to help get him home, it was approved she’d just have to handle the cost of airline tickets, nearly $4,000. “I had friends say you need to be careful, but I felt comfortable.”
She wired the money Western Union to a woman in Shreveport, Louisiana that she was told would handle the rest. Days later, she said she received an email saying the soldier lost his rifle and that he couldn’t come home until it was paid for; that cost, another $2,000.
“I just thought it was kind of ridiculous, but Ii went ahead and sent it because it was like, ok if this was going to bring him home… and a couple of days, later he’s instant messaging me saying the person that’s handling the money in the states ran off with the money.” That’s when she began looking deeper into Sergeant Willy Roys.
After typing his name online, she found “Army scam” and his name popped up with all of his information that was on his dating website, “And I was like, I’ve just been scammed.”
In March, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command began warning the public of internet romance scams involving U.S. soldiers, promising love and emptying bank accounts, taking thousands upon thousands of dollars.
For this Louisville woman, she said it’s more than just the money. “There’s a lot of bitterness, anger. I feel like my heart has been ripped out and stomped on. I don’t want my family to know, or coworkers; it’s embarrassing.”
The woman said it will take some time to get back on track now, she just doesn’t want other women to suffer the same fate.
“Don’t trust them. If you do feel it’s real and they are real, do your research. It’s a little too late for me, but at least I didn’t hand over everything,” she offered.
If this were to happen to you, the first step would be to contact your local law enforcement just to get it on record so that they may help you investigate the fraud. According to army officials, it’s extremely difficult to trace the person.
Now, the woman received an email today saying she should now send her money to... Nigeria.
