Verifying veteran status?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I started talking to a American woman from a dating site who claims to have served 6 years in the USMC and has been deployed to Afghanistan before moving into her family's real estate business, and the pictures she's sent seem to be legit- some of them show her in digital camo uniform with other marines and in a couple of those she's got what looks like a .50 cal ammo belt slung over her shoulders. A couple of others show her in uniform crouched over a dead warthog- identifying the rifle she's holding is proving more difficult- it has a hunting configuration with a big-ass scope, suppressor and bipod. It's not an M16 or M4 as far as I can tell- the stock is identical to the one attached to this guy's weapon but the gun itself is different. Google image search didn't find any similar pictures to hers which suggests their originality.

As someone with no military background, to know if she's the real deal, what questions should I ask? I'm hoping those board members who are military will know the answer to this...

[EnterpriseSovereign]

GHETTO EDIT: From the weapon pictures it looks like she's a left-handed shooter, in another picture she's holding a compound bow and drawing the string with her right hand. I should just ask her if she's left handed...

[Zaune]

The Marines have a couple of different rifles in service that fit that profile, such as this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M39_Enhan ... sman_Rifle Or the photo could have been taken when she was back in the US on leave and using a privately owned hunting rifle.

But that said, has she said anything in particular that gave you reason to believe she's not on the level?

[Broomstick]

GHETTO EDIT: From the weapon pictures it looks like she's a left-handed shooter, in another picture she's holding a compound bow and drawing the string with her right hand. I should just ask her if she's left handed...

Apropos of nothing.... I'm a right-handed archer and left-handed shooter. These things do happen. (I can actually fire a gun with either hand, but I'm slightly more accurate with the left and it feels more comfortable to me to do it that way).

Do you have a reason to think she is lying or do you just want to know for sure?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

GHETTO EDIT: From the weapon pictures it looks like she's a left-handed shooter, in another picture she's holding a compound bow and drawing the string with her right hand. I should just ask her if she's left handed...

Apropos of nothing.... I'm a right-handed archer and left-handed shooter. These things do happen. (I can actually fire a gun with either hand, but I'm slightly more accurate with the left and it feels more comfortable to me to do it that way).

Do you have a reason to think she is lying or do you just want to know for sure?

She says she's 6 months on from an abusive relationship with her British ex (she didn't say if he was also military), which automatically sets alarm bells ringing.

She's talking of flying across the Atlantic to meet up already and is wanting me to send her $500 to "share the expenses" and she promised to send her itinerary which she'd refund on arrival so that I would show up because she'd been stood up before and she wants to get things moving fast. I know real estate agents can be pushy and all, but still. That's right, a woman I've known less than a day is asking me to send her money. That's a bigass red flag if I've ever seen one

[Crazedwraith]

That's enough of a red flag that I don't think it matters if she's a genuine veteran or not. She's scamming you for money.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

That's enough of a red flag that I don't think it matters if she's a genuine veteran or not. She's scamming you for money.

That's exactly what I thought the moment she mentioned it, and she didn't even know which airport she'd be flying to or anything. Such trips are not something you can do at the drop of a hat. Not cheaply anyway.

The closest thing I have to a military connection is my aunt who now lives in the USA served in the forces about 30 years ago, though she was married to a US marine for a few years. I was a page boy at their wedding, though I don't remember any of it as I was about five

[Eternal_Freedom]

While it may not work if your texting/emailling/whatever, the best way I've found for ID'ing those who aren't actually current/former military is to ask them to rattle off their ID/service number as a no-context question. That tip came from my British Army ex-squaddie brother, and also worked on my ex-USN housemate, ex-RN housemate, and two ex-USMC coursemates in uni.

Essentially, if they genuinely were in the military for long enough to pass basic training, they'll rattle it off immediately (hell, my mother can do that at 65, and she hasn't been in the RN for 40+ years)). If they have to think about it, odds-on they're lying.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

It's at the WhatsApp stage, video calling failed. As in, the incoming call hung up before I could answer- I put that down to the app permissions not being configured correctly on my new phone (mic hadn't been enabled). I fixed that and tried an outgoing call only for it to ring out. Red flag number 2. If we do manage a video call, I will ask her that and see what she says.

[Zwinmar]

Eh, send me a message if you wish for more ideas. Will not post them on a forum anyone can see. Did my 4 in the USMC, honorable discharge.

[LadyTevar]

What I've found in guys is 90% of military vets do NOT WANT to talk about their service. Too many friends gone. Too many bad memories. They don't brag on it, because it's not something they want to think about.

So, yeah, I'm thinking you're getting Cat-fished. But if you want proof? Ask them how many of their squad they lost. If they BRAG about it, they're not military, never were.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

The Marines have a couple of different rifles in service that fit that profile, such as this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M39_Enhan ... sman_Rifle Or the photo could have been taken when she was back in the US on leave and using a privately owned hunting rifle.

But that said, has she said anything in particular that gave you reason to believe she's not on the level?

I did consider that it might be a private hunt, the camo she was wearing in those pictures did look slightly different but of course I'm no expert on what camo you'd wear on a hunt. The rifle looks a bit like that, hers did have the square surround of the barrel partway down its length however there wasn't that tube under the barrel.

The speed with which she wants to meet up and that she wants me to pay (for lack of a better word) a deposit to make sure I show up for such a meeting and that she wanted to book it right then and there. I appreciate being eager but wanting to cross the Atlantic for someone you've only known of for a few hours is suspicious.

She's also a Walking Dead fan as her dog (an ex-military Doberman) is named after a certain infamous character

[Raw Shark]

The speed with which she wants to meet up and that she wants me to pay (for lack of a better word) a deposit to make sure I show up for such a meeting and that she wanted to book it right then and there. I appreciate being eager but wanting to cross the Atlantic for someone you've only known of for a few hours is suspicious.

Take it from the local YOLO / Fuck A Hole in a Board If It Seems Pleasant Guy: This is most definitely a scam.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

The speed with which she wants to meet up and that she wants me to pay (for lack of a better word) a deposit to make sure I show up for such a meeting and that she wanted to book it right then and there. I appreciate being eager but wanting to cross the Atlantic for someone you've only known of for a few hours is suspicious.

Take it from the local YOLO / Fuck A Hole in a Board If It Seems Pleasant Guy: This is most definitely a scam.

Yep, and as I suspected she would, she's already making excuses as to why she cannot do a video call, saying her phone is broken. If she can afford to pay for a transatlantic flight, she can afford a new phone...

[GuppyShark]

Sorry to hear that, man. At least your bullshit detector is working well enough you saw it before you got bitten.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

My detector switched from being merely suspicious to near-certainty after the supposed video call lasted all of 16 seconds and with no audio so no way of knowing what she was actually saying. The small matter of the FB profile the call was on (her insistence) wasn't even consistent with what she told me on WhatsApp. She said she was California born and raised, profile said... Florida. Her excuse for that was that she opened it when living with her ex. Even though that was in Texas and she said she was visiting his aunt in Florida.

I'm not sure if there's a rule about posting real-world social media links on a public forum but I got a bunch of them- perhaps I should post them in the "Members of Star Destroyer.Net Unite!" FB group assuming everyone here is a member. The upshot is that the person she claims to be is quite real and is a marine veteran, however I'm increasingly certain whoever I'm talking to is not her but an impersonator. There was this comment to a picture on Facebook from 2 years ago: "you don’t know me but I was Navy EOD. It’s a long story but I just spent the last 6 months thinking I was talking to you online and someone has maybe leaked pics. of you. Please contact to talk about it and figure it out. I’m trying to do the right thing and here so let me know."

If that's not a smoking gun, I don't know what is.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

The last nail in the coffin, they fucked up for their last message read simply: Mtchew. Which is spoken in one country above all others: Nigeria!

[madd0c0t0r2]

Man I wish people thought I was rich enough to scam

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Man I wish people thought I was rich enough to scam

I wish I was rich enough to be worth scamming

Doing some digging around it didn't take me long to find the Instagram and Facebook of the (alleged) original as well as several others using the same pictures, albeit none of the ones that came by WhatsApp.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

What the hell. Her name is Sarah Smith aka Sarah Damnyell. Google her- most of the places where she pops up there are as many fake profiles claiming to be her, as there are guys claiming to have been catfished by someone using her social media pictures & videos, and that's the tip of the iceberg. Another faker clearly hadn't done any bloody research on the USMC, claiming that at the tender age of 28 she was in fact a Major General Her original IG no longer exists, wouldn't surprise me if she's taken all of her social media down. When people are able to impersonate you like that, how do you differentiate yourself from all the phoneys? Is it even possible

[Zwinmar]

Yeah deleted the dating app for that reason man. Nothing but fake profiles and scammers.

[Raw Shark]

Y'know, I've been using the same dating site for like twelve years now, and I have been catfished exactly one (1) time. Finished my coffee, said I had a nice time, escaped for less than $10 including gas.

Two (2) times, the girl who showed up actually looked better than her photos - One of them wanted to be loved for who she was on the inside before she lost 100# and the other just doesn't photograph well or something.

[Elheru Aran]

Only happened to me once. Talked to a girl for a day or two, she then starts saying she can travel to meet me but needs some "hygiene supplies"... uh... lady, didn't you say you live in like fecking Montana? And you were gonna drive or fly or something to meet me? You can buy some shampoo at the dollar store. Bye.

Fact of the matter is: there's real people out there that you CAN meet. If you aren't meeting them, then either you're doing something wrong or your luck is truly terrible. Don't be a dumbass.