Soldier victim in one scam, pawn in another

[unhappycamper]

Photos of Col. Richard Bartch were copied from a Web site geared for Marine families and used in an international online dating scam.


Soldier victim in one scam, pawn in another
By Michelle Tan and Kimberly Johnson - Staff writers
Posted : Monday Feb 4, 2008 5:57:03 EST

Cpl. Paul Hallenbeck was deployed to Afghanistan when he met a woman online.

The guardsman was lonely. He had been mobilized individually, away from his unit, and tasked to deploy with the 41st Brigade Combat Team from Oregon. His job had him training the Afghan army, and he was often outside the wire on dangerous missions.

The online conversations with this woman, who said she was from Nigeria, were comforting, a distraction from combat.

But after three or four months, Hallenbeck, 47, said he realized she was lying to him.

“I was helping her out with her tuition and I got scammed,” he said. “I was on a ( forward operating base ) most of the time, so any contact with humans helped, so I kind of got milked out of that.”


Rest of aticle at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/army_datescam_080204w/