Going Overseas to Serve Your Country? Scammers Will Probably Steal Your Photos While You're Gone
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Facebook has been in a heck of a lot of hot water lately: from election hacking to unfairly targeted ads.
But, one story that hasn't been getting a lot of attention in the press this year is that women are still being scammed with pictures of military members. Learn more about Linkedin profile pictures tips on our website PhotographyTalk.com.
The Case of U.S. Army Veteran Albert Lovato
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Imagine this: you unexpectedly receive a Facebook message from a woman you've never heard of and she's upset.
Now, imagine you've received over 30 of these messages. This is the harrowing story of U.S. Army veteran Albert Lovato
Lovato, who was deployed to Afghanistan, said these women were scammed out of thousands of dollars. The scammers stole photos of him off of Facebook and created profiles on dating sites and social media sites alike.
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The scammer used the same scam over and over again. He made the women fall in love with his character, before stating he got injured in combat and needed money for his sick children back home.
Lovato, who had recently beat a struggle with alcoholism, said it felt especially cruel.
"I served honorably in Iraq and Afghanistan and this dude swooped in and took my name and face. He used all I have done in my life honorably for dishonorable means," he said in an interview with the New York Post.
"These women were telling me they loved me. These people had formed relationships with me and I wasn't even in the country."
The Perfect Storm
This U.S. soldier scam is so pervasive, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command set up an entire page to allow women to report the crimes.
While this scam isn't new (service members are naturally one of the best targets considering they are going to be the ones least often online), it is growing.
The CID receives "hundreds of allegations a month from victims who state they got involved in an online relationship with someone, on a legitimate dating website or other social media website, who claims to be a U.S. soldier." Also check Linkedin profile photo tips here.
Despite the creation of multiple task forces, the CID can't handle the problem alone.
So, Where's Facebook?
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The New York Times just published another story of another veteran who had his pictures stolen off Facebook in order to scam money out of women.
But this time, the veteran, Daniel Anonsen, said Facebook wouldn't take down many of the fake accounts because they didn't violate the terms of use.
He then turned to his military superiors.
"I thought military intelligence would be able to type a couple of zeros and ones and it would all go away, but it's not that simple," he said.
Now, every time Anonsen is out in public with his wife he is worried about being assaulted by one of the scammer's victims.
What do you think? Is Facebook doing enough? Is it Facebook's responsibility to fix this pervasive problem?
Via the Daily Wire