TOP STORY >>Airmen’s names used in online scams

By Chris McCann
Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson Public Affairs

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AFNS) – “Hi,
Thanks for replying to my ad. I’m in a hurry to find a buyer because I have a family emergency and I need to sell it before 22 November. My name is Larry. I’m an Air Force Staff Sergeant stationed at an AF Base in Anchorage, Alaska. The truck is here with me.

“This 2000 Toyota Tundra SR5 4 Wheel Drive, has 72,000 miles on it, Automatic 4SPD, 4.7L V8. A/C, Cruise Control, Heated Seats, Tow Package, Traction Control and more... It has no damage, no scratches or dents, no hidden defects....

“The price is $2,690. If you want to buy this SUV I will take care of the delivery to your door (with an AF cargo plane to the nearest AF Base) and I will offer 5 days to inspect the vehicle and take it to your mechanic from the moment you receive it (and the option to accept or reject it), before I’ll have your money...”

Sounds too good to be true?

That’s because it is.

This scam and others similar to it have circulated around Craigslist for a few years now.

Service members of all branches have had their names used as the “sellers” of these vehicles. Often, the ad even states that an Air Force tow truck will take the vehicle from the nearest Air Force base to the buyer’s house. The photos are taken from other Craigslist ads, photo-hosting sites and even car dealership websites.

Unfortunately, people can and do get conned into sending money, and the car of course never shows up.

Staff Sgt. Amanda Gibson, an approving official for the 3rd Munitions Squadron here, was a “seller” – much to her surprise.

“I found out through an email from someone at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, (Ohio),” Gibson said. “I thought it was over. ... Then I got a call from security forces at a base in Pennsylvania because a civilian had gotten in touch with them and asked if I was real.”

She was also mentioned in an article in the Hartford, (Conn.) Courant about the scam, she said.

In all, she has found her name in 61 scam advertisements and continues to get occasional emails about the vehicle she’s allegedly selling. Gibson has filed reports with the Federal Trade Commission and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, she said.

Unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done. The scammers are not in the U.S. in most cases. FBI Agent Tim Gallagher, the section chief of the bureau’s cyber division, said that the FBI has arrested people in connection with the scams overseas.

However, that may be cold comfort to those who have been duped.

“I think service members’ names are chosen because it’s relatively easy to verify that we exist, and people want to trust military people,” Gibson said.

It’s also easy to search for a name and get results, even phone numbers, which makes potential victims think it’s legitimate. For example, even Chief Master Sgt. Lisa Kuehnl, the 673rd Air Base Wing senior enlisted advisor here, was shocked to get a call on her duty phone about a vehicle she was allegedly selling.

“I have sold things on Craigslist in the past, so the first email didn’t surprise me,” Kuehnl said. “But I would never use the duty phone. That spooked me.”

Alaska seems to be a good place for the scammers to claim as the car’s location, since it’s remote, Gibson said. Often, people don’t realize it’s a scam until they offer to make a trip to take a look at the car, which is almost always somewhere remote.

If a potential buyer offers to visit and test-drive it, suddenly there’s “another offer” and the car isn’t for sale anymore, or it’s “already crated and ready for shipping.”

And what if you discover that you’ve been “trying to sell” a beautiful vehicle at a fraction of its blue-book value?

Fortunately, said a representative from OSI, it’s usually not an actual case of identity theft, just theft of your name. Scammers use web-based email addresses, like Gmail, to do the transactions; they’re not hacking email accounts. They don’t need a person’s social security number, address or any other information – just his or her name and reputation as a service member – to get their money and disappear.

Most times, the ad states that “for your protection” the money will go to an escrow account with eBay until buyer and seller are both satisfied, officials said. But eBay and Craigslist have nothing to do with each other. Just like Toyota won’t repair your Ford, eBay won’t broker money for Craigslist.

Airmen who find that someone has used their name in connection with the scam should report it to local authorities as well as to IC3.gov and ftc.gov. OSI also recommends Airmen inform their chain of command. Some potential victims think that service members are the scammers, so their command should know what happened as soon as possible.

Airmen can also file reports with the FBI, and it’s never a bad idea to have a fraud alert on your bank account and credit cards, officials said.

Craigslist and eBay both have prominent disclaimers reminding people not to use Western Union or MoneyGram for purchases, since once the money is sent, it’s gone, with no recourse for the sender. While those services might be good for sending money to a relative or friend, they’re also often used by scam artists.