My friend met a soldier over the internet and I'm worried

[southernkisses]

I did not know where else to search for help in finding out if this "soldier" that my friend has been talking to for months is really legit. I can't seem to find any way to get the Army to tell me. So, I figured, why not ask others for help....others like you. My friend was messaged on MySpace by this man who says that his name is Sgt. Harry Button and that he is in the Army currently in Iraq. With all of the scammers pretending to be soldiers, I am worried that she is going to end up heartbroken by this guy. I know that I am upsetting her by my constant worrying, but you look out for your friends. Over the past year or so that they've been talking, he has only sent her 4 pictures of himself. I was able to get copies of those pictures. I have tried to send them to the Army to get confirmation of who he is, but to no avail. I have placed them on YouTube, but have not gotten a response. I just have this gut feeling that this guy is using an actual soldier's pics, but that he is a fraud. Can anyone help me out? I can probably post the pics if you would like to see them. Please let me know your thoughts on this.

[christeetob (deleted)]

`Dear southernkisses,

Hi. I have just sent you an email message in response to this topic you post about your friend. Let me know if not received.

[themrssteele1 (deleted)]

`Hello Southernkisses,
my first questions is?
Does your friend have any experience or knowledge about the Military? Cause if not then she has to be very cautious. Their are a lot of fakes on military sites posing as US Soldiers, with a nice pic in Uniform, but most of the time they are in Nigeria, or the Middle east somewhere trying to get money.

I have been around the Army for 23 years, plus work as a civilian for the Army which means I have military background and can spot a fake within 5 min, cause most of the time they have no knowledge of the Military. Like for instance if you ask them for their MOS, which is their Military Occupational skills, they should give you something like 95 B, but they will tell you like yes I'm a SGT thats a clue. SGT is a Rank not a Job. Also if they avoid all questions relating to the military. Another thing is, normally a GI will have the Post he is stationed at showing on his Profile. Fakes always list big cities, in places where there is no military Post...
They speak broken english, will tell you stuff like that they have 20 years in Service and a SGT, which is a lie. With 20 years in Service you have to be atleast a SFC or Colonel. You can email me
if you need help finding out if the guy is real, have done it before for other people.

Elke

[sempercop]

`Ask military specific questions.

What is your MOS?
Where are you stationed when you are not deployed?
What is your rank/paygrade?
What is your unit?
Who is your commanding officer?

All legit simple questions. If he provides his unit and base, simply contact the base. If he is a Military Police officer (for example) contact the base's Provost Marshal's Office (Military police in the Army), they should be able to tell you if he is working that day or not. Most contact numbers for bases are listed on their official webpages.

Any questions just message me.