MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- During a time when service members and their families continue to make sacrifices in the Global War on Terrorism, they must also have a watchful eye on a different enemy.
E-mail scams, telephone scams, identity theft and businesses exploiting young service members’ inexperience are consistent problems seen by Camp Pendleton’s Joint Legal Assistance Office.
“Marines are pretty savvy to the scams that are out there, but when someone’s clever enough to come up with a new scam, we see it peak,” said Capt. William J. Ryan, officer in charge, Joint Legal Assistance Office, Marine Corps Installations West. “(The scam) will get six or seven people before word gets around.”
One scam seen in the past is the “Nigerian scam.” Described in a recent U.S. Army news release, the Nigerian scam begins with e-mail contact from someone claiming they are overseas.
The con requests help smuggling money recovered from caches in Iraq, oil revenues from Nigeria, or lottery winnings from some other foreign location in exchange for a percentage of what was recovered. The contact asks for personal information, like bank account numbers, which is later used to steal their identity. The victim also might be asked to give a sum of money to cover unsuspecting fees, such as paying off a custom’s agent, according to the release.
Of course, the victim never receives the large payoff that was promised.
“They are variations of the same scam,” said Ryan, from Syracuse, N.Y. “The difficult thing about e-mail scams is that the person can disappear quickly. Then there is no one to sue.”
“The best advice I can offer is the same thing I tell all the Marines who come into our office, ‘If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,’” he added.
Ryan also cautions service members and their families to be aware of over-the-phone scams.
“Legitimate businesses don’t call and ask you to verify your information,” he said.
A common phone scam is the “Jury Duty scam,” in which someone calls to verify your personal information to keep you from getting jury duty. They say, “We have your social security number here. Can you verify it please?” Then the victim says their social security number because they do not want jury duty, explained Ryan.
“Once someone has enough of your personal information, they can open lines of credit in your name and use it to make online purchases. They usually cancel (the card) after they use it and you get a bill for $5,000 in the mail,” said Ryan.
“A lot of people are victims of identity theft and don’t even know it,” he added.
Anyone can check his or her credit report for unauthorized activity at annualcreditreport.com. The free Web site allows individuals to view three major credit reports. Irregularities can be investigated and removed.
More common sources of scamming service members are waiting right outside Pendleton’s gates.
“A scam that’s getting a lot of Marines right now is cars,” said Ryan. “A Marine goes to a small dealership and ends up buying a Ford Escort for $48,000.”
Marines who have recently graduated from the School of Infantry or Military Occupational Specialty schools often have a surplus of money ready to spend. Because many Marines enlist right out of high school, they are inexperienced with finances, which makes them easy targets, said Ryan.
Some car dealerships surrounding Camp Pendleton suck unsuspecting Marines and sailors into buying a vehicle for more than it is worth or into paying a very high interest rate.