Is this a con?

[Shears]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia

I apologize for the lack of detail I have right now, but I just need to get this started somehow.

I believe my mother is involved with a con artist. The foundation of their relationship was based on an internet lie to begin with on a dating site, and my gut is screaming that something is very wrong with this man. I have been unable to find much information on him on the internet. I don't know how to find out the truth about this man.

One of the biggest questionable stories is that he's a career marine, was 'black ops', was disabled and left by the US govt 'to rot in a VA hospital' and told he'd never walk again (not sure how many years ago). My mother met him 2 years ago (he was not in a VA hospital, and walks with a cane). He seems to receive littlel-to-no money (from anyone but my well-off mother). I can't seem to get a coherent explanation (I'm close to just blatantly asking for the 'story' in writing). It appears he's 'not retired', but 'not receiving disability'. He reports to be in some kind of negotiation/struggle with the US government? VA? or something...and my mother keeps 'waiting for this to be resolved and for him to get his money'. She reports that she has taken him to the VA hospital for appointments - so there appears to be *some* truth to his military involvement at least.

Like I said, I know this is very unclear, and I'm actually trying to figure out, without putting a larger wedge in my family than this man already has, just WHAT the real story is. In the meantime, does it sound right to anyone here that someone would not be receiving full retirement, or else full disability, at 60+ years of age and having been in the marines supposedly for 40 years. ?? Again, this has been the story for 2 years and 2 months now. Seems like a long time for a decorated marine to be ignored by the country he fought for.

Unfortunately the first red flag about this man that made me very wary of him had nothing to do with this 'no money' story, so by the time this story came to light I was already reluctant to believe much of what he has to say.

Any experience in the above would be much appreciated.

 

[FFuries]

Just because a person is getting VA benefits it doesn't make them a Veteran. There are plenty of Scam Artists that have scammed the VA. There are a few sites that go out of their way to either disprove or prove a Veterans status. Most if not all scammers claim Spec-Operations, Special Forces, Black-Ops etc, saying their records are sealed (BS).The US Marines did not enter the Special Operations world until Feb 06 when it stood up MARSOC and became a part of USSOCOM. Take everything he says with a grain of salt. Until you can prove or disprove his claims. I did 17 of my 23 years in the AF working under Air Force Special Operations Command. So I hear a lot BS from people claiming Spec-Ops, SF, SEAL, Force Recon etc.

On the other hand his VA story could be legit, my VA claim was easy took 90 days from the date I filed my paperwork for them to rate me 100% Permanent and Totally Disabled, some people have been flighting for years. Not retired would mean less than 20 years, and wasn't rated by the Marines as 30% or greater disabled. 30% is the magic number to be retired under the disability rules.

One of these network for busting posers is P.O.W. Network You can actually look through their list and see if his name is already listed on there. Click on heros or villians then go to the second list which has Spec-Ops listed and look for his name. If not there you can send his name to them with your story and they will do a request for his official records and all.

Good luck with all this.

Mike
USAF Retired

 

[FlyingRon]

“There were about 500 SEALs that operated in Vietnam, and I’ve met all 20,000 of them,” -- Steve Waterman swaterman.com, former navy diver and phony-seal exposer

 

[ecmst12]

Just because he is a vet and he has an injury does not mean the 2 things are related, injury may not be service connected, may have happened after discharge, but he would still be able to get treatment for it at the VA hospital if he has VA health benefits. People can mae up all kinds of stories, don't make them true.

 

[mustangapril]

You could always try to get into a friendly conversation with him and ask him what branch of service he was in, what rank he got to, where he's been and then ask for pictures (because you are so interested)

 

[FFuries]

20 years plus and he would qualify for a retirement. If you have his name you can do a FOIA request, or let one of the poser sites do it. His math makes his retirement in the last few years. I agree with what ecmst12 stated.

Piggy-backing on what mustangapril said, ask about where, what units, what was his MOS (job) etc. Let him believe you are really interested in what he did, then use the information to either prove him or disprove him. If he claims valor medals and is found to be a poser, he's in violation of the Stolen Valor Act.

To me, and this is just my opinion, he seems to be taking your mother for a ride. Get to the bottom of this ASAP. Again check the poser sites and see if he's already listed.

 

[Shears]

Thank you

Oh my goodness you don't KNOW how much appreciate all of your comments. I feel so alone and like *I'm* the crazy person for my absolute distrust of all of this, largely because my expression of my fears to my mother (who has always been so sharp and wise in the past) early on in their relationship have gone ignored.

Thank you thank you thank you for the suggestions and resources. I'm off to do more research using the info you've all provided. THANK YOU

 

[Shears]

You could always try to get into a friendly conversation with him and ask him what branch of service he was in, what rank he got to, where he's been and then ask for pictures (because you are so interested)

Interestingly as well...for two years this man has been pretty much a 'kept' man in my mom's home. He has no car and no driver's license. My mother is his taxi and keeper. He *does not work* at all, anywhere. Well, earlier this year, my mom calls me to 'share great news' with me - that he has been made a 'full bird colonel' or something like that. ?

Does this even make sense??? Do you get 'promoted' when you're seemingly not even active??

Again, I'm pretty ignorant of most-things-military, so I don't know the definition of 'active' versus 'inactive', but I *DO* know this man hasn't left the city or state or anything in 2 years and has worn no uniform and is 99% of the time in my mother's presence - not deployed anywhere or going to any office to work or anything of the sort.

 

[xylene]

Hire a private investigator to do a background check on the man.

He (or she) would find out in 2 days what you might miss in 3 months of amateur sleuthing.

Plus then you would have evidence, rather than more of your own opinion.

 

[Shears]

Hire a private investigator to do a background check on the man.

He (or she) would find out in 2 days what you might miss in 3 months of amateur sleuthing.

Plus then you would have evidence, rather than more of your own opinion.

I contacted one yesterday - I'm trying to find a firm that has experience digging into military records rather than just do a 'normal' background check. In the meantime, the firm I spoke with yesterday told me I'd need at a minimum his DOB. I'm going to try to ascertain that this weekend and get this ball rolling.

 

[FFuries]

40 years to make O-6 BS. Don't need to have knowledge with military stuff to get the information. All a PI would have to do is FOIA request, Freedom Of Information Act request. Will show what he did in the military, when and where he served, his rank and awards and decorations. It's pretty simple and easy to do.

 

[Shears]

40 years to make O-6 BS. Don't need to have knowledge with military stuff to get the information. All a PI would have to do is FOIA request, Freedom Of Information Act request. Will show what he did in the military, when and where he served, his rank and awards and decorations. It's pretty simple and easy to do.

Yes - thanks to your original response to me with the pownetwork url, I've been on a very interesting internet trail that has taught me a lot in the last 24 hours! I tracked down his DOB (I don't have a service # or SSN for him, and I don't know how I could easily get that without being obvious), and mailed my FOIA request to St. Louis today

I did a criminal background check last night as well, and found a 25 year old GBI conviction on him for 9 counts of fraud.

We'll see what else there is to see from St. Louis soon enough I hope...

 

[FFuries]

Keep us posted and updated and let us know how this turns out. Good luck with all this. If he turns out to be a fraud, I hope your mother can understand that you did this to protect her!

 

[aceoftrades]

He's a fraud...I'm a former Marine and the first red flag is the "Black Op's" comment...99.9999% of the time if they are claiming that then they aren't and never have been. The rest of his story sounds like bs also...Please keep us posted.

 

[CLJM]

Shears,

I can vouch for the POW Network. Chuck and Mary do an excellent job ! They are able to get far more information through their contacts than just a FOIA request from a layperson, and in less time.

Good luck to you.