More Facebook Dangers - Impersonating Soldiers KIA

[Richard]

Buncha sorry MFers to do s**t like this to anybody.

• CWO Christopher Thibodeau - 1st Battalion, 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, KIA OEF
• SSG Matthew Pucino - B Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne), KIA OEF

Richard

I-Team: Web Impersonators
CBSPhilly, 7 Jan 2014

Tonight, the families of two fallen soldiers are outraged and hurt.

The CBS3 I-Team has learned someone is impersonating the troops online.

Now, the families are speaking out because they want others to be on alert.

CBS 3 Investigative Reporter Charlotte Huffman has the story.

For a moment it seemed like Nicole Vodicka’s brother, Chris Thibodeau, was still alive.

But the soldier who was killed while serving in Afghanistan has been gone for two years.

“You see these images, you want it be them, but you know it’s not,” said Vodicka.

She is referring to recently discovering that someone took pictures from Chris’s memorial Facebook page and was impersonating him on Facebook and another site.

One woman on the site even believed she was “in a relationship” with the fallen soldier.

“We found three profiles created that are not him but with his name and his images,” said Vodicka. “I’m disgusted that someone thinks it’s okay.”

And there are others like Vodicka.

“It’s absolutely despicable that somebody would do something like this,” says Lisa Haglof.

Somebody else is claiming to be Haglof’s brother, Matthew Pucino.

Pucino, a Green Beret, was killed in action while fighting in Afghanistan 4 years ago.

“This is somebody that died for their country, died for everybody in it, put his life on the line and you’re going to betray his name and his memory like that,” said Haglof.

The imposters created the fake profiles on Facebook and on the dating site Meet Me.

“Identity theft in regards to military personnel is an increasing trend,” says Rob D’Ovidio who is the director of Drexel’s Research Program In Computer Crime.

“Just going online and taking someone’s identity in and of itself is generally not a crime,” D’Ovidio tells CBS 3.

He says it could become a crime if the impersonator uses the phony profile for financial gain.

Both Facebook and Meet Me tell CBS3 that impersonation is against their policies and they have removed the phony profiles.

D’Ovidio says that’s the only thing the websites can do.

“But even if they do that, the big issue is, I can just log on the next day and create the same fake account in your name and do that over and over again,” said D’Ovidio.

And that’s exactly what Vodicka says happened on the Meet Me site.

So the I-Team went to the company’s base in New Hope, Pennsylvania for answers.

A Meet Me spokesperson says one-third of their staff monitors the site for fake users and that they’ve removed the page again after the I-Team contacted them.

Bottom line, no one can guarantee these pages won’t pop up again.

Lisa Haglof offers advice to others.

“Google your loved one’s names, constantly have people on the lookout for perpetrators,” said Haglof.

Just this past weekend, yet another fake Chris Thibodeau Facebook profile appeared and was taken down.

The social media websites don’t know who is behind the impersonation of these soldiers.

But both families have hired private investigators to find out.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/201...impersonators/

[cbtengr]

These are your lowest form of posers, they need to be hunted down and shown the error of their ways.

[chance]

Originally Posted by cbtengr

These are your lowest form of posers, they need to be hunted down and shown the error of their ways.

With a 9 Iron!!

[ProudGSMom]

So, you want to impersonate a fallen soldier? Okay, let me help you complete the job. Die.

[BryanK]

I recently had to utilize the vast resources here at PS.com for a friend of my wife for this very thing. Apparently a nigerian scam, some bastard assumed the identity of a Soldier (PFC) who was KIA back in '05. This is going to sound like I'm in the third grade, but the "sister of my wife's friend" who is mentally and physically disabled, was "in love" with a "U.S. Army Special Forces Sniper" whom she met on facebook.

My wife's friend told me that her sister had sent this guy thousands already in accrued disability funds. She was also requesting from my wife's friend that she lend her thousands more so this guy could "come home on leave to be with her", because they were "in love". Apparently he was saying that since he was "Special Forces", he had to pay his own way home from Afghanistan because the Army didn't pay for SF Soldiers to come home on leave. The bullshit flag raised immediately. The sister didn't know any better because after all, she is mentally disabled. Well hearing that pissed me off something awful.

So my wife's friend knew I served, and asked my wife if I had connections with any real Special Forces Soldiers. So I came here seeking confirmation of the claims. I had PM'ed TS back and forth about this, and as I figured, it was a scam. The guy had a realistic FB page with pictures of this deceased Soldier, and even went as far as exchanging telephone conversations with the sister. Time and time again my wife's friend told her sister not to send him any money until she was certain he was for real, but as it turns out, she wound up sending him every last cent she had saved during her lifetime.

I did what I could and verified that this "guy" was fake, but it was too little too late for the sister. No sooner than TS confirmed the fraud, I had already asked her where her sister wired the money to, and what a shocker, it was nigeria. At least my wife's friend didn't lend any money to her to give to this fraud.

I copied the FB page, I.P. addresses, and got ahold of some of the exchanged emails, and sent them to the FBI as well as reported the oxygen thieves who perpetrated this to facebook themselves. THE PAGE IS STILL THERE . Apparently no one gives a shit that these scams are going on so long as it doesn't affect them directly. Bigger fish to fry I guess.

As a reference, here is a link to the FB page in question (not hot-linked): hxxps://www.facebook.com/#!/russel.james.3388

[Team Sergeant]

Do you really think FaceBook folks care? They are making billions and as long as that money continues to come in they don't give a rats ass who's getting slammed.

Someone needs to bring a class action suit against FaceBook for allowing all these scams to continue on their website after being notified.

BryanK, I think your mentally disabled friend has a great case against FaceBook.

[BryanK]

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

...BryanK, I think your mentally disabled friend has a great case against FaceBook.

I agree, and when this happened I told my wife's friend to look into initiating legal action against FB for keeping his page up, and being the vessel in which the money was extorted. They refused to acknowledge our reports, so f*** 'em, get some money back out of them at least.

If that page is still up, then there must be more out there like it. I'm certain others who have been taken advantage of have reported it, but FB just sits on it. Hell, for all I know it could be an employee of FB who is cashing in.

[tonyz]

A slightly different story with a warning re the Internet - but it fits in this thread - A friend of mine begged me to to call his niece (a 40something divorcee who is otherwise successful - but took the marriage breakup very hard and subsequently developed serious health issues) and asked me to try and talk some sense into her about lending/giving money to a Nigerian national (Nigerian Sweet-talker #1).

I know, I said the same thing...does anyone really fall for these Nigerian scam things...

She was in tears during our talk, acknowledged that the "relationship" could be a scam but she said she fell in love with the dude. He (Nigerian Sweet-Talker #1) actually admitted to her that their "relationship" started as a scam but then it "evolved..."

She told me (and asked me not to tell her uncle) that she had visited the guy overseas. His "cousin" (Nigerian Sweet-Talker #2) is located in the US and visits the middle aged divorcee to reinforce the Nigerian Sweet-talker #1's undying love.

These predators prey on the needy, the broken and the weak (no offense intended to the victims of this fraud).

When confronted with various reports on similar scams...her only response was "I know but..."

My friend is beside himself - these are mature folks - the niece is fully independent and capable of making her own decisions and even took care of her dying mother...then the marriage ended...then her own illness which kept her indoors for a year or so...on the computer...

I do not know if FB was specifically used in this instance - as she merely told me they communicated via the Internet.

The Internet is wonderful for most folks but for many it opens the path for long distance predators. I would not have believed that an otherwise sane and relatively successful individual could be so easily fooled...but there it is...

The vulnerable might benefit from a little family oversight/attention when they are particularly vulnerable and online.

BryanK I hope your friend sues and wins...BT.

[Dog Pound Zulu]

http://plymouth.wickedlocal.com/arti...NEWS/140126145


Rich Harbert
Old Colony Memorial
Posted Jan. 29, 2014 @ 10:00 am

PLYMOUTH – Lisa Haglof was disgusted when a man contacted her in December to report that someone was impersonating her brother, a fallen Special Forces soldier, on the Internet.
But as the man continued to communicate with Haglof about the wrongness of the crime, something about his allusions to Staff Sgt. Matthew Pucino's service with the Green Berets did not ring true.
Within days, Haglof heard from another stranger, a woman who said she been victimized by the very same person, a man named Brandon Ashraf who was using Pucino's photos on an Internet dating site.
Haglof and her family were floored.
"I wanted to crawl through the computer to get to him," Haglof said.
But with the help of the woman and police in upstate New York, they were able to bring charges against Ashraf for impersonating a war hero.
Pucino's family celebrated last weekend after learning that police in Cheektowaga, N.Y., had charged Ashraf with impersonating Pucino, a Special Forces officer who died in an explosion in Afghanistan in November 2009.
Pucino grew up in West Plymouth.
Lisa Haglof said New York authorities told her Ashraf admitted to impersonating her brother and expressed remorse. He faces second-degree criminal impersonation charges that could land him in jail for a year, but the maximum penalty is unlikely without an accompanying monetary loss.
Haglof said she learned of the impersonation from Ashraf, himself, a 28-year-old firefighter and paramedic who contacted her in early December to say he had found someone using her brother's name and image online.
The images had been taken from the website the Pucino family created to honor the son, brother and uncle known to friends as Blackbeard.
Haglof said two women have since come forward to say Ashraf contacted them using Pucino's name, image or both.
In at least one case, Ashraf used the Blackbeard nickname and linked to photos of Pucino with his sisters, claiming the women as his own siblings.
Haglof said she is still waiting to hear more from a third woman who contacted her with a similar story only recently, after learning about Ashraf's arrest in New York.
According to police there, the charges stem from Ashraf's use of Pucino's name and image on the Internet in 2011 and 2012. Cheektowaga police said Ashraf went so far as to set up a meeting in Florida with a woman from one of the dating sites.
Haglof said she was told Ashraf took on her brother's identity as part of a game designed by others online to see how many women they could trick into online relationships.
The incident has been as sad as it has been repulsive for the family, which must now be ever vigilant against similar online imposters.
- See more at: http://plymouth.wickedlocal.com/arti....5fg2lS41.dpuf

[JJ_BPK]

I just spotted a FB page:
SSG Matthew A. Pucino Memorial Foundation, Ltd Non-Profit Organization


Matt's sister, Lisa, is listed on the board. I guess we can assume that 501C is legit?

SSG Matthew A. Pucino Memorial Foundation, Ltd
Non-Profit Organization

About

Gold Star Family operated 501c3 Non-Profit Organization that assists our wounded military heroes and their families in honor of our fallen HERO

Mission

The SSG Matthew A. Pucino Memorial Foundation Ltd, therefore, has been created to continue the battle by creating a legacy of assistance for our wounded military hero’s, their families and extended military families of the fallen, their spirits will live in our hearts forever.

Company Overview

On November 23, 2009, a hero was lost to the world. SSG Matthew A. Pucino, Special Forces-Green Beret, laid down his life to free the oppressed. The SSG Matthew A. Pucino Memorial Foundation, Ltd. was created to continue the battle by creating a legacy of assistance for our wounded military hero’s - their spirits will live in our heart’s forever!

https://www.facebook.com/mattpooch

http://www.matthewpucinofoundation.o...ut-uncle-matt/

[Team Sergeant]

Ahh FaceBook, helping felons commit crimes 24/7.........