People who have fallen victim to online scammers often contact the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. These scams are attempts by con artists to trick you into sending them money by posing as friends, lovers, or business partners on the internet and then taking advantage of that connection to make demands for money.
The most frequent scams we come across involve calls, texts, or messages on social media platforms (Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, Kik, dating apps, etc.) from someone posing as an American citizen stationed in Afghanistan. This person could be a military contractor, a diplomat stationed at the U.S. Embassy, an employee of an international aid organization, or any combination of these roles.
These extremely convincing scam artists spend weeks or months cultivating a relationship before searching the Internet for possible victims. To support
they frequently use names and images of actual soldiers or models that they have taken from online websites to embellish their bogus narratives. Once the victim has trusted them, the con artists fabricate a scenario and demand money. Con artists may be highly crafty and cunning, fabricating heartbreaking but plausible tales to entice you to donate money. Once the money is sent to the recipient, they vanish and stop answering texts.
Prior to sending money, examine if you can identify any of the following “red flags” as warning indicators that you might be a prospective scam victim:
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