‘I Love You’ From Afghanistan – Now Send Money

By Major Van Harl USAF Ret

From Afghanistan with Love
‘I Love You’ From Afghanistan – Now Send Money
AmmoLand Gun News
AmmoLand Gun News

Wisconsin –-(Ammoland.com)-  You’re a female with a computer and you receive the following e-mail:

“Hi, I am Sergeant G.I. Joe and I am stationed in Afghanistan. It is a hard life over here and very lonely. I found you on a social networking site and just had to make contact with you. I can see by your picture you are a well nourished professional and very single older business woman. I also read you have a master’s degree in women’s studies from an expensive east coast all female college. From the looks of you in your sweat pants outfit I can assume you are a really good cook. With all those cats in the background of your picture you must be a very caring person. I would like to send you a few more e-mails before I tell you I am falling head-over-heals for you. After more message traffic I will start taking about making plans for “us’ when I get home from this horrible war. And then after we have some really solid inter-net courtship action going, I will start asking you for money, because the military does not cover all my needs and expenses here in this dreadful combat zone thing-eee. Enclosed is a photo of me taken just after I won this year’s Camp Swampy Iran-man competition. I hope with me not having a shirt on and all my bulging muscles showing, your chaste and pure sensibilities are not offended. It was the only current picture I have where I am not covered in the enemy’s blood—this war is so afoul and as I said I am so alone. Good-bye for now, with all my devotion and sincere compassion for you, signed Sgt. G.I. Joe. Somewhere in dangerous Iraq, no I mean Afghanistan.”

Does the above alleged e-mail message sound a little like B.S. to you or perhaps maybe a bit mean spirited & sexist?

Are there really nice American Soldiers sending out e-mails like this to lonely women back state side, who are waiting with computer in hand, by the glow of the fireplace, responding to such garbage?

For the most part, yes is the answer to all my questions with the exception of the “nice American Soldier” bit.

If you are the recipient of this type of e-mail most likely it is not coming from some poor lonely G.I. who is trying to find a soul mate 5000 miles away. It is from Nigeria, the land of scam artists.

There are so many people in this country (and the world) who just cannot resist pouring out their hearts on the internet. Telling the world just what an under performer they are when it comes to affairs of the heart. Sadly, there are people who will take this readily available, on-line personal information, use it against the very person who is divulging this less than exciting alleged human drama and turn it against the poor sucker.

Yes I know I said sucker and the actor W.C. Fields is, supposed to have said “a sucker is born every minute.” Also according to Mr. Fields “you cannot cheat an honest person”, but with the internet it would appear you surely can mislead a lot of them, especially people who are looking for love in all the wrong places.

These Nigerians want you to send the “American Soldier” they profess to be on-line, money and apparently these Nigerians are pretty good at it. For some reason they love to target the British. One woman in England sent over $172,000 to her new found e-mail love /soldier.

Playing on the emotions of these love-starved and in some cases just pathetic people, might even be funny when you first read about it, if it was not so sad how much these women are taken for, in both financial and emotional cost. I was receiving Nigerian scam letters twenty years ago. Now I get e-mail requests weekly too help smuggle millions of dollars of stolen bootie out of Nigeria. They don’t even have to pretend to fall in love with me in order for me to get “my absconded millions.”

I just got a scam today from an “American Soldier” who found barrels of money and gold that Sadam Hussein himself left in one of his many palaces. The Soldier is willing to give me half if I will help him get it back to the US—I only have to send him some money to get the ball rolling.

John Wayne said “Life is hard and it is harder if you’re stupid.”

Major Van Harl USAF Ret
[email protected]

About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.:
Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret. , is a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. Now retired, these days he enjoys camping, traveling, volunteering with the Girl Scouts and writing. [email protected]