In 2009, the story of Eric Cooper stole the media headlines. He claimed he was a Naval officer and convinced not one but nine women into marrying him. Once he got the love-struck ladies to say “I do,” he stole their money.

His weapon of choice was the internet. He created a fake dating profile filled with pictures of him wearing an officer uniform. Cooper claimed to be based out of Houston where he said he lived for a decade and flew an F-16. All of which would add up as bogus to the seasoned military community especially that there is not a Naval base in Houston, and the F-16 is an Air Force plane. However to unsuspecting women in search of their real life version of an officer and a gentleman they did not research Cooper’s claims.

Unfortunately, there is a rise in fake military dating profiles so much so that the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Command (ACIC) even issued a statement:

According to the ACIC, “con artists will fabricate relationships with women and then ask for money to enable them to visit the victims. Once these unsuspecting women send the money, they never hear from the “soldiers” again. Many of these emails have been traced back to foreign cyber-cafes in Africa, but the individuals operating these fake U.S. soldier online dating scams are difficult, if not impossible, to track down. Be very careful if you are contacted via a social dating website by someone claiming to be a member of the U.S. military.”

CinCHouse.com has some helpful suggestions for internet daters and how to avoid being a victim of an online scam:

Most fakes try to impress women by claiming to be part of the high profile groups like Navy SEALs or Delta Force. So start by asking about his daily job. In reality, there are very few special forces operators and pilots and far more aviation mechanics and ground crews. Most non-pilots in the military don’t usually lie and say that they are pilots – they’ll say that they are Navigators, gunners or some other part of a plane’s crew. If your man initially claims he works in aviation, he should clarify when pressed that he is a navigator or works in the air crew. It doesn’t sound as sexy as “pilot”, but he’s actually quite a catch.

Beware the 19 year old who says he’s a lieutenant. Officers are required to have a college degree. So unless he skipped a few grades and graduated from college at 16, he’s yanking your chain. Similarly, beware the guy who claims to have some grandiose or over-inflated rank like Senior Master Gunnery Petty Officer 1st Class. You can easily look up military ranks and other information on the Department of Defense web site at www.defenselink.mil. Keep in mind, the higher the rank, the longer it takes to get there – you can’t become a Colonel or a Master Chief Petty Officer at age 25.

Ask your man the specific name of his specific command and do a Google search for it. Although a true blue service member may be stationed at Fort Benning, he should respond that his command is the 317th Engineering Battalion or the 598th Maintenance Company, two of the many commands on Fort Benning. Most bases and commands have web sites where you can easily verify this information, and all officers are given business cards. For extra measure, you can check the names of the commanding officers and staff to see if his boss is who he says.

If you’re out on a date or see a picture of your guy, dreamily ask about his ‘chest candy’ – the medals and ribbons that tell the tales of his heroic deeds. This should be his opportunity to brag, but if your man says he received anything with the word ‘congressional’ in it, run as fast as you can. There is only one Congressional Medal of Honor and only about 50 living people own it. On the other hand, if your guy starts spewing weird-sounding acronyms for his awards like ‘muck,’ ‘nam’ and ‘com,’ you’ve got a winner. A ‘muck’ is a Meritorious Unit Commendation or MUC, a common ribbon on the chests of many sailors and Marines.

To follow up on the medals, ask your guy questions about his training and experience. Where did he do boot camp? What about officer candidate school? Ask about deployments and where he’s been. A fraud may avoid those questions by claiming that he’s in some super secret intelligence field that restricts him from talking about his career or assignments. That should raise your suspicions. The vast majority of soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines do not have top secret jobs and there is no reason not to tell you what they’ve done in the service (within reason, of course) but usually they’ll tell you where they’ve been, when and then politely omit things they shouldn’t divulge.

Acronyms and jargon are also great tools for researching the validity of your guy’s claims. If your Air Force officer claims to fly F-14, you’ll know he’s a liar because F-14s are Navy jets. If your Navy SEAL exclaims “Yahoo!” instead of “Hoo-yah!” be sure to pour your drink in his lap before you leave.

All of this information can be verified on the Internet, particularly on specilized veterans sites (just google ‘fake SEALS’) and the Department of Defense web site at www.defenselink.mil. But if you still have questions, go to a military-friendly chat group such as those found on CinCHouse.com or call your local recruiter office.

HAVE A QUESTION FOR DIANA? E-MAIL HER AT MYWINGMANDIANA@GMAIL.COM