I am looking to buy something over the Internet from a military member; how can I confirm their military status?
A number of online auction sellers are advertising their military status in order to gain trust with the buyer. However, the sellers are not always honest and an increasing number of sellers are lying about being military members in order to defraud the buyer. However, there is no office established to confirm whether a particular individual is a military member or not.
Individuals looking to purchase items online are advised to not make their purchase decision solely on the basis of the seller's military status. Individuals can also defend against this technique by paying the seller locally. If meeting in person is not possible, reputable services exist to transfer money. However, the user must be careful to use their own bookmarks to visit the website, as scammers will try to send links to a website that looks like a legitimate company, but is actually a website the scammer created.
If an auction scam is spotted, it should be reported to the auction website so it can be taken down and then reported to law enforcement. Internet scams are the jurisdiction of the United States Secret Service (USSS) and a list of USSS phone numbers is available on the USSS website (http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml ).
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