Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46232
New Scam Targets Military Spouses
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 31, 2007 – The American Red Cross is warning military spouses about a new identity-theft scam that targets family members of deployed troops.
The Red Cross was alerted of the scam earlier this month, said Devorah Goldburg of the Red Cross.
The scam involves a person with an American accent calling a military spouse, identifying herself as a representative of the Red Cross, and telling the spouse that her husband was hurt in Iraq and was medically evacuated to Germany. The caller then says that doctors can’t start treatment until paperwork is completed, and that to start the paperwork they need the spouse to verify her husband’s social security number and date of birth.
It is hard to determine how many spouses have been targeted by this scam, Goldburg said, as there are many ways for spouses to report problems like this. However, one confirmed report was enough for the Red Cross to act, she said.
“We know that it happened to one person; it was probably going to happen to others, and we wanted to be prudent and alert people,” she said.
American Red Cross representatives typically do not contact military members or dependents directly and almost always go through a commander or first sergeant, according to a Red Cross news release. Military family members are urged not to give out any personal information over the phone if contacted by unknown individuals, including confirmation that their spouse is deployed.
In addition, Red Cross representatives contact military members or dependents directly only in response to an emergency message initiated by a family member, the news release said. The Red Cross does not report any type of casualty information to family members; the Defense Department will contact families directly about family members’ injuries.
It is a federal crime, punishable by up to five years in prison, for a person to fraudulently pretend to be a member of, or an agent for, the American Red Cross for the purpose of soliciting, collecting, or receiving money or material, according to the news release. Any military family member that receives such a call is urged to report it to their local family readiness group or military personnel flight.
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46242
Militia Commander’s Capture Highlights Recent Iraq Operations
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 31, 2007 – Iraqi troops captured a militia commander, a U.S. helicopter crew destroyed a heavily armed vehicle, and an Iraqi police chief and more than a dozen associates have been arrested, military officials reported.
Iraqi special operations forces apprehended a commander in radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s illegal militia during an early morning raid in Kadamiyah, a central suburb of Baghdad, yesterday.
The suspect allegedly is responsible for providing financial, logistical and political support for insurgent groups and terrorist organizations. He also is suspected of managing operations to murder and intimidate local Iraqis, ordering several attacks on coalition forces, and overseeing the training of insurgent recruits.
No coalition or Iraqi forces were injured in the operation.
Also yesterday, a team of Apache attack helicopter pilots destroyed a heavily armed vehicle south of Radwaniyah.
The Apache team from the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade spotted the vehicle near a canal. The vehicle had a heavy machine gun mount attached to the bed of the truck and reinforced sidewalls with gun ports.
The Apaches fired two Hellfire missiles and destroyed the vehicle. No civilians were injured.
On May 29, the district police chief of Hit, Hamid Ibrahim Jazaa, along with his brother and 14 bodyguards, were apprehended by coalition forces after an investigation into murder, corruption and crimes against the Iraqi people. All are being held in coalition custody.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)