The worried mother of a U.S. soldier in Russian custody said Wednesday that her son “was lured” there by a Russian woman he had been seeing in South Korea for over a year and that he’s being held on trumped-up charges of stealing roughly $100 from her.
Melody Jones said she thinks her son, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, was set up by his girlfriend, whom she identified as Aleksandra Vashchuk.
“I think she convinced him to come there,” Jones said in a video interview from her home in Cheyenne, Wyoming. “He wanted to see her for the last time before going home, and so he went there.”
The Russians detained Black, 34, on theft charges last week after he traveled from the military base in South Korea where he had been stationed to the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.
A Defense Department spokesperson said Tuesday that the Army is investigating whether Russia’s intelligence services specifically targeted Black.
You would think “if you’re lonely, don’t trust Russian women online” would be pretty drilled into U.S. troops, especially ones near the Russian border.
They used to make sure even the dumbest troops in WWII understood that concept when it came to Nazis.
Amazingly, none of our troops in WWII hooked up with any Nazis they met online.
Ah that’s because tinder wasn’t invented until the 1950s.
People often overlook the power of classified pages in newspapers. Earliest (10,000 BCE) writings show adds like, “young hot 34DD Russian single looking for reliable AMERICAN military general for marriage.” I’m sure people fell for that scam back then as well.
It says they were dating in S Korea
Yes, that’s where the honeypot starts. Locally.
It’s very common to have bars staffed by foreigners immediately outside of US bases in South Korea.
Not sure how it is now. But I was working in Seoul around 25 years ago. The hotel I was working at had afno and there were always these really patronising public service pieces in between the old (yes in 2000 there were still old simpsons episodes). I’d be amazed something about this wasn’t one of them.
You got thousands of troops, someone is bound to slip up.
How dumb do you have to be to fall for something like that?
He works for the US crayon eating depatment.
Hey! That dumb motherfucker is ARMY, he’s no Marine.
Sorry, the glue sniffing department in that case
The George W Bush Honorary Crayon Eating Department to you, you young whippersnapper
This scam is as old as time. A person in a bad place in their life and/or let hormones make their decisions is vulnerable to these. People considered ‘intelligent’ get duped in scams too.
Human behavior is probabilistic. Remember that people try to put out grease fires with water. You have to account for that with important things.
When I originally read about this I assumed he was some dumb kid, but someone that’s been in the service for 16 years should know better.
“They have a 6½-year-old daughter,” Jones said. “And she misses her daddy.”
He was also cheating on his wife with this woman for over a year and delayed getting back home to his daughter so he could go to Russia to cheat on the mother of his child.
He should have known better on many levels.
And I don’t think he gives a single fuck about his daughter.
How to know if the woman you are talking to is a Honeypot:
Are they Russian?
If yes, the woman you are talking to is a Honeypot.
A Defense Department spokesperson said Tuesday that the Army is investigating whether Russia’s intelligence services specifically targeted Black.
Russia bet on black.
I’m not even in the service and I still wouldn’t step foot in Russia. This dense mother fucker, I hope he makes it out alright.
Post nut clarity will save you a lot of headaches in life.
$100? No wonder they’re holding him, that money could have doubled the size of the victory day parade!
understandable
