Brian Khan of Harrisburg claimed to be a Marine who served in Afghanistan. He had everyone fooled, including a documentary filmmaker and his own kids.
Read Harrisburg man who faked being a Marine even fooled his family, brother says, on PennLive.com.
Link supplied by a Lovefraud reader.
Near
This is exactly why I LOVE this site. It covers stories like this that highlight the deceptive nature of a sociopath, instead of just the violent side that popular culture focuses on exclusively.
This is a true con(if a con can be true). He even fooled some real soldiers. The sad part is, this stuff happens ALL OF THE TIME. Watchdog groups are doing great spotting these fools, but more people just keep pretending.
I live in a military town now, and this is a pretty big issue here. The guys that pull these cons are just pretenders, though. They are truly cowards who couldn’t last a minute as a true soldier.
No honor.
No discipline.
No Bravery.
All that is left is a spineless, imaginary man.
Ox Drover
“QUOTE from article: “But when a man believed to be a veteran comes to you and says he is suffering from PTSD, the last thing you want to do is question his legitimacy, Rubio said. You want to help him.”
We are the same way here on LF and so sometimes TROLLS come here disguised as victims, but when they first come here we must accept them for what they SAY they are. But like this man they usually out themselves.
QUOTE: Rubio said that within hours of his posting the video on YouTube, the alarms started going off from watchdog groups whose members troll the Internet exposing fakers who pass themselves off as veterans or current members of the military.
“We got fooled,” Rubio said. “PTSD takes the lives of 18 veterans every day. It’s like somebody faking cancer to get the sympathy and money. It’s disgusting.”
Anyone can be FOOLED. so we should not bash ourselves for being fooled by a psychopath.
QUOTE: Retired Navy SEAL Don Shipley of Chesapeake, Va., is one of the watchdogs who expose military fakers. In 2011, Shipley outed the Rev. Jim Moats after Moats claimed in a Patriot-News story that he was a former SEAL.
Moats acknowledged the deception, and remains pastor of Christian Bible Fellowship Church in Newville, Cumberland County, according to the church’s website. He did not return a phone call seeking comment for this story.
WHAT THE HECK? this guy is still a minister of a church?
Donna Andersen
More news from POW Network –
Disabled veterans in Texas fleeced by VA-appointed money managers:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Disabled-veterans-in-Texas-fleeced-by-3571559.php
Truthspeak
Thanks, Donna, for this article. At first, I thought it was about my eldest son until I read the article.
Eldest son has claimed that he is a decorated combat veteran, was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, saw combat in Kabul and witnessed the death of his superior (even gave a name), and so and and so forth ad nauseum.
People BELIEVE my eldest son because the alternative is too vile to even contemplate. That someone (ANYone) would impersonate a decorated combat veteran is just too much for most people to process. Why would anyone LIE about something like that?
Money. Status. Prestige. EXCUSES for their violent outbursts (PSTD? Really?).
Jeeeezus….
Sparklehorse
I am looking for opinions from the wise counsel of this board.
I have written a little already about my spath experience and the current dilemma but here is a brief recap.
Basically, he moved out of state around the time that I discovered cheating and lying and this was topped with already troubling drinking by him. We had a pretty high drama breakup when he visited (ostensibly to see his children but really to attend court for a DUI). He took most of things when he moved away and he took almost everything else during the break-up horror but there are a few things still here, in the basement. In the fall, after we broke up but before I understood that I was dealing with a sociopath, I told him I have some things of his that I wanted to return.
He owed me money after we broke up and with wise advice from here, I let go of being repaid after he had only paid me 1/4 of the debt. I decided it was worth it not to have more contact with him and that he would inevitably use this to try to manipulate and abuse me. The last contact we had was when he sent me a check that I received on Christmas Day, with a short, rather nasty note. I acknowledged the check and said Happy New Year and have made not contact since then. I still had connections on social media but I severed those connections a few weeks ago. I had his information blocked but I just wanted to fade away like a little grey rock in the dusk. I did learn that he married his next victim from FB. The way he played this out convinced me once and for all that he is a poisonous person so it was good information for me.
Since then, I feel like I am healing well and in recent weeks have achieved frequent moments of the Nirvana of Indifference about him.
Early last week, I received an email from him, stating that he had used me for a reference for military clearance for his job. He did not ask me but told me after the fact. He then said he was sending me a check. The whole thing smacked of manipulation and I posted a little here about it.
A few days later, I received the check from him. In the little note, he says, among other things, that he is planning to visit my state over the summer to see his children and perhaps he can come get his stuff that he “forgot.” He also asked me about my cat and said he missed me and my cat.
Then the next day, I got three forms in the mail, requesting information about him. The forms are from the US Office of Personnel Management. Nothing on them indicates that I am required to fill these forms out. The questions ask about adverse information and I would have to check every box and explain in another box what my information is.
I do not want to get pulled into this situation that has many red flags for me. The best solution I can think of is to cash the check and otherwise do nothing.
Please, if anyone has any thoughts or advice, I welcome them. I really feel a little scared of doing the wrong thing here.
witsend
Sparklehorse,
The whole thing reeks of manipulation to me….He sends you a check in return you fill out the papers he needs.
Lots of red flags. Slippery slopes.
My humble opinion is to do nothing with the papers. Change your email so that he can’t email you anymore. You don’t want to be available to him to contact you in any way to come and get his stuff when he visits.
If at all possible it would be wise to throw away his stuff. And then he wouldn’t have any need to come and pick up something that isn’t there any more.
Truthspeak
Sparklehorse, what is he sending you a check for? Spousal support? Rent arrears? Loan payment? Storage fees for your keeping his “stuff” safe and secure? If it has NO legal connotation in the memo line, SEND IT BACK.
If he needed the things that he left behind, he should have taken them when he left – it’s been entirely TOO long and I agree with Witty that these belongings have been abandoned and should be discarded, immediately.
Red flags? These “flags” are on fire – he should have NO access to security and he must be insane to name you as a personal reference. If it were me, I would discard the papers or return them to the Personnel office without any references, notations, signature, NOTHING….just blank.
I also agree that any open door of communication with him is very, very dangerous – it is just one more means to maintain contact with you and impede your healing.
Brightest blessings
MoonDancer
sparkle – just send that check to me and i will take care of it for you.
Divorced from Gaslighter
Truthspeak, I think that Sparklehorse loaned her ex some money, and he s-l-o-w-l-y repays it in tiny amounts, while wanting to spend endless time talking to her about repaying the money.
Sparklehorse: Cash the check. When it clears, call the phone number of the place that will receive the paperwork, and ask them if the information that you turn in will be available to your ex or not. If you are SURE that the information you give will NOT be released, and that the military will NOT tell the ex that the information given was unfavorable, then I would fill in the forms very cautiously and carefully. Give him the benefit of the doubt on anything and everything that you can, but be truthful about the faults and failings that you have ACTUALLY WITNESSED. Use “don’t know” and “does not apply” whenever appropriate. After you fill out the forms, wait a few days and check them over — if you are certain that everything on the forms is the absolute unembellished truth, then mail them in.
If you are NOT certain that your ex will not be able to learn what you wrote on the forms, then do NOT fill them out. Tell your ex that you would not be able to give him a very favorable recommendation, and that he would be better off having somebody else fill out the paperwork.
If your ex is able to find out what you wrote, he will be blaming YOU for his unemployment, etc. This is really a no-win situation for you.
Personally, although I would be tempted to anonymously bash my ex, I am now older and wiser, and know that the safest way to handle this situation is to politely decline. I would NOT trust the military not to indicate to my ex that he had received an unfavorable evaluation from me.
Your ex must be a real piece of work if you are one of the three or so people he is asking to recommend him!
skylar
sparklehorse,
agreed with DfromG, about everything, except the very last sentence.
He doesn’t care what you write about him, he just wants to test you. For all you know these papers are going elsewhere.
That’s why I also agree about calling and checking and double checking the validity of these papers.
My spath had friends in homeland security playing tricks on me. Yes, they actually DO work for hs, but they were illegally acting under the color of law. Legal abuse is THE most disgusting thing a person can encounter.
If you don’t want to fill them out, just shred them and if he calls say you didn’t get them. Then next time say you lost them, then next time say the dog ate it etc… use a backspath, never react like he would expect. Why should we? They don’t.