ORLANDO, Fla. – A former army Specialist living in Corbin, Kentucky was the subject of a Facebook image for an elaborate international money scheme targeting women from Orlando to the Phillipines.
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James Hursey said he thought his army buddies were playing a joke on him when he received the Facebook alerts from WKMG-TV's Mike Holfeld.
About a dozen of Hursey's Facebook profile pictures were posted on a bogus site set up by an impostor calling himself Sergent (sic) Johnson Mark.
Janice Robinson a grandmother living in Orlando, said she accepted the friend request because she thought she recognized the name.
"The only reason I kept him as a friend is because I thought he was a soldier," she said. "Who wouldn't trust a soldier."
Robinson is one of 17 women targeted by the conman.
She said she received Johnson's friend request in December.
He claimed he was stationed in Afghanistan and no longer loved his wife.
After a few weeks the casual chats turned to romance and money.
Robinson said many times Johnson would end his chats with "Johnson cares."
But a few weeks ago, Johnson told Robinson he wanted to hear her voice.
He sent a military application that was supposed to be a request for a military phone line. The cost: $350.
He tried the same scheme with at least two other women.
"As soon as he said I had to pay to talk to him," Robinson said. "It was like there went another red flag."
She said the first red flag was the most obvious clue that something was wrong.
The name tag on the uniform in one of the photographs was Hursey not Johnson.
Hursey said the photographs were probably stolen from his mother's facebook site.
His mother, Melissa Haan never set up security blocks on her Facebook page.
She is listed as a friend on James Hursey's Facebook site.
Hursey served in Iraq between 2006-2007. He is angry but relieved the imposter's game has been exposed.
"It's disturbing," he said. "I fought for my country and some thief is trying to use my military photographs to steal from people."
Forensics technicians have traced the Facebook page to Nigeria.
Facebook advises members to only friend people you know and friends of friends.
The bogus Facebook page has been pulled.