Member-only story
Romance Scammers don’t like Badgers — who knew?
Or How to Recognise a Scam. Sometimes.
[Disclaimer — this article mentions the names of a real person whose identity was used by a scammer — the real General Michael Erik Kurilla is entirely blameless in this piece.]
On the 14th April I got followed on my Twitter account by a serving US General. Not just any US General, but the commander of US Central Command. Now, I’m a UK academic — I lecture in English Language and Linguistics, and specialise in Media Stylistics, particularly Digital Narratives. I have nothing whatsoever to do with the military, international relations, the Arms industry, wars, or politics (aside from being a UK academic working in a UK university…). So, in short, no good reason to have the commander of US Central Command following me on Twitter.
Unless it wasn’t the real General.
Intrigued by this new follower I did what I often do on Twitter — I checked his profile. Low number of followers, and only a few hundred accounts being followed. The blurb was just a cut and paste from the Wikipedia page about the General (I know, I checked). The photos used were lifted straight from a military website which featured his biography.
