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.

  • Flying Squid
    link
    7811 days ago

    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.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTBcu34fpHc

      • @Delusional
        link
        310 days ago

        Ah that’s because tinder wasn’t invented until the 1950s.

        • @NatakuNox
          link
          310 days ago

          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.

      • Flying Squid
        link
        3211 days ago

        Yes, that’s where the honeypot starts. Locally.

      • @MinorLaceration
        link
        1811 days ago

        It’s very common to have bars staffed by foreigners immediately outside of US bases in South Korea.

      • r00ty
        link
        fedilink
        111 days ago

        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.

  • @Diplomjodler3
    link
    4211 days ago

    How dumb do you have to be to fall for something like that?

      • @aodhsishaj
        link
        3811 days ago

        Hey! That dumb motherfucker is ARMY, he’s no Marine.

        • @almar_quigley
          link
          1711 days ago

          Sorry, the glue sniffing department in that case

      • @HWK_290
        link
        English
        110 days ago

        The George W Bush Honorary Crayon Eating Department to you, you young whippersnapper

    • Canadian_anarchist
      link
      fedilink
      910 days ago

      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.

    • @stoly
      link
      110 days ago

      Human behavior is probabilistic. Remember that people try to put out grease fires with water. You have to account for that with important things.

  • @NOT_RICK
    link
    English
    2711 days ago

    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.

    • LustyArgonianMana
      link
      English
      8
      edit-2
      10 days ago

      “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.

  • @MataVatnik
    link
    1410 days ago

    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.

  • @I_Has_A_Hat
    link
    13
    edit-2
    10 days ago

    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.

    • @postmateDumbass
      link
      210 days ago

      A Defense Department spokesperson said Tuesday that the Army is investigating whether Russia’s intelligence services specifically targeted Black.

      Russia bet on black.

  • @NatakuNox
    link
    1110 days ago

    Post nut clarity will save you a lot of headaches in life.

  • @Raxiel
    link
    310 days ago

    $100? No wonder they’re holding him, that money could have doubled the size of the victory day parade!