If any of your family members is in the army, you might get a phone call one day, from somebody claiming to be either a doctor in the infirmary, a Red Cross representative, a comrade, or one of his superiors.
The caller might give you bad news such as: “He has been hurt, is in coma and needs surgery, but before we begin we need your blessing, along with some personal information and a fee to send him back home after”. In most of the cases, families are so shocked that they wire money to the scammers. Just keep in mind that Red Cross never contacts you with such cases.
Another variation of the scam comes as good news. “He has been admirable and we would like to surprise him with a 5-day permission. Just send us the usual $200 fee that soldiers have to pay for the permission and you’ll see him home”.
How to avoid: the Military take care of payment for everything soldiers have to go through medically. There is no fee for permissions, either.