MORE RUSSIAN DATE SCAMS

Basically, it is a scam where a lonely foreign man gets acquainted over the Internet with an attractive supposedly single female from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc. 

Quickly, the " female" (the bait) falls in love with her Internet acquaintance, and shortly after " she" begins to plan her travel to see her Mr. Right in person. Money issues arise, and, reluctantly, the bait asks the gentleman to help "her" with money for her visa and tickets. Very often, the bait tells the guy that she has a work offer in his country, and she would be able to pay off the loaned money to him quickly. If the guy agrees, the "lady" pretends to put all effort into making "her" travel arrangements. But the meeting continues to be delayed. " She" acts surprised to find out that there are various expensive requirements that " she" has to comply with before she can fly out of the country. Those supposed requirements usually include proof of financial independence and requirement to pay off all loans that "she" has in her name. And so " she" will reluctantly ask for financial help again.  If the guy is determined to make her supposed trip happen regardless of the expenses, he sends the money again and again. In the money keep coming, the "lady" will continue to experience difficulties. "She" will get robbed or attacked, may become injured or sick, may suddenly get arrested, or her apartment may get flooded or burned.

The scam will go on for as long as the guy is willing to continue sending money to help his "Russian princess" to get through her never-ending travel misadventure. The bait will keep the "flames of his love" alive by periodically chatting with him on the phone or sending him descriptions of "her" erotic fantasies.  In the end, he will be left financially exhausted, and " she" will continue to pretend like she is just one Western Union  money transfer away for finally being able to meet her beloved. The same scam works with single Western gay man. An adorable and lonely gay guy from Russia will be the main character of the same travel story, with very minor changes. Most scammers ask money for one or more of the following: - passport, visa, tickets - travel insurance - fines for failing to officially register their stay in Moscow - financial solvency money ("pocket money," "travel money," "money to show to the customs," "money to show to the Embassy") - money to pay off a loan or a mortgage - sale taxes on the her apartment - emergency medical expenses for the girl or her relatives (illness, car accident, death in the family) - bail money / to pay fines for minor "accidental" violations of the law - taxes supposedly owed on the previous money transfers - money to replace stolen funds - ransom money / financial debt to mafia - presents for herself and her family at holiday times - luxury items (cell phones, clothes, etc) What the victim of the scam never realizes, however, is that behind all the seductive pictures and behind all the warm and passionate letters hides a cynical, manipulative, and sleek mastermind of the crime - a cyber thief of hearts and wallets. And this mastermind is not at all who you think (s)he is... A scammer usually finds a set of pictures of an attractive girl 18-45 years old female (or, if the scammer IS  an attractive girl, she uses her own pictures) and places personal ads in as many international dating catalogs as possible.  A lot of scammers actively seek out new potential victims rather than wait for the victims to come to them. Often, scammers use big online dating web sites to approach their potential victims. When that happens, their profiles on sites like Yahoo and Match.com indicate that they are from the USA, Canada, or Europe (that is because those sites no longer accept subscribers from Russia).  Many victims report that they received the first email from the scammer "out of the blue," and that they never belonged to any dating sites. Sometimes scammers even use CraigsList, Facebook, Myspace, or other popular web site to find potential victims After a while the letters from single men from all over the world start arriving in the scammer's mailbox. The scammer replies positively to all of them and the process begins. Since a lot of letters need to be answered, the scammer usually does not have the ability to answer all of them individually. Therefore a standard set of romantic letters exists, and the scammer typically uses these pre-written letters to correspond with all potential victims. As a results of using the sets of pre-written letters, scammers tend to ignore questions posted to them, or when they do answer questions, they answer them only at the very beginning or at the very end of each letter. Conveyer belt strategy versus personalized approach strategy Actually, there are two categories of Russian dating scammers: a “serial scammer” and an "personalized approach" scammer. The "serial" type is a lot more common to see, not because there are more of them working, but because they approach so many different victims in a short amount of time, so it looks like there are a lot of them.  The "serial" scammers are the ones who rarely pay attention to the conversation and tend to ignore questions and send a chain of pre-written emails to hundreds of intended victims. They are hoping that a small percentage of their victims (maybe 5-10%) will be fooled anyway. The "personalized approach" scammers are more rare to come by – but not necessarily because there are less of them, but because their work is much less visible. Those scammers have a much higher “quality” of work, more attention to detail, they answer all questions and they pay close attention to the conversation. As a result, they have a much better “response rate” from their intended victims. But the story and the tricks are all the same as in the usual serial scams. They are still asking for money  for travel expenses.  In his/her letters, the scammer is usually very flattering, romantic and seductive. The scammer explains to each potential victim that he/she feels "something special" about him. Almost all scammers tell their victims that "this the the first time she uses the internet to get aquatinted with a man".  Recently we have seen several scammer using a set-up sob story about  having a previous Internet boyfriend who invited her to the his country but refused to pay for the tickets, so the scammer paid her own money for the tickets, but the boyfriend turned out to be a sleazebag  and disappeared, so now the poor girl is totally broke because the purchase of the tickets depleted her of all her savings. To speed up the process, the scammer "falls in love" with each of the potential victims literally within two to six weeks. Sometimes at the same time many scammers would announce that their yearly vacation time (usually 2 weeks) is coming up. However, the duration of the "set up" phase varies significantly. Some scammers fall in love and ask for money within 10 days, while others may correspond for 6-8 months before requesting any money. The duration of the phase depends on the scammer's own work style. The longer the set up phase, the higher is the scammer's probability of success in obtaining the money.

MYSTERY GIRL

   You have just stepped into the world of beautiful foreign women. You are likely to be full of hopes, expectations and dreams. You are eager to find things you have despaired of finding in your own country. You seek beauty, love, understanding, and appreciation. And then all of a sudden you find it all (or so you feel). You have just discovered someone that seems so right for you. You barely know her, but your heart tells you she is the one. Your feelings are overwhelmed with her beauty. You are no longer your rational self. You are in love and ready to put the whole world to your foreign darling's feet. The girl is absolutely wonderful. She is just very poor and desperately needs money. She asks you for help. You might or might not be taken aback by that request. In any case, you think to yourself "anything for that wondrous woman" and take out your wallet. Better hold your horses. Not all is gold that glitters.

   This mysterious world of foreign brides is full of its own dangers. Man becomes awfully vulnerable when it comes to love. He forgets himself. He loses his head. He gets emotional. As a result, he is easy to be taken advantage of. Many women understand it. Some of them will try to use it. Ever heard of so-called "dating scammers"? They are people dying to cash in on men's feelings. They disguise themselves as beautiful loving women. Their only goal is to con you for money. And they will pull all the different tricks on you to achieve their goal.
    First, they will try to seduce you with beautiful pictures. Next, they will sweet-talk you into sending them money. Then they will disappear. Nothing complicated. And yet many men have fallen victims to such schemes. Does it mean these pitfalls are unavoidable? Does it mean scammers are impossible to recognize among hundreds of honest women? The answer is not at all. Common sense and a basic knowledge of standard scam scenarios go a long way.
    Here is the most classic of all scams. You meet this most gorgeous girl on the Internet. You correspond with her for a while. You are getting to like her a lot. At some point she tells you you are the love of her life, and she is dying to meet you in person. Money is the only problem. So, could you please send her some cash to help her pay for the tickets/visa/passport? Such a request should immediately put a man on his guard. It often catches him off guard instead. Why? Because he feels like he has known this woman forever when in fact he has not. He sure is convinced this woman is completely innocent. She is just really desperate and needs his help. After all, he wants to meet her just as badly, doesn't he? Well, the truth is he really does not want to meet someone like that.
    A scammer might use different other plots to achieve her ultimate goal. For instance, she might attempt to play on your feelings. She will do her best to arouse your sympathy. What would you say to "I don't have enough money to pay for my internet service" coming from an incredibly sweet attractive girl? You do want to be able to stay in touch with her, don't you? The fofty dollars she needs would not hurt your budget, would it? How about "oh, my God! My mom's dying of cancer! I've managed to find $170, but it's not enough! I need $450 more… I'm so devastated, and have no one to turn to for help! No one but you.. It hurts me so asking you for money, but please help me if you can… I don't know what to do.. been crying my eyes out every night.. You're my only hope in the whole world.."? How would you react to that kind of heart-rending letter? Would you rush to the nearest bank and send her the money to keep her from selling herself?
   It all might sound somewhat cynical. But it would help if all men receiving that kind of message realized that there is no dying mom. There is a crafty scammer behind that "cry for help". Nothing but a fraud who has been sending such letters to hundreds of other men. There is no human tragedy in such cases. Just shady business.
   A scammer can come up with a hundred good reasons why she needs money, and why you have to help her. However, most of them use the same old tricks that have proved fairly reliable. A girl might ask a man to pay a non-existent monthly fee of $50 at her agency. She might tell you she needs money to pay an interpreter to translate her letters to yo because her English is not enough to let her express her feelings. And you do want to know about her inner feelings for you, right? She might tell you a heart-breaking story about her losing her job, losing her money, being in debts. The list goes on and on.
    The girls' English might be poor, but it does not prevent them from being very convincing in their emails. Some of them are rather blunt about the money matter. Others are ever so subtle. They might not actually openly ask for money. They might simply imply it by complaining about how tough they have it.
   Do not be gullible. Do not let some frauds fool you. No honest, respectable woman will ever ask you for money in such a situation. Nor will she hint at it. No matter how reasonable they might seem to you, any money requests are absurd and inappropriate. By complying with them you are setting yourself up for a big fall.
   A woman who has her heart in the right place will never play on your emotions. She will never try to arouse your sympathy with a view to get some money from you. She will never exploit you and your feelings. A true woman does not want pity. She wants love. She does not want money. She wants a relationship. She will never accept any money from you until you have actually met and your relationship has turned into something real. You do not want a woman preoccupied with money. A scammer will of course claim she does not care about money, but we all know actions speak louder than words.
   You by no means are encouraged to become cynical, paranoid, or scared. There is no need to be distrustful of all foreign women seeking their love over the Internet. You should keep in mind that most women out there are not fakes. They are sincerely looking for someone they can spend the rest of their lives with. They are truly beautiful both on the outside and the inside.
   It is highly important to be careful in everything, not just Internet romances. We take precautions in our daily life to avoid troubles. Why not take them here too? Better safe than sorry.
   Hundreds of men have met their foreign wives with help of the Internet and are happily married now. Keep that in mind. Also remember that there is no instant gratification in love. Be patient and your patience will be rewarded. Just like this life is worth living in spite of all the dangers and difficulties, true love is worth searching for. Be careful, but do not let dangers daunt you.
   Do not waste your feelings, sympathy, and money on scammers. Save it all for someone who truly deserves it.