Anti-scam policy
First of all, let's actually define what a "scam" or "con" is. According to the Oxford American Dictionary a scam is defined as: "A fraudulent scheme, especially for making money quickly" They also define a con as: "To persuade or swindle after winning a persons confidence". So in other words, this is someone who is trying to do something usually for monetary gain without you knowing their true intentions.
Those of a dishonest nature will not enjoy reading this section, but we hope that the following information will reduce the amount of deceptive practices which damage the reputation of international marriage agencies every day.
It is important to note one detail: anyone can fall for a scam! Even the brilliant businessman, who is able to catch many fraudulent acts, can be tricked if he is not familiar with the tactics used by scammers. When emotions are involved it is easy to be sentimental and loneliness can be targeted by some dishonest people.
Below you will find a list of some of the most common types of scams and cons but the easiest way to avoid ALL types of money scams is very simple:
“NEVER SEND MONEY TO SOMEONE YOU DO NOT KNOW AND TRUST 100%” ”
Remember, if you do not send or give someone money or anything of value then you CANNOT be scammed.
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The first stage: correspondence
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Let’s now study the mechanism of this type of a deceit. You purchase from an agency a few addresses of the ladies from Eastern Europe and send them a letter representing yourself, aswell as sending several photos. You get in contact with one of them and everything seems to be normal in the beginning, and then, unexpectedly after 3-4 exchanges of letters the lady declares that she is madly in love with you. After the declaration of her love for you followed by 1 or 2 passionate letters, the lady suddenly asks you to send her money. Usually swindlers do not show good imagination and will frequently use the same schemes.
The standard scheme is a method of “milking the cow”. The cheater asks you about sending small amounts of money regularly to pay for vital things such as help for a child, parents or grandparents, sister or brother, uncle or aunt etc. is sick and they do not have enough money to pay for the medicine, hospital, surgery, doctor, etc or access to the internet. English language courses to manage a better communication with you could be asked for. Once you stop sending money, the lady disappears. The average monthly salary in Russia is 100 – 150 USD, so such “small sums” that you sent to her could be actually a financial godsend for “the poor Russian woman”.
The other scheme is the visa scams.
This scam goes something like this, you are told that they have an inside connection or a friend at the embassy, a travel agency, in customs or immigration, the airlines, etc. to provide them with a visa so they can buy an airline ticket to come to see you. All you need to do is send them money to pay the cost of this. If you do I guarantee you that you will never see this person or your money again. The only way a person can get a visa is to go to the embassy and apply for one and wait for it to be approved or denied. If a visa is granted then it will be on official letterhead with an actual stamp of some sort, a verification number, and placed in the applicants international passport. Beware of what looks to be real and official documents as these are sometimes fraudulent, especially those copies that are faxed or scanned and sent to you. Remember, if it is real, it can be verified at the embassy and only the embassy should be trusted.
The other scheme is the ticket scam:
The scam goes like this, you are told that they already have a travel visa and now all they need is an airline, train, bus, ticket etc. and they ask you to send them money to pay for this so they can come to visit you. If you do this you are almost 100% guaranteed to be waiting at the airline, train, or bus terminal until you are 90 years old as they will never show up and will simply disappear with your money that you send to them. Of course, if you have already met a lady in person, gotten to know her very well, met her family and both agreed to be married then it may be ok to send her money for this but ONLY after you have done all of this AND gone to the embassy to verify her visa has been granted to come to see you. Even better and safer is to go to her city and pick her up and take her with you, this way you will never be scammed.
The scheme of sickness:
This scam takes on all kinds of different scenarios like, my phone broke, my plumbing needs to be repaired, I can't pay the rent, we have no money for food, I need to have my teeth fixed, etc. etc. Yes, what they say might be true, but it might not be, so unless you can be sure of this then beware of such statements and remember:
"NEVER SEND MONEY TO SOMEONE YOU DO NOT KNOW AND TRUST 100%"
Scams and cons are constantly evolving and they usually do sound to be true as that is the nature of a true scam. If you just follow these simple rules that I have written you should never become a victim of a scam or con. If you do suspect someone is trying to scam you then be sure to report them to us so we can check on this for you. We want your experience with our ladies and our website to be a safe and happy one.
The scheme of mirage:
This more seldom. In this case the agencies are selling addresses: questionnaires and photos of Russian girls that do not exist. This scheme functions by the amount of addresses sold by the agencies: the false address which costs $10 USD could be sold hundreds of times to Americans and Europeans, paying by credit cards!! Internet sites of these agencies are exposed and closed by their Internet provider sometimes, but they are reopen several weeks later under another Internet address with other names and with different web design! These agencies, Russian or Ukrainian in the majority, also use free of charge space for their sites. These sites have similar design, very little information, the exact amount of photos of the beautiful Russian girls and online system of credit card payment. It is a well known “HIT AND RUN”, in other words to sell a maximum number of false addresses in a minimum amount of time, to close the site and to disappear, only to reopen later under another site and another name.
Outside of these schemes the are some signs which should alert you: but meanwhile do not live in paranoia!
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After your payment the agency refuses to provide you with the post address of the lady and gives you only the electronic address: this is the characteristic of dishonest agencies, which have the counterfeit files of unreal announcements. The agency has no basis to not give you the post address of the lady.
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The lady herself does not wish to give her post address and corresponds with you by free-of-charge electronic mail: the most popular in Russia are mail.ru, yandex.ru, hotbox.ru, ukr.net and others...The lady writes to you that she is using this free-of charge service on the computer from the work or the cyber cafe. If the lady changes the electronic address often, it is because there was a complaint against her because of her scheming and consequently the Internet provider removes her e-mail address. It should convince you to the bigger concern: send the electronic letter to her Internet provider to find out, if her e-mail address was closed because of a complaint. A problem with these electronic addresses is that it is impossible to identify the person: be prepared – your correspondent will disappear without leaving any traces.
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Lady gives you the address, specifying the P.O.Box, instead of her personal address: be very cautious, the lady can disappear without leaving any traces.
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Photos sent by the lady look really professional and the lady looks like a model: you will probably be surprised to find out she really is a model! Many swindlers will not hesitate just copy the photos published in fashions magazines!!
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The lady does not personalize the letters and is not interested in your character. The typical tactics of the scammer, which sends a maximum of standard letters to all of men who have bought her electronic address from the site, and hopes that the man will bite on her hook.
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The lady sends one or several erotic photos of herself in each message: an effective method to some men who put physical criteria first and who did not contact this lady because she has written in the questionnaire that she likes to bake cakes or to read Dostoevsky. Do not forget, that an average Russian lady usually does not have a financial opportunity to make highly professional photo and to pay for their scanning. But swindlers do!! They have many photos of the same girl and are ready to send you them over and over again.
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Lady mentions persistently the fact that she has a small income and big financial difficulties, but she does not ask for money directly: be very vigilant, because it s a classic tactic. Remember that the Russian ladies are very proud and modest and they will never begin such conversation themselves.
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The lady wishes to meet you only after several exchanges of letters!! A classic method by creation a sense of promptness: remind yourself, that time is the main enemy of the cheater. It is totally opposed to the serious ladies who will decide to meet only after deep thoughts and reflections (especially when we consider a trip). The sensation of promptness created by the cheater can be compared with the fox setting fire to the henhouse. Listen to our advice and be very patient during your correspondence: the cheater will disappear and she will try to catch another man.
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The lady is absolutely not interested in your work or your incomes. It can seem paradoxical at first: you tell yourself, that she is interested only in your character and not in your standard of living, but actually, a knave just does not wish certain serious relations with you and wants only to draw a maximum amount of money in a minimum amount of time. Opposite to the serious lady who will not leave her country and her family not being sure, that the man with whom she is going to live, will manage the financial security of their future family.
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Second stage: reaction – what to do if you are a victim of deceit
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Unfortunately there is a very little chance that you can get your money back. You can meanwhile help other men to avoid the fraud:
a). Contact the marriage agency which has given you the addresses of the girls: serious agencies will remove immediately the data of this girl from their files; it will help to avoid other swindlers.
b). Contact the Internet provider of this girl and ask him to remove her e-mail address.
c). If you sent money on Western Union, send them a letter to this address:
Western Union 13022 Hollenberg Drive; Bridgeton, MO63044; USA
Send a copy of your receipt of the payment you made (unfortunately it does not mean that you can ask them about compensation of money) this letter will help to place the address of the girl in the black list and to avoid a deceit of other people.
If you were a victim of deceit, send us an electronic letter (laurusint@aol.com); detailing your case, we are ready to publish your evidence in this section.
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Some new ladies |
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Raisa, 56 y.o. Ukraine, Sevastopol.
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