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| | Classification
of Russian and Ukrainian Dating Scammers
(Elena Garrett, 2009)
Visa
and Tickets Scammer
Unscrupulous
or Fake Marriage / Translation Agency
Vacation
Hunter
Pro
Dater
Accommodation
Scams
Bigger
Better Deal Hunter
Green
Card Hunter / Gold Digger
Imagine this: a 20-years old rough-looking unemployed
college student named Boris (or Ivan or Alexander or Dimitry) is typing to you "My beloved
NAME [insert your name here], I went to the travel agency and they said
that I will need to buy visa and tickets to travel to you. They said that the
total cost is $1980 for everything. I don't know what to do! Can you help me
with this money? I want us to meet soon! I am trusting that you won't refuse to
help me with this money. I love you so much! Your princess, Natasha" while
trying to chase away a hangover with a
sandwich with some cheap beer. The then attaches to the message a picture of a
shy-looking pretty young lady blowing you a kiss. He chuckles and hits
"Send."
Who is he? He is a ruthless con-man who
is making money selling elaborate fantasy stories to trusting foreigners. He
knows how to push the right buttons to make his victims to completely fall in
love with a fictional lonely girl from the letters.
This type
of scammer hunts only the most vulnerable and inexperienced online daters.
The scammer will request money for:
- Visa
(possibly trough a fake “travel agency”)
- Tickets
(possibly trough a fake “travel agency”)
- Travel
accommodations
- “Travel
insurance” or "pocket money"
- Health
problems / death in the family
- Car
/ apartment accidents
- Cell
phone
- To
bail “her” out of jail or some other legal problem
Also can ask the victim to cash a check, to open or fund an
Ebay account, to help to transfer the funds from back accounts, etc (variation
of Nigerian scam)
Where found:
Anywhere he can place an ad. Sometimes even of Craig's
List! Often pays for memberships
with stolen credit cards.
Accomplices:
- Fake
travel agents and agencies
- Fake
“girlfriends”
- Fake
“members of the family” (mom, grandma, etc)
- Fake
“lawyers”
- Fake
“doctors”
Typical Scammer:
Computer-literate crooks (college students, pimps) who hire
local female students, prostitutes, drug addicts, etc to pick up money in WU office.
They often work in groups and set up multiple ads / accounts on many large dating sites.
Most often the scam is run by Russian males. The pictures of Russian women are
usually stolen or bought online. The phone calls to potential victims are done
by hired female interpreters.
They often send fake passports, visas, tickets, and other documents.
Warning Signs:
Click HERE
Detection:
On your own:
- searching
for the name, address, and IP address on the Internet
- sending
a small bouquet of flowers through an independent flower delivery agency
Checking through RD:
- performing
a 3-Point Check to verify that the
person you are writing to is not a fictional character.
- performing
a Quick Internet Scam Check
to make sure that there is nothing on the Internet that can help you to
determine whether or not this person is a scammer
- performing
an address check and photo
verification to make sure that the person you write to is the person who
really lives at that address
- verifying
the validity of the documents this person sent to you
- performing
a criminal records check to make sure the person you write to is not a
criminal on the run, for example
Sometimes a herd of interpreters is working for an unscrupulous marriage
agency owner wanting to boost his profits. But they are not translating. They
are actually fabricating the letters. They impersonate the ladies rather than
work for them. The real ladies may not
be even aware that someone is corresponding on their behalf. The scammers may be
even as bold as to invite the man to visit. Often, at the time of his arrival
for the meeting the man will be informed that his lady had an unexpected family
emergency and cannot attend the meeting.
The scammers will request money for:
- communication
expenses such as translations, phone calls, scanning, printing, etc
- possible
applications for visa and immigration documents (sent to the agency’s
manager)
- gifts,
flowers
- accommodation
expenses
Where found:
- Have
their own web sites. Often change domain names, create multiple clones of
themselves
- On
other dating sites. When girl’s info is viewed, the viewer is invited to
write her through the agency.
Typical Scammer:
An owner with access to women’s profiles (stolen; bough
from other agencies; collected locally) and several interpreters with minimum
wage. Profit sharing may occur.
Warning Signs:
- You
start to receive letters from alot of women within minutes or hours of
signing up for the agency's service
- Several
different ladies send you identical introduction emails
- After
a few very warm letters the lady suddenly announces that she can no longer
pay for the translation of the letters and asks you to send money for
further communication
- The
agency has strict
rules that of any and all correspondence (email or phone) can be conducted only through the
agency
- The
agency does not allow ladies to provide you with their last names
- Excessive
agency fees (comparing to other web sites)
Detection:
Not easy to detect. But
can be detected by
-
requesting the lady’s full name and
/or address and verifying that
info through an independent source (a 3-point
check or a Quick
Address Verification would be particularly helpful)
-
checking
the agency's reputation on online anti-scam sites and forums
-
verifying
through an independent source that the lady is aware
of the correspondence
She is a decent looking lady with a taste for traveling. She loves
exotic places, things, and high lifestyle. However,
she is not that interested in marriage at the moment.
The scammer will request money for:
- Travel
expenses
- Shopping
/ Personal expenses
Where found:
Any dating site (small and large)
Warning signs:
- Has
profiles on dating sites for wealthy people or on a sex-chat web sites (Millionaire
Match, for example, or AdultFunder)
- Extensive
travel history
- Avoids
conversations about marriage
- Shows
no interest for meeting in her home town
- If
no plans for traveling is offered, looses interest quickly
- Frequently
absent from correspondence for weeks on end
- Dresses
provocatively and expensively and have a very upscale accessories or apartment for her
supposed level of income
- Leaves
room when she has to take a phone call, of text messaging from her phone
frequently without explaining to you who she is talking to
Detection:
Detection is difficult. Private
investigator will likely confirm most of the information the girl provided you
about herself (name, address, family members, etc). Sometimes however this type
of scammer lies about her employment, previous marriages, and lifestyle.
So try this:
- Insist
on meeting in her home town and avoid plans for traveling to exotic
destinations – she may loose interest
- Google
her name and address
- Hire
a PI to collect information about her employment, reputation and lifestyle
among neighbors
- During
personal meeting, check her international passport for records of frequent
international travels.
A lady who dates for material profits of psychological need
of attention but does not plan to marry any time soon.
Where found:
Any dating site.
Warning signs:
- Has
profiles on dating sites for wealthy people or on a sex-chat web sites (Millionaire
Match, for example, or AdultFunder)
- Extensive
travel history
- Vague
about marriage plans or tries to prolong the process of visa application for
as long as possible.
- Looses
interest quickly if no presents or monthly support is given at her request
- Money
requests are frequent and casual, and become more and more frequent as the
time goes by, any resistance or inquiries about how the money were spend are
taken very
negatively
- Sometimes
absent from correspondence for days or weeks without good explanation
- During
personal meeting requests frequent shopping trips, expensive items, eating in most
expensive restaurants, etc. Does not look concerned about the prices, gets
upset if high costs are mentioned or discussed.
- Dresses
provocatively and expensively and have a very upscale accessories or apartment for her
supposed level of income
- Leaves
room when she has to take a phone call, of text messaging from her phone
frequently without explaining to you who she is talking to
Detection:
Detection is difficult. Private
investigator will likely confirm most of the information the girl provided you
about herself (name, address, family members, etc). Sometimes however this type
of scammer lies about her employment, previous marriages, and lifestyle.
So try this:
- Offer
only a small monthly support, do not send lavish gifts
- Google
her name and address
- Hire
a PI to collect information about her reputation, employment and lifestyle
among neighbors
- During
personal meeting, resist buying her expensive things she asks for and watch
for her reaction.
- During
personal meeting, observe her spending habits and compare it to the level of
income she told you she has.
- Talk
about marriage and immigration issues and see if she is looking bored or
distracted
- You
are not allowed to use her computer or to look at her emails
This is a variation of the pro-dater scam.
The lady whom you are going to meet is real, but upon your arrival you discover that the taxi and the apartment that she arranged for you cost much more than you were told before, and that your lady is cold, irritable, distant,
and inattentive. Her phone won't stop ringing and she always goes to the
bathroom to answer it, she keeps SMS-messaging someone constantly, she bring her girlfriends to every meeting so you do not have a chance to be
intimate, takes you on long shopping trips where you are asked to guy presents for
her and her girlfriends, and toward the end of your trip she tends to disappear for hours and days, leaving you
to figure out on your own the ways to get around a foreign city.
If you find yourself in this situation: 1) avoid giving her money; 2) keep an
eye on valuables such as laptops, cameras, credit cards; 3) refuse the shopping
trips and expensive restaurant dinners - at this point, you can forget about
hope of building the relationship and just concentrate on cutting your
losses.
Of course, the best defense is to come already prepared for an outcome like
this, and to research in advance the names and addresses of the local dating
agencies who have a good chance of having an English interpreter (not to mention
a catalog of ladies available for dating), as well as to buy an Russian-English
portable electronic translators to assist you in a grocery store or if you are
trying to catch a different taxi.
Where found:
Any dating site (small and large)
Warning signs:
- has many profiles on various darting sites
- prefers quick online chats, or short and simple online messages, does not
write long and involved letters
- insists on arranging your accommodations, looses interest or becomes less
friendly if you decide to arrange accommodations independently
It is a type of Professional Dater (see above) who is
indeed interested in getting married, but waits to see if a bigger and better
deal (then you) may come along.
Warning signs:
- Medium
to high maintenance, frequent requests for money, expresses disappointment or looses
interest when money are refused
- Unexplained
absences from correspondence
- During
personal meeting requests frequent shopping trips, jewelry, eating in
upscale restaurants, etc.
- Very
eager to start the process one month and then becomes vague about marriage
plans the next months
- Grills
you about the type of a house you have, the type of car, your job status,
requests pictures or video of your house, cars, etc; fascinated with the subject of
your income, investments, etc.
- Leaves
room when she has to take a phone call, of text messaging from her phone
frequently without explaining to you who she is talking to
- You
are not allowed to use her computer or to look at her emails
Detection:
Detection is very difficult. But you can try this:
- Offer
only a small monthly support, do not send lavish gifts
- Hire
a PI to collect information about her reputation, employment and lifestyle
among neighbors
- During
personal meeting, resist buying her expensive things she asks for and watch
for her reaction.
- During
personal meeting, observe her spending habits and compare it to the level of
income she told you she has.
The most dangerous kind of all. This type of scammer is
mainly after a possibility of immigration into your country at your expense.
Often has one or more children from previous marriage. She views you as her
“green card mule”, plans to divorce you once her paperwork is in order, often has no positive
personal feelings toward you, and will go to any length to
achieve whatever goals she had. When ready to strike, she may send you to
jail on fabricated claims of domestic or sexual abuse, she may also try to empty your
bank account, clean out your home of all valuables, and get a big settlement
during the divorce.
Warning signs:
- Good
but brief relationship before the marriage and a drastic change to the worse
after the marriage
- After
marriage refuses sex except for times when wants something from you (a
present, a credit card, separate bank account, etc);
- Demands
separate living arrangements (different bedrooms or even apartments);
separate credit cards and bank accounts;
- Very
unsatisfied about your social or financial status; demands expensive
purchases that she knows you cannot afford; gets angry or violent when
refused her demands
- Does
not socialize with your family or children; treat them with disrespect
- Does
not invite you to socialize with her friends
- Behave
in a secretive way; has friends that you find shady or unpleasant
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