Scammers are people who are trying to make some money on the interest so many American men have in Russian women. There are several different types of scammers, and their techniques constantly evolve in the effort to match the growing awareness of the bride seekers. Let us take a closer look at them.
Scammer Group
A group of scammers is the most primitive type, and the easiest one to identify. They pose as Russian women interested in marrying Western men, join agencies and dating websites, get in touch with the men and write to them long, overly romantic, flattering, “clingy” letters. When they make sure the victim is hooked, they claim that they want to meet in person but do not have money for visa and tickets (the classic Visa & Tickets scam). They use photos of beautiful women who have no idea their pictures are being posted all over the Internet. The letters are usually written in very poor English, often machine-translated, with horrible grammar, but they work amazingly well. There are cases of scammer rings that had made several hundred thousand dollars.
Since scammer rings usually work with very many men, they have no time to write personal letters, carefully read the letters they receive, and answer specific questions. This is the first red flag to note:if you keep getting canned letters that go on and on about how much “she” loves you without answering any of the questions you had asked in your letters, you are probably dealing with scammers.
Another thing to watch out for is heart-wrenching stories of how difficult “her” life is and how hard “she” works to make ends meet. Complaints about high Internet costs and stories about sick relatives who need money for treatment or surgery are very common. Depending on the scammers’ goal, there may or may not be a direct money request, sometimes it is only hints. Here comes the second and the most important warning sign:no honest Russian woman will talk about her financial difficulties or ask you for money, so if your “girlfriend” does that, watch out.
Like I said, scammers constantly update their techniques and invent new ways to convince their “clients” to send money to them. One of these newer tricks is a forged visa: they will scan an actual US visa, change the name to match the name of the “girl” you are supposedly writing to, and send it to you in order to prove that “she” already has her visa and is really coming to see you. Also, they may not ask you to pay for the whole visa & tickets package. “She” will say that “she” has taken all her savings and spent it to get the visa and tickets, but it is still not enough; all she needs is $300 ($350, $400, fill in the blanks) more. Many fall for that: the poor soul has done all she could, now “her” savings are gone, what can you do but help?
You can weed out this type of scammers by asking for “her” phone number (scammers will usually claim that they don’t have a phone) or getting “her” address verified through a local flower delivery service. You can even ask to have a photograph taken when “she” receives the flowers. However, these things will not help with the next type: a scammer who works alone.