Classification of Russian and Ukrainian Dating Scammers
(by Elena Garrett, 2009)
Advanced Fee Investment Scammer
Unscrupulous or Fake Marriage / Translation Agency
Green Card Hunter / Gold Digger
Visa and Tickets
Scammer:
Imagine this: a 20-years old rough-looking unemployed college student named Boris is typing to you "My beloved [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”)
- Other travel documents (passport, medical papers)
- Travel accommodations
- “Travel insurance” or "pocket money"
- To help her to pay off a loan
- 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”
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.
Warning Signs:
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
Advanced Fee Investment Scammer
This scam is conducted by a male scammer. The scam consists of locating lonely females living in the US and Canada, establishing romantic relationship with them, and then asking them for an emergency loan needed to complete some kind of impending business transaction, like an investment (for example, in Russian oil, minerals, or other natural resources). The scammer produces a ton of impeccably looking fake documents, like irrevocable purchase orders, letters of payment, bank statements, etc, to convince the victim that the investment is real, and that together they would be able to make some handsome profit from the deal. After receiving the loan or the pre-payment, the scammer disappears.
Warning: this type of a scam is dangerous because the scammers ask for a serious amount of cash up front, rather than "nickeling and diming" the victim to death.
Where found:
On major dating networks like DateMeFree or Match.com. The scammer is usually a male, supposedly well educated and financial stable, possibly an investor or an engineer. The name often sounds Western or European (for example, David Turner).
Accomplices:
- Fake "lawyers"
- Fake "Russian officials", "Bank managers", etc.
The scam is often perpetrated by Nigerian male students living and working / studying in Russia. The "advanced fee" part of the scam is lifted straight from the typical Nigerian "get rich fast" scam playbook.
Detection:
On your own:
- searching for the name, address, and IP address on the Internet
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
An Unscrupulous or Fake Marriage / Translation Agency:
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 creative interpreters may be even as bold as to invite the man to visit n the lady's behalf. Often, at the time of his arrival for the meeting hopeful Romeo will be informed that his lady had an unexpected family emergency and cannot attend the meeting. He will be offered a list of other, not quite as model-quality looking girls who are available to meet at the moment.
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
- 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
Vacation Hunters:
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.
Pro-Dater:
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
Accommodation Scam
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
Bigger Better Deal (BBD) Hunter:
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.
Green Card Hunter / Gold Digger.
Read more
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
