Dating Tips, Dating Advice and Dating Help for Online Dating

Avoid Russian Dating Scams, Never Send Money

“I was so naive and silly that I waited for Sofiya for 3 hours at the airport with a bunch of flowers. The damage for all this was $3,625 USD and a broken heart.” – Scam Victim

There are many variations of online dating scams originating in Russia and Eastern Europe but they have in common a high emotional and financial cost to unsuspecting scam victims. Typically, a man comes into contact with a scammer through an online dating agency. The scammer will have photos showing a young and attractive woman though her profile may say she’s from America or England. The scammer will later explain that she’s from Russia but couldn’t select it as an option on the dating site.

In the first few letters the scammer will say what a good woman she is and how hard life is in Russia. Her monthly salary is only a few hundred dollars, all Russian men are drunks and maybe her family died in a tragic accident or they are ill and in need of surgery. Heart strings are pulled and victims are sucked in.

At this point she will set the victim up as her knight in shining armor, the only one who can help her. She might just need money to pay her bills but will probably want desperately to come and visit him in his Western nation. She professes her love and gives instructions to send money through Western Union or MoneyGram.

This is a broad example of Russian online dating scams. The period from first contact to first cash request could be a few days or a few months but regardless how long you’ve “known” the person, a request for money is a scam.

Scammers operate from countries with low per capita income and even if a scam takes months to pay out it is worthwhile for them, even for just a few hundred dollars. Scammers use services like Western Union because it is all but impossible to track the recipient of the money which can be picked up anywhere in the world.

A scammer could be a man or woman operating solo, posing as an attractive young lady, or part of an organized scamming operation. Such operations have been known to hire young Russian women to act as the voice on the other end of that romantic phone call.

Read on for tips about how to identify scammers and protect yourself.

Great Photos, Vague Descriptions = Alarm Bells

You come across a profile of a young, attractive woman on an online dating site or maybe she contacts you. The photos are stunning, perhaps professionally taken or provocative, but the description of what she’s looking for in a partner is vague. It could be a scammer, often a man, using photos downloaded from the internet in the hope of sucking in as many victims as possible.

Odd Emails = Alarm Bells

So you’ve missed the first warning sign and are corresponding with an attractive young lady from Russia or Eastern Europe. She writes gushing, emotive emails but do your questions often go unanswered? Does it seem like she’s not reading your letters? It could be a scammer using template emails sent to dozens of men.

She’s in Love with You = Alarm Bells

After a few emails or even a few months she professes her undying love for you. Love is, generally, an acquired feeling but someone you’ve never met claims to have given her whole heart to you. It could be a scammer setting you up for the big hit.

Travel Plans and Scanned Visas = Alarm Bells

She says she’s coming to visit you or wants to move to your country, has arranged her visa and scans it in for you to see. This is likely to be a scan of a fake or fabricated visa sent as ‘proof’ that she is coming. This ploy also relies on the stereotypical assumption that all Russian and Eastern European women want to move to or visit America, Canada, the UK or Australia which simply isn’t the case.

Request for Money, Large or Small = SCAM!

The scammer comes to the crunch, requesting a sum of cash. The reason could be unpaid household bills or emergency surgery for a family member but it is most likely to be travel and visa expenses. Typically the scammer requests an amount to travel to Moscow and purchase a plane ticket and then a few days before the ‘departure’ she will say that she urgently needs a few thousand dollars in her account as a security bond to enter your country. Don’t bother booking a welcome dinner, you’re being scammed.

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