Lonely SA men fall for Russian Mail Order blondes
“GULLIBLE men hoping to find love on the internet are at risk of being fleeced by Russian syndicates, a local dating website warns.
At least three South Africans had lost $2000 after sending money so their “on-line girlfriends” could buy a ticket to SA, says Duncan Forrest, founder of DatingBuzz, which runs about 100 local and international dating sites.
“A lot of men are quite gullible,” Forrest says. “The perception is that Russian women are desperate to get out. If there’s a sexy young blonde a lot of middle-aged farmers who don’t think the same kind of woman in SA would look at them think they have a chance with a Russian woman.”
After two or three e-mails the woman offers to join her beau, and asks him to send $2000 to a travel agent in Russia to pay for a ticket.
“On the day she’s due to leave there will be a family tragedy that prevents her from coming, and that’s the last he ever sees of his $2000,” says Forrest.
It is unknown how many local lonely hearts had been broken by the scam, he says.
The problem is international, however, and one dating website, www.womenrussia.com, publishes a blacklist of known scammers with the photographs they use and the e-mails they send.
International site Reciprodate says more than 99% of people who use match-making sites are genuine, but it warns that criminals do prey on unsuspecting victims.
Reciprodate screens all potential members before letting them join, and collaborates with law-enforcement agencies to catch criminals using its site for scams. One man in California was ordered to repay $737521 to 250 victims recently after posing as Russian women seeking marriage.
DatingBuzz, which has a 63% market share of SA’s on-line dating market, refuses to accept subscriptions from Russians that are paid for by credit card, unless the person faxes through an imprint of the card and a copy of a bank statement to prove the card has not been stolen.
It eliminates about 10 personal profiles each week that it suspects of being set up as a front for Russian syndicates.
The latest threat comes from “Elena”, who used a stolen US credit card and paid her subscription via a hijacked computer in the US, to hide the fact that she was operating from Russia.
DatingBuzz MD David Burstein said Elena had contacted about 500 men around the world claiming that she would be arriving in their countries next week and asking to meet them, says Elena..” Business Day.
Click here to go to the WomenRussia website to read all about the myths around online Russian brides.
Click here to go to Reciprodate.
Elena from womenrussia.com sets the story straight:
So you thought those “Russian brides” were canny and stealing money from nice western guys? NO, scammers are mostly MEN pretending to be Russian women seeking love! And this scam was run FROM THE U.S.A.
In his guilty plea 40-year-old Robert McCoy from San Diego, California, admitted defrauding more than 250 men and agreed to pay back his victims whopping US$737,521. Investigators say there could be more victims that have not been identified. The fraud utilized the infamous “visa and airfare” scheme: McCoy and his wife Anna were posing as Russian women seeking marriage and a non-existing Russian marriage agency that would provide women with visas and tickets.
A REMINDER FOR ALL:
Do NOT send money for visas and tickets! Go to the woman’s country and meet her there.
Do NOT use unknown agencies and agents! Use trustworthy, well-established agencies for meeting women and arranging trips. We recommend www.elenasmodels.com
