Dating & Marriage With Women From Russia, Ukraine, Belarus & FSU > Dating Scams and Suspicious Agencies
Truth and nonsense about scammers.
Shadow:
Pictures
ScottjaySplendid has already done a good feature on pictures. What I would like to add is that blogs and party-sites are as popular in Russia as they are in the West. To get a set of pictures of a goodlooking Russian girl (as if men could se the difference) is a matter of 10 minutes on Yandex.
And I know personally of a woman putting a Sports Illustrated model in her profile to see the results. Not any man recognized the picture. Also I have seen in scam profiles many times pictures that were clearly not even the same girl.
What to look for in a picture ?
- Background: look at things like wallpaper, plants, electric switches, furniture.
- Reflections: see if you can see a reflection of the person taking the picture or the background.
- Pose: is it a natural picture or is it posed. Does she lean forward to make a point ?
Also never go on one thing. There have been cases of genuine RW sending swimsuit and even nude pictures.
Mail programs
You will read a lot about a program called 'the Bat'. I used it myself recently and it is a good program when you have more than one user at your PC writing mail. As such when someone shares their coputer with friends they could use it. Or it could be Yuri who 'needs' to separate his mail accounts.
IP
In a mail header there is always an originating IP, considering that the person sending to you does not need to hide their origin. It is possible to look up the IP and providing you used the right one it should lead to some place in Russia.
But wait... should the IP not show the city where she is living ? The answer is... not necessarily.
When you connect yor computer to the Internet, no matter in which way, you get an IP address. This IP addres is however not bound to your location, but to the server that distributes the IP. And as in Russia internet and providers are in development, it could well be that the provider offering the best speed and lowst price is in another city.
In theory, I could use a dial-up number in Moscow to go to the internet and I would have a Russian IP.
As such the IP is not a clear locator, but it can give out a lot of useful information.
Black and white ?
As it may seem here, things about scammers are not black and white at all. There are many shades of gray, and it is up to the men to determine how far they will go. I can even say honestly that every story that a scammer uses is based on real events. That does not mean that these events are real in your case.
There is one thing you should know. Unless she has a committed relationship with you, RW would rather starve to death and sell all their stuff than ask you for money. So if they do, in any way, before the two of you have ever met you should consider she might looking at your wallet, not at you.
Manny:
Telephones
It happens often with a scammer that the 'woman' who is your interlocutor will claim not to have a telephone. It most cases this is not true. Very seldom will a woman have no telephone, many have a landline and a mobile. It is worth noting that a cautious woman may be reluctant to give out her number until she is convinced you are 'the serious man' but treat with extreme caution women who simply claim that they have no phone. How does she expect to engage in an International relationship without a primary means of communication? Also abandon all ideas that FSU ladies are too poor to buy a mobile phone, it is simply not true, many would rather not eat for a month and have the latest model to pose with.
A classic excuse with scammers who claim to have no phone is the pre-arranged call. You will be given a number to call at a certain time, when it will be claimed your interlocutor will answer. Fat Yuri will have merely procured a local woman, maybe his girlfriend, to pose as your woman, he hopes the language barrier will prevent in depth conversation and exposure of his wheeze. An evaluation/verification call by a native speaker would expose this ruse of course.
If your woman truly has no phone, she will have a work number, a parent, friend or neighbour who has one and she can be reached ad hoc via this method. Do not be fobbed off by the 'no telephone' line, if you encounter too much resistance getting a number from a woman, it would be better to move on to one of many women you can contact who do have a phone.
Chris:
Just to add my bit to Manny's post, one of the first things I used to do when corresponding with a lady was to ask her for a phone number. I am happy to say I have never been scammed and my request for a phone number early on usually was the reason.
If they are legitimate after a short correspondence and getting to know what type of person you are by emails etc, then they will have no reason not to give you a contact number, in fact, I found they were only too happy to give you one, shows you are serious also! Make sure you call at different times (Ad Hoc as Manny says) until you get to know them, that way things cannot be set up by Boris in advance.
Chris
nunya:
--- Quote ---Very seldom will a woman have no telephone
If your woman truly has no phone, she will have a work number, a parent, friend or neighbour who has one and she can be reached ad hoc via this method.
--- End quote ---
Exactly Manny. Couldn't have said it better myself.
Qi Peng:
I ask for both the home and cell phone number in general. It's like having double verification.
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