American Free Personals

We discussed the modus operandi of Russian scammers in our last posting. Let us continue with the way they operate. Most scammers after exchanging a few emails, and having professed their love for the victim may start a sob story, when they know the time is ripe. The scammer would say that she was invited by her former boyfriend to the US and she paid for the ticket. After reaching the US, she came to know that her boyfriend was not serious about her. She was now broke and could not afford to come to the US again. After putting forth her sob story, the scammer would ask for some financial assistance to buy return tickets for her visit. You could receive other such sob stories, which you need to guard against.

You should know that you are being setup when you receive any of the following:

· The scammer gets too intimate and addresses you as “my love”, “my life”, “my sunshine” and the like
· She signs her letters off as “your beloved”, your soon-to-become wife” There would be mention about “a lot of kisses”, hugs and a sense of longing for you.
· The scammer talks about how she was used and then ditched by men
· There is an overemphasis on her honesty, sincerity and love for you
· There would invariably be mention of her friend who married a US national after meeting him on the net, and what a happy couple they make
· Her letters will be flowery and decorated with romantic terms. You could even get to read some romantic poems.
· She would mention that she remained absolutely immersed in your thoughts and her friends teased her for being so absentminded in love.
· She could even mention daydreaming about having sex with you, and that you keep appearing in her wet dreams.
· Her next letter could contain some seductive and suggestive photographs of her, which may become more daring and revealing as your letters progress.
· She would even mention that she had discussed you with her parents and family, and they all seemed to like you.
· The scammer may write that she is in absolute love with you and cannot live without you. Every passing moment is like a huge burden, which will lighten only when she and you meet physically.
· The letters will contain the expression “I love you” in upper scale and repeated over and over again.

We shall continue with the sob story in the next posting. Until then, take care.

The Modus Operandi
We did discuss in brief about the Russian brides scam in the previous posting. Let us now see how these scammers operate.

The scammer places personal ads on international dating sites. You will find a picture of an attractive girl of Russian origin. These pictures could be the advertiser’s personal photo or someone else’s. It is not necessary that the advertiser is a woman – “she” could be a man pretending to be a woman.

Most scammers are proactive looking for potential victims and going for the kill when they see one. These scammers seek out their victims at large online dating sites such as Yahoo Personals. Since big sites do not entertain subscriptions bearing Russian addresses, these scammers pretend that they are from the US.

• Emails start pouring in from all over, and the scammer starts writing back to almost all, barring a few, who might not be suitable.
• Most scammers use a standard reply, since they cannot write individually to all the responders. They have a set of letters ready with them and use them for all their potential victims.
• What is noticeable in these letters is that most of your queries will remain unanswered. You could sense that these letters are out of context containing matter that does not link to your correspondence. However, some smart operators write to their potential victims individually, preferring to focus on three to four potential victims a time.
• The scammers are extremely sweet in their correspondence, usually mentioning that this is the first time they are operating the internet, and you are the first male they are writing to. The content of their messages could be romantic and softly seductive – enough to drive a male crazy.
• After an exchange of messages for a couple of weeks to a few weeks, when the scammer feels that the potential victim is confident about the relationship, he/she ‘admits’ to having fallen in love with the victim.
• If the response from the potential victim is positive, the scammer invariably talks about “her” vacation, which is due in a short while from now. “She” will talk about visiting the US or state, dying to meet the potential victim.

That is enough to get the potential victim’s heart going bonkers. What would he not do to meet such an attractive female, whom he had been fantasizing about from the day she started communicating? We shall discuss the issue further in our next posting. Until then, keep miles away from scammers.

How the Scam Operates
The Russian bride scam is being enacted over the Internet for quite a while now. Unsuspecting Americans and foreigners are being allured by the scammers, both male and female, with the sole intent of extracting money from them. They get in touch with Americans/foreigners through the chatroom, pretend to fall head-over-heels in love with them, promising marriage or a meeting in the US. When the scammers find the other party in their firm grip, they start requesting money to buy tickets, tide over hospital expenses, or to cover for any such emergent need.

Attractive females from Russia, Belarus, and other former USSR countries send their photographs over the Internet to lure single and lonely men. Even males pretending to be females send photographs of some attractive female to have the other party interested.

Be on guard when you receive requests for money. The reason could be for any or more of the following:

· Passport, tickets, and visa
· Apartment rent, utility bills
· Car accident, which she borrowed and wrecked
· Emergency hospital expenses – for her or any of her close relatives
· Luxury items like cell pones to keep in touch with you
· Expenditure involved in preparing for the marriage
· Presents for herself and family

You might even receive a request to disclose your credit card number or other such information. Whatever the reason, any request for substantial money should put you on guard. You could be taken for a ride. Many unsuspecting people have ended up paying money, and upon refusal to pay further they had abruptly lost contact with their ‘ladylove’.

We may continue with more information on the Russian brides scam in our forthcoming postings.