Since I have a love for Russia, and since I had the family photos she had asked to see, I stayed up too late putting some out on my webspace and sent her the links.
Being interested in Russia, I looked up the town, general geographical area, etc. Somehow some red flags went up, and I decided to google her email address. Nothing. Then I googled her name and it came up on the site with the same city and province. There are tons of names on that site. I will not give the name. There is a lot of this type of activity in the city she claims to be from.
My son makes a lot of money and is on the heels of a long romance and marriage gone sour so is somewhat vulnerable. I called him and told him we'd been had. He seemed to take it well as he didn't invest anything emotionally in it yet. The other guy who reported her had sent her money for passport and visa, asked to be sent photocopies of them, and finally realized something was up when she needed more money to come here. They probably take the money and run and do not come here if they are scammers.
I am not the kind of mother who pries into every detail of his life; he has his social life, and I know little about the people or girls he meets because that is probably the way it should be until and unless things get serious.
I thought some people might find it interesting as I'd read other news stories, some work out ok, but here I am writing her and warning her that my son is fickle, didn't want to see her get hurt, hope she enjoyed the pictures, and the joke is on my son and me evidently.
Just wanted to tell people to be careful about who you meet on the net, not that most of us don't already know. Sometimes they aren't even "real" people, use phony photos. The scam is they need money for a passport and visa to come to America, then extra money for the trip, and other variations.
Heaven knows what thugs might await an unwary guy who makes the trip to meet them in person.
My son who is in his thirties, wanted me to take some photos for the net, and I warned him way back about meeting women on the web. It can be dangerous and costly, monetarily and emotionally, for both men and women.
Maybe the scam info website is a scam. They want donations. How can we know anything for sure any more?
If this isn't Freeper worthy miscellaneous news, I apologize and the mods can dispose of it however they wish.
I think your right about your suspicions, but I will point something out, from a man' point of view
"she looked a little sleazy but attractive "
can be seen as a very positive description.
Seems funny that they want money to fight scams when there are other free sites out there that post photos of scammers.
CAVEAT EMPTOR!
She wants to be here a lot more than he wants to be with her.
I would suggest checking out a site like http://www.womenrussia.com/blacklist.htm. Another source would be to google russian blacklist together.
You may find details on scams that others have reported.
Good luck, and bless you.
Regardless of what the women say, there is always an element of the quest for a man with financial stability. It is not wrong to seek for a certain level of stability, since without it, you can't plan for a home and family.
There will be significant cultural differences, especially if the American does not have a lot of exposure to other cultures, which can cause strain on the relationship without folks realizing it.
Be aware that it will cost at least $5,000 to finish the paperwork (or $1,000 in INS fees and copious amounts of your spare time and aggravation), and probably another $20,000 when you figure in multiple trips to Russia, phone calls home, shipping stuff back to family in Russia, etc.
I speak from personal experience as someone who married an Asian and am happily married but much poorer.
I fell for a scam like this, except the woman was from the breakaway republic of Kreplachistan.
I've met two very beautiful women from Russia, but I have had hundreds of scammers try and scam me. Be careful!
http://www.stop-scammers.com/browseall.asp
http://www.uaprofiler.com/
http://www.russianwomenblacklist.com/
http://www.anti-scam.org/
http://www.4umatch.co.uk/category/scammers/russian-scammers/online-dating-advice
One of the times when I visited the Ukraine, I stayed in a hotel in Kiev that actually had a marriage agency right inside. There was some geeky looking American guy in there looking for a wife and they set him up on a whole bunch of dates.
I don't know how it worked out, but it seems to me it is much more intelligent to actually go and see the merchandise you are buying.
It doesn't cost all that much to go there and spend your vacation on such a quest. This particular agency even sets up events like dances, etc.
I forgot which hotel it was.
Ways to verify their identity...
And don't even get me started on the African scammers. Did you know Nigeria was the vacation mecca for beautiful white models who will fall instantly in love with you, and will come live with you immediately if only you will pay their hotel bill so they can get their passport back? Strangely enough, they grew up in the United States but can barely type broken English. I refer these to the American Embassy that can restore their passport and has a fund to help get them out of the country. You would not believe the excuses not to contact the American embassy.
Your son should be very careful. I was corresponding with a russian woman a couple years ago. I almost fell for the "wire me money for airfare and a visa so I can come to America to be with you" scam. Fortunately I wised up to this scam just in time to save me a lot of grief and embarrasment. Read DannyTN's post #35. Good list of red flags to look for there. One other thing I would mention is that many scammers are sloppy and you can find "cut and paste" sections reused throughout their different emails.
Maybe you can share your experience with these guys.
Tell your son to use a reputable agency and check scam sites.
Yoshkar-Ola.com is decent.
I've read the whole thread. It seems to be that the son's real problem is that he has been dumped by a beautiful woman and now wants another one. Looks seem to be items 1,2&3 on his agenda. I'm surprised he has any money left if there were kids involved.
I'm leary of just about all internet dating sites. I know some mean well but most are just interested in churning money and don't care how they do it. The foreign ones would be even dicier, particularly if you are dealing with a language barrier. Translation programs only take you so far. English is just too complex a language to be easily translated.
Nonetheless, I have traded e-mails with a few Russian and Ukranian women. DannyTN and Romanov offer great advice. I would add one other thing. In correspondence, watch for signs that reflect on the letters he has sent to her. If it's a scammer, it will be mostly about *her* (in very kind terms, of course) without ever discussing him or anything in *his* life. I tell them about my pet parrot and have sent a picture of the parrot and I. The good ones later ask me about my bird which shows me they actually remembered what I've put in my e-mails.
One college student near the Ural mountains mentioned her birthday coming up so I got her address and sent her a gift. She sent back an e-mail of her wearing the gift. It is things like that which show a genuine interest and a willingness to share something in common.
I have a prepaid IDT phone card I use to call to Russia. It is very inexpensive to call but the time difference is practically 12 hours so if it is 10 a.m. here, it will be around 10 p.m. there.
My point is that there are ways to separate the scammers from the honest girls but it takes some personal time and effort to find them. E-mails and phone calls are a good way to correspond while you get to know each other but watch out for the red flags.
You're a good mother to watch out for your son. A lot of women would figure a man that age deserves what he gets.
Did you do you search in Russian using cyrillic?
Mark