$1250 cash to meet me????

[rambler]

Hi everyone

OK I think I know the answer to this one BUT does any Russian girl or anyone think that this is a reasonable scenario?! It looks like a perfect scam set up to me. So if you are setting out this is what to expect.

I will call her A
The local airport B
Her city C
The only airport that has direct flights is D to
to her chosen meeting destination is E which is in a country where she does not need a visa

Costs are for
taxi from C to D several hours each way
Hotel near D  because flight is early morning.
Flight from D to destination E
must show cash money to Customs to prove she has means
Total 1250 US dollars (in Euro)  which I am supposed to send by WU .. .

She (A) won't meet me in her home town for 1st meeting.
Local airport does not fly to E but does fly to Moscow but everything is more expensive there.
She is responsible for aging grandparent and sister in college which her man will naturally support "as do most Russian and foreign men"
There was a "catastrophe" at her her apartment this week damage still to be assessed.  No ask for those costs  - yet but a lot of damage to her apt and the one below. Terrible bruises caused by frantic clean up. Photo proof of bruised arms and legs but NO photos of damage to apartment. Models are pretty good with make up.

She has been spotted on  dating sites as far back as 10 years
Very beautiful - model etc., but now too old to model much more
Large age difference
she is divorced after short marriage
Won't spend longer than 3 nights at her chosen destination E for 1st meeting in case she doesn't like me.
100 % response rate to Expressions of Interest
some great photos but also those that are 4-5 years old are the best ...
Me buying the air tickets directly is not an option because E-Tickets don't work well there

Even if A is genuine that's pretty high overhead and risk, especially if we need to meet several times. Granny could take turn for the worse anytime now. The repair bill for the downstairs apartment could be looming. Money for tr  ip to "a more romantic destination  for the second meeting"  looks likely....  

Considering I just had a no show (not funded yet)  from a Muscovite girl who gave me the sick granny in Siberia and dead dog replacement for Mommy that she must deliver to home town while I'm in Moscow routine followed by "Daddy says you are too old and won't discuss you at all" and then a  "forget me please and forgive me for everything"  SMS (no call, no repy to emails or phone calls) after an expensive 2nd meet in Paris, after a lot of shopping, travel and rent money demands totalling several thousand in direct and indirect costs, I do not feel inclined to risk even $1250 on this case, plus other expenses if she does show  however gorgeous she is! Or am I just jaded and paranoid? A does not like paranoid men.  

There will have to be 2 hotel rooms at about 3 x 3 x $150 min, my flight $ $450 plus probably high maintenance entertainment, food and undoubtedly presents and a bit of shopping sounds likely.  Let's face it, 3 nights is not long enough to get very far in the relationship.  I asked for at least week. Refused.

 Nor  will she come to my house in Europe because no decent girl would do that and me going to her home town and meeting her family is not "convinient". I guess not if men keep showing up on and off for over a decade, not good for reputation huh? I am not suggesting it is an out and out scam but it is definitely high risk. There is a small chance that all the above is logical and in her eyes reasonable. But there are a lot of buts! And I bet there are a lot of other meets planned with a 100% response rate and "pressure to reply" from the agency discussed elsewhere on these fora. Maybe even meets in the same destination.  What's to stop her staying in E and lining up 10 guys who all paid her $1000 + to get there?

Well for you guys who have not been to the FSU yet, this is the kind of bait that's out there. And the longer the email trail becomes - the more revealing the attached photos become. Still clothed, but wayyyyy smaller clothes.  Could turn out to be the only memories you get.
I have been warned and so have you.
Or am I just bitter and twisted after just 6 months looking!? You decide.

One last question. if you don't meet first time in her home town then how do you comply with the 1st commandment:
1. Never send money to someone you have never met.

I can see that many girls aren't going to want half a dozen guys to turn up in their village!  And they do have  aright to see 6 guys sooooo ....   ??


Rambler.  




 

[Aloe]

i only read until the line "must show cash to customs", 100% scam cuz this is BS, the only ppl who care about your cash is consulate issuing a visa, customs couldnt care less, unless you are carrying over 10-15k euro in cash, then customs cares that you need to declare it

[Ade]

i only read until the line "must show cash to customs", 100% scam cuz this is BS, the only ppl who care about your cash is consulate issuing a visa, customs couldnt care less, unless you are carrying over 10-15k euro in cash, then customs cares that you need to declare it

On entering some countries you may be asked if you have sufficient funds and may even be asked to show them. My wife has been asked and, many years ago, I was asked when entering Switzerland.

For what it's worth and all things considered, the girl "A" sounds like someone that I'd give a miss.

[Aloe]

ok, i actually read it now. sounds like 10000% scam to me.
as for number 1 commandment, i met my now husband in Thailand but i paid my own tickets. Theres plenty of women out there who can pay for their own tickets, especially in europe, theres constantly special offers up, for example moscow to paris was 180 euro for a return ticket back in may, and there are SO many airlines in europe, one of them is bound to have special offers up at any given time, just need to look directly on airlines websites, rather than flight search engine

[Aloe]

On entering some countries you may be asked if you have sufficient funds and may even be asked to show them. My wife has been asked and, many years ago, I was asked when entering Switzerland.

For what it's worth and all things considered, the girl "A" sounds like someone that I'd give a miss.

thats weird, do they provide an atm for those purposes? I never carry cash

[Muddy]

I have been to Ukraine 5 times, always used e-tickets, no problems at all
in Moscow they took my passport and eticket for 15 minutes and went to another office to print my boarding pass, i was worried about my passport, moscow airport is garbage

So, she is a model, pretty, has been on the site for 10 years, and still nothing??? wow

[Shadow]

I do not even think it does matter.
If you do not have the feeling its right, stay away from it.

[Aloe]

I have been to Ukraine 5 times, always used e-tickets, no problems at all
in Moscow they took my passport and eticket for 15 minutes and went to another office to print my boarding pass, i was worried about my passport, moscow airport is garbage

So, she is a model, pretty, has been on the site for 10 years, and still nothing??? wow

just fyi there are 4 airports in moscow, 2 of them international, and in like 10 trips ive made through them, i have not had a single problem with my e-tickets, so it must have been you

[Ade]

thats weird, do they provide an atm for those purposes? I never carry cash

Showing a credit card it usually enough.

[Ade]

just fyi there are 4 airports in moscow, 2 of them international, and in like 10 trips ive made through them, i have not had a single problem with my e-tickets, so it must have been you

I've used 6 different airports in Russia including the pitiful one at Murmansk and none has ever had a problem with e-tickets.

[Doll]

Considering I just had a no show (not funded yet)  from a Muscovite girl who gave me the sick granny in Siberia and dead dog replacement for Mommy that she must deliver to home town while I'm in Moscow routine followed by "Daddy says you are too old and won't discuss you at all" and then a  "forget me please and forgive me for everything"  SMS (no call, no repy to emails or phone calls) after an expensive 2nd meet in Paris, after a lot of shopping, travel and rent money demands totalling several thousand in direct and indirect costs, I do not feel inclined to risk even $1250 on this case, plus other expenses if she does show  however gorgeous she is! Or am I just jaded and paranoid? A does not like paranoid men. 

You just for some reason attract scam.
Searching for much younger girls?

[Jooky]

I think you already know this but...

The absolutely best case scenario is that this woman is using you for a 3 day shopping trip. It sounds like you've already been down that road.

You're going to a country for which she doesn't need a visa. Tell us what country you plan to go to and I'm sure someone here can confirm that she doesn't need to show funds while passing customs.

Even if she was required to buy paper tickets, you could purchase these tickets and have her pick them up at the airport. There is no need to send money via Western Union.

Someone listed this woman's name on this site as a known scammer and this is how you know that she's been working dating sites for the past 10 years, right?

A decent girl won't come to your hometown, but she will go on a 3 day shopping trip with a stranger in a vacation destination... yeah, makes a lot of sense. 

You're assuming high maintenance entertainment, meals and shopping. You've already been severely used this year. You're wondering if you're just paranoid, and worried because you're new scammer 'doesn't like paranoid men'. Jeez, it sounds like you enjoy being taken for a ride! You're obviously making excuses in your mind to how this fantasy might be real. It's not!

I think you could help others out here by relating your experiences over the past year in detail.

How old are you, and what is the age range of the women that are taking advantage of you?

Why are you looking for a Russian wife?

How much and what kind of communication have you had with the current woman? How often do you chat online or talk on the phone?

You say you used Elena's Models exclusively over the past year. Did all 3 women that you met so far simply use you for vacations and gifts? I'm starting to wonder if the quality control at Elena's has declined so much that it's becoming another Anastasia web type of network.

To answer your question, if a man plans to meet a woman for the first time outside her hometown either:
- She pays for her tickets.
- He can buy tickets (non refundable) and have her pick them up.

[Misha]

For the life of me, I can't understand why you guys complicate things so much. Here is the case of Mike who was in Odessa:

This local lady I met yesterday on Singles.Ru met me again this morning for breakfast (after a guided tour of the city center and dinner last night).  This woman is really a classy lady and speaks good English.  She is older, divorced, and two grown daughters.  I told her all about waiting alone here in Odessa for this woman from Moldova before I even met her.  She insisted this morning that I call her at work if I needed to talk!  I really like her!  She was just a shot in the dark from a recommendation from a member on here to go on Singles.Ru two days ago!

Within two days he met a woman in Odessa, her city, who not only had no problems meeting a foreigner in her city, she even gave him the guided tour! He didn't have to fly her to Paris or anywhere else for a date. Not only did he not spend thousands of dollars on her, she offered to help him by washing his clothes as he did not have a washing mashine where he was staying

Why? Well, from what I understand, she is a bit older and he met her using a Russian dating site. She was not looking for a foreigner, but was happy to meet one for a date. Also, this is a good case proving that you can meet women who speak good English on a Russian dating site. In other words, he found a woman who I would wager would be a reasonable match in terms of age, life experience and expectations. Simply put, it is much easier meeting women when you are not chasing a fantasy  

[BillyB]

Rambler, we've communicated some through PM and I will add a little without mentioning her name.

I've seen profile of hers since she listed when she was 18 so it's about 10 years old now but it's been removed since she got married.

I wrote to her about 4.5 years ago. She was very polite in our communications and didn't ask me for any money. At the time she disclosed she had two ex fiances.

She is a model and usually an agencies top 1-5 women.

Her photos were stolen and she was accused of being a scammer and fought the accusations on Russian woman detective Elena Garrett's website. Elena did not conclude that she was a scammer.

I heard from another forum member 2 years ago that she got married and I checked the websites she was on and all her profiles were removed.

She is now divorced according to her current profile.

She is now listed at only one agency that many members here recommend. Not the actions of a scammer who'd want maximum exposure by being listed at many agencies/dating sites.

It's possible someone is reusing her stolen photos.

One of my guesses is Rambler is writing the real woman, not a scammer who stole her photos. She has become spoiled by all the men who's thrown money and gifts her way and now she thinks it's the norm in dating. Even if she's not a scammer and going to show up to meet Rambler, I'd cancel the trip and wouldn't send the money. She sounds like damaged goods.

[Sculpto]

echo to all the above.  Why even bother?  divorced twice already.. you think you have some magic formula that will turn a bad apple into something good?

[Daveman]

For the life of me, I can't understand why you guys complicate things so much....

...Simply put, it is much easier meeting women when you are not chasing a fantasy  

Ain't that the truth...


She could possibly be a fun ride for a while, but then what?  Doesn't sound like she really going to be a "life partner" does it? 

[JR]

Just send me the $1250 cuz she ain't coming

SCAM ALERT!  And as Billy points out, if she isn't a scammer she is spoiled.

[jdk1963]

For $600 you can come to my home-town and meet my family!   

[rambler]

Well I did decide to cancel that arrangement. Instead I have agreed with another girl that she come and stay at my place near Nice for a couple of weeks from next week.  I'll see if it pans out. I don't think it is likely to be a long term thing but right now I don't care. 2 weeks is a lot better bang per buck than Friday to Monday in 2 rooms of some hotel in a place totally irrelevant to our future or past.   

R

[Jooky]

Are you paying for the new girl's tickets as well? How are you handling it this time?

[HiTech]

Rambler: 2 weeks will be a lot worse than 3 days, if you and this girl do not hit it off.

HiTech

[Sculpto]

no kidding huh.. imagine being stuck in Nice with someone you despise who is also depending on you to support her financially.  Or worse yet.. what if you like her and she can't stomach you but is pretty much stuck since you brought her there..

[groovlstk]

Well I did decide to cancel that arrangement. Instead I have agreed with another girl that she come and stay at my place near Nice for a couple of weeks from next week.  I'll see if it pans out. I don't think it is likely to be a long term thing but right now I don't care. 2 weeks is a lot better bang per buck than Friday to Monday in 2 rooms of some hotel in a place totally irrelevant to our future or past.   

R

Rambler, you've previously summed up your experience with Russian women as follows:

Humbled, lighter in the wallet area and quite a bit less happy than when I started out ...

Here you are, doing the same thing again, wearing the equivalent of a KICK ME sign on your butt. If you want to weed through the pro daters and scammers, the first thing you need to do is stop paying for women to travel to you.

[NJ]

taxi from C to D several hours each way
Hotel near D  because flight is early morning.

Seems like 100% scam for me. Even no logics in her wants. If she wants to take a taxi from her home town to the airport (what seems very wierd, if she is such a royal a$$ that she is not used to busses or trains, why wont she pay for it herself), why she will not have the taxi arrived to the airport right before the flight? What is the reason to have a taxi that will arrive before and then to stay at night in a hotel?

[AramisLux]

Rambler:

this thread is BS without photos!!!

post a photo of you and a photo of the subject. that will tell us quite a lot.