Do you think this is a scam intro letter?

[mendeleyev]

Sleepcat, you are indeed sleepy. I stand by my original reply to your inquiry.

If you think she is a potential scammer, move on. As I mentioned earlier, there are too many unemployed former KGB agents in the FSU for you to try to get a job as a Russian detective.

You began your correspondence with the intent to finger her as a scammer. Not a great way to approach finding a wife. Most of the scam sites are bogus, filled with mistakes and also filled with men who get their jollies off on discovering that a girl named татьяна transliterated it as "Tatiana" at one site and as "Tatyana" on another. Pure ignorance on the man's part.

Again, you must choose whether to join the thongs of fools chasing scammers or move forward in finding a wife. You can't do both. (Throngs misspelled to make a point.)

No matter what kind of letters you receive at first, on a membership site like EM you must approach each person as if they could be the next Mrs. Sleepycat. Let their actions over time be your guide. If you were a sales professional you wouldn't walk into a prospects office with the intent of proving that they had no intent of using your product, would you? To be successful you'd enter that office with positive expectations in order to gain a client.

You must approach international dating with the same positive mindset and if it is not meant to be, allow the prospect to disqualify themselves. A sales professional wouldn't waste time on some sales scam site to discover whether ACME Soap had a different email address than the one listed.

[Gator]

If you think she is a potential scammer, move on. As I mentioned earlier, there are too many unemployed former KGB agents in the FSU for you to try to get a job as a Russian detective.

 
 
Sleepycat,
 
Don't you have better things to do with your time? You have posted her name and email address.  More than likely some lurker has informed her that a 37-yo Asian  man from Perth is questioning her integrity and publishing her private letters to him. 
There are plenty of good RW listed with EM who speak English and will not send you generic letters.  I suggest you write them.

[Misha]

No matter what kind of letters you receive at first, on a membership site like EM you must approach each person as if they could be the next Mrs. Sleepycat.

I concur. Even if she is a "scammer" what will a quick reply cost on EM? Nothing I believe if you are already a subscriber or whatever they call their members. Then, the second letter will be more telling. Does she answer questions? Does she provide more content? A few letters later will she Skype?


I don't quite understand this obsession with scammers and pro-daters. Nobody can force you to send money or spend money that you do not want to spend. I can understand the need to be wary if you are spending several dollars per minute chatting on some of these somewhat questionable sites, but when it does not cost any to write, why worry about scammers to such an extent in advance?

[Gator]

Sleepycat,
 
I see that you have already taken at least one trip to the FSU.  Were you scammed on that trip, thus explaining your concerns?

[JohnDearGreen]

Does she really need to send out unsolicited messages?
What do you think?

There are a handful of men here who recommend sending out hundreds/thousands of form letters as the best technique to use.  Interesting that so many men here don't like to get the same type form letter from a lady.  Regardless, I don't recommend the mass mailing method for either men or women.  Choose your own ladies, and not too many that you can't read their profiles and write a separate letter to each.   Maybe half the letter might be a copied template of info about you.

[Faux Pas]

I concur. Even if she is a "scammer" what will a quick reply cost on EM? Nothing I believe if you are already a subscriber or whatever they call their members. Then, the second letter will be more telling. Does she answer questions? Does she provide more content? A few letters later will she Skype?


I don't quite understand this obsession with scammers and pro-daters. Nobody can force you to send money or spend money that you do not want to spend. I can understand the need to be wary if you are spending several dollars per minute chatting on some of these somewhat questionable sites, but when it does not cost any to write, why worry about scammers to such an extent in advance?

IIRC, when he opened the letter, it cost him 1 contact which, depending on your level of membership could actually cost. Sending a letter or opening one received is considered a contact. My membership on EM was years ago but, it was the "gold level" I believe and it was 6 months or 50 contacts. Seeing how he made contact by opening the letter, he could freely correspond with her without any more cost or loss of credit

[CDW]

I have reported it to Elena Model's admin including 2 websites which you mentioned

I got the reply:

Subject: Re: (ID REMOVED)

Dear Graham,

 Thank you for your message.

 The lady really published photos of other lady in her profile. The profile has been deleted.

 Kind regards,

 Anna
 Help Desk

[pokerintherear]

Interesting,  Sleepycat do you have a good memory? If I recall the profile was a " Confirmed Profile"  by EM.  I think they need to look at confirmation process.

According to placement in line by publication date I guess the profile has been active for about a year.

[sleepycat]

I think we can finally put this whole saga to rest now. Thanks to CDW for alerting EM admin about this bogus profile. EM admin have since deleted this profile from their website. I can't believe the amount of flak that I received from various posters, on something that I was ultimately proven to be correct on. It was never my intention to make unfounded accusations in the first place, I was merely seeking the opinion of other readers.

Interesting,  Sleepycat do you have a good memory? If I recall the profile was a " Confirmed Profile"  by EM.  I think they need to look at confirmation process.

Yes that's correct, it was showing up as a 'Confirmed Profile' by EM. Well I guess now we know 'Confirmed Profile' means absolutely nothing.

Sleepycat,
 
I see that you have already taken at least one trip to the FSU.  Were you scammed on that trip, thus explaining your concerns?

I was not scammed on my recent trip to Russia. Things just didn't work out with that lady. I have never fallen victim to a scammer before.

[Shadow]

Sleepycat I doubt you will fall for a scammer as you are obviously able to recognize the methods.
Remember for the future not to post personal data and messages that can identify the woman until you have a confirmation. An obsession with scammers can lead to accuse innocent women just because they do something you feel is suspicious.
The best way is to simply ignore those you do not trust.

[dsbean]

This feels a little paranoid!? Almost Soviet in it's paranoia!

From my point of view I can't see why you need to be suspicious? Scammers might be patient but ANY asking for money is a red flag surely? Let's be honest, surely scamming is like sales, it's a numbers game so why would a scammer want to be patient when there are literally millions of men just begging to be conned out of a hundred pounds/dollars/euros/whatever within a couple of emails and a flash of well toned thigh?

Also, why should the cut and paste issue be a problem? These ladies probably have to go through 99 guys before they find a genuine one, especially on a free site?

I agree that some simple rules should be followed, I have started emailing a lady who started with an obvious C&P message but she hasn't told me she loves me, her email doesn't flag up on google nor do any of her pics, she now uses my name multiple times in emails and she hasn't asked for money? OK, her English is probably a bit iffy and she wants to get her message across but I am not going to get paranoid about a C&P contact?

In fact she seems more interested in emailing me pics of the food she makes rather than any of her half naked! Now it won't probably go anywhere, mainly because she lives in Syktyvkar and she could be a scammer but I am intelligent enough to know that she won't get any money from me before meeting.

BTW, what's up with the food pics?!

[mendeleyev]

BTW, what's up with the food pics?!

Did I miss some food photos in this thread?  We do have quite a few in the section on learning some basic Russian words.