Work visa?

[reshumate]

Hello, I have been corresponding with a Russian woman.  She has told me that she will be traveling to America on a work visa, and that she will have the opportunity to meet me prior to starting her work.  Has anyone had any experience with this?  She has not asked for money.  Everything I read says that Russian women cannot get visas, but I haven't seen anything regarding work visas.

She found me initially through Yahoo so perhaps that is a red flag.

[ScottinCrimea]

What are the details of her work visa?  These are indeed possible to get, but we have seen numerous scams that start out this way.  She will get you attached to her and give you a date and time of her arrival.  she may even send you a falsified copy of a passport or visa. Then suddenly something will come up at the last minute such as extra visa fees, etc and she will tell you that she is stuck in Moscow, has no one else to turn to and if you will just send her X dollars she will soon be in your arms and will repay you fully.  Of course once she gets the money she will disappear.

Provide some more details and we can probably help you confirm whether or not it is a scam.

[catzenmouse]

Just tell her that you'll be happy to meet with here once she arrives here.

Say "NO!" to any requests for help getting here or any emergency that may arise and more than likely you'll find she'll go Poof! up in smoke and disappear.

Ken

[Vaughn]

My wife and I had a young Russian woman of 18 spend the summer
here in the USA. We had no part in securing her visa. She and her
Dad worked through all that themselves through this firm:

http://www.jobsabroad.com/listingsp3.cfm/listing/34195

So it's possible that your RW is being truthful. Let it play out,
time will tell. She contacted you first, huh?

[reshumate]

I really don't have many details.  I have corresponded with her through email several times now since September.  She is from Pskov, and works in the insurance industry.  Recently she traveled to Germany to improve her professional skill.  She told me she expects to get her visa next week sometime, but has no specific dates yet on her travel to the US, only November or December. 

She is supposed to call me this week for the first time.  Any tips on speaking to a Russian woman?  Her english is a bit broken in written form.  I've been studying up using mangolanguages.com but my pronunciation is pretty bad.

Thanks all for the quick replies.

[catzenmouse]

I really don't have many details.  I have corresponded with her through email several times now since September.  She is from Pskov, and works in the insurance industry.  Recently she traveled to Germany to improve her professional skill.  She told me she expects to get her visa next week sometime, but has no specific dates yet on her travel to the US, only November or December. 

She is supposed to call me this week for the first time.  Any tips on speaking to a Russian woman?  Her english is a bit broken in written form.  I've been studying up using mangolanguages.com but my pronunciation is pretty bad.

Thanks all for the quick replies.

Keep the slang and other idiosyncrasies out of your talk. Be careful with humor and especially any sarcasm as this stuff often is not understood at all or taken as a negative. Be yourself, keep it light, and enjoy the chat.

Ken

[ScottinCrimea]

You might want to google 'Pskov scam".  There you will see several women from that city who have been reported as running similar scams, some using yahoo.  You may recognize a name or the wording from a letter.  This doesn't mean that she is legit if you don't find anything, but it's another way to check things out.

[BillyB]

She is supposed to call me this week for the first time. 

Why don't she let you call her? Get her number and call her often. Scammers don't like men who do that and most likely you will not be getting a number for whatever reason. Don't send money under any conditions.

[reshumate]

I will ask for her number once she calls me.

Just to update, she sent me another email and said she will be traveling to the US in early January.  She is spending her own money to come see me.  Is this too good to be true?  Her words and photos are all very genuine, but of course I have some doubt. 

Obviously the first time she asks for money I will be gone, but I want to keep an open mind.

 

[ScottinCrimea]

It still would help to know where and for whom she says she will be working in the US.  It's fine to keep an open mind, but first, did you do the Google search I suggested?  Anything look familiar?  We're trying to help you here to spot any scam, if it is one, as soon as possible, before you invest too much time and emotion into it.

If she is out to scam, early January is just enough time for her to snag your hopes and emotions.  Expect that with each letter she will become more personal, expressing her dreams of being with you and in your arms, claiming to start to feel strong feelings for you.  Keep in mind that a sincere RW won't write such things, especially to someone she has never met.  If she starts getting too "lovey-dovey" too soon, get the radar up.  That she says she is spending her own money to see you is indeed too good to be true.  Remember, she's not going to ask you for anything until she has you hooked, and then on the day she is to travel to "be in your arms" something will come up that will require that either you send her money or leave her stranded, pulling on your poor heartstrings.

Sure there's the outside chance that she's for real, but so far it is following a very common scam so closely that I think ultimate caution is the key.

[reshumate]

I did the search, but Elena is a pretty common name, so nothing really came up specifically for Pskov.  Yes, her last letter seemed a bit more serious.  I am pretty sensible, so if I got a call on the day of her travel asking for money, I would say sorry, wish we could meet, good luck.

This is in the future a bit, but if this happened, how could I confirm that she was at a particular aiport?  I instructed her that she would have to fly through Chicago to get to my location.  So the most I would be out is $200 for a one way ticket to me, and she would not receive money, only a ticket.  I wouldn't buy her return ticket.  Let INS do that.

[William3rd]

200 dollars times 10 guys is 2K. Still worth scamming you.

[BillyB]

So the most I would be out is $200 for a one way ticket to me, and she would not receive money, only a ticket.  I wouldn't buy her return ticket.  Let INS do that.

reshumate, she's got you hooked. We are losing you. you're already rationalizing buying her a ticket and risking $200. You are putting added pressure on yourself to send her money on the day she flys since you're thinking of investing your own money. Is she that good looking? Would you do this for a Russian man coming over on a work visa?

Just ask her for her phone number and start callling often. Don't you think she wants to hear the voice of her future husband? If she ignores your request for the number, stop writing her.

I've read a number of times here on forums that guys waited at the airport with flowers in hand and nobody showing up. Scammers are smart and they'll even give you a real flight number of an actual flight landing on the day they say they'll arrive.

[reshumate]

Umm, did I not say that I would be buying a ticket only?  How the heck would she get money from that?  All she is getting is a ticket at O'Hare airport to fly to me.  To me, buying an airline ticket and having her pick it up at the terminal involves my credit card and buying the ticket by calling the airline directly.

Here is an excerpt from her last email, like her 6th or 7th -

"I very much miss and constantly I think of you every day. I am even more often seated by a question, really so it happens to find the love, sense in life, so through the Internet. On the first sight it is strange. On the business so it happens. Also it is one of few examples, it you and I, only you and I and no anybody this mad world more. For us there is only this small world, world of love and fidelity. But he is very fragile and is unstable. We know a little about each other. Only our meeting and some time together can up to the end understand to us, that we are very necessary to each other, I thinking of our meeting, as we shall undertake hands, we shall see in to each other in eyes and we shall kiss each other. With you I would feel protected and really only with you I shall be happy. Can you yet are sure in the feelings to me. I am sincere with you. Sometimes words have no meaning, but not in this case."

I went ahead and checked for her photo on the blacklist at womenrussian.com.  Too many photos to go through all of them, but she was not there under Elena.  I read the example letters at russian-detective.com.  This girl is slightly more skilled than those scammers.  I'm still waiting for the alluring pictures (dammit!).  The pictures I have received are boring.  I have replied to her last email with a lovey-dovey type email, to see if I can get the money request email.  Then I will send her info to the blacklist.

Radar up. 

[William3rd]

Scammer for sure. Nuff said. . . . .

[SANDRO43]

Good idea, posting her letter. The least one can say, is that she's not an original writer . I Googled for a morsel ("For us there is only this small world, world of love and fidelity. But he is very fragile and is unstable"), and found this: http://www.russian-detective.com/black_lists/individ/new/maximova_nadya.htm.

Any familiarity ? I'd suggest you repeat the same exercise with other morsels .

[BillyB]

Here is an excerpt from her last email, like her 6th or 7th -

"I very much miss and constantly I think of you every day. I am even more often seated by a question, really so it happens to find the love, sense in life, so through the Internet. On the first sight it is strange. On the business so it happens. Also it is one of few examples, it you and I, only you and I and no anybody this mad world more. For us there is only this small world, world of love and fidelity. But he is very fragile and is unstable. We know a little about each other. Only our meeting and some time together can up to the end understand to us, that we are very necessary to each other, I thinking of our meeting, as we shall undertake hands, we shall see in to each other in eyes and we shall kiss each other. With you I would feel protected and really only with you I shall be happy. Can you yet are sure in the feelings to me. I am sincere with you. Sometimes words have no meaning, but not in this case."

According to that letter, she's ready to make babies with you and give you her phone number. don't hesitate, ask for the number.

reshumate, go to Google and use the "advance seach" and search each sentence exactly as it's written. You will find a lot of scammers who who's those exact words. Come back and tell us what you find. That letter reads like a scammer letter.

[reshumate]

Oh, I'm like 99% sure it's a scam now.   Did find some matching language in other scam letters.  I only wished I could find her photo in the blacklist.  Just too many.  I wonder if all this originates in Russia or if there a just a bunch of people out there using different pictures and email addresses.

[ScottinCrimea]

Here is an excerpt from her last email, like her 6th or 7th -

"I very much miss and constantly I think of you every day. I am even more often seated by a question, really so it happens to find the love, sense in life, so through the Internet. On the first sight it is strange. On the business so it happens. Also it is one of few examples, it you and I, only you and I and no anybody this mad world more. For us there is only this small world, world of love and fidelity. But he is very fragile and is unstable. We know a little about each other. Only our meeting and some time together can up to the end understand to us, that we are very necessary to each other, I thinking of our meeting, as we shall undertake hands, we shall see in to each other in eyes and we shall kiss each other. With you I would feel protected and really only with you I shall be happy. Can you yet are sure in the feelings to me. I am sincere with you. Sometimes words have no meaning, but not in this case."

Compare this to what she wrote to "Kerry" on Aug 17th, 2005 as reported on the scam site that Sandro found:

Maximova Nadezhda (Nadya)
(uses the same letters as Katya Katya_Single@list.ru and flaer-lady@list.ru from Cheboksary; Elena Patrusheva ( (Lenusik28@bk.ru) from Cheboksary; Tatiana Volzhanina (volzhanina111@list.ru) from Cheboksary, Russia; Yana Kantonistova (Yana_beautiful@list.ru) from Cheboksary)


"We know a little
about each other. Only our meeting and some time together can up to
the end understand to us, that we are very necessary to each other I
dream of our meeting, as we shall undertake hands, we shall see in to
each other in eyes and we shall kiss each other. With you I would feel
protected and really only with you I shall be happy. I ask you, make a
first step. Can you yet are sure in the feelings to me. Please do not
doubt of me. Kerry I am honour before you and everything, that I have I all
give to you. Sometimes words have no meaning, but not in this case."

I think your 99% figure is a little low.  If you want to see a true picture, expect to see one of fat Yuri sitting at his keyboard.

[BillyB]

 Did find some matching language in other scam letters.  I only wished I could find her photo in the blacklist.  Just too many. 

Photos and emails always change. Wording in letters rarely do. As you've probably found out now, the various sentences in that letter led to different scammers at different sites. You've probably been trading love letters with a man named Fat Yuri and will get one call from his female partner in crime.

reshumate, it's best for you to learn to cut your losses sooner. Give yourself more choices in women to communicate with. If you had choices, you'd probably wouldn't think about putting up with this crap and investing $200 in a ticket. Surely the scammer doesn't answer all your questions and you had crap for correspondence. By contacting many ladies, you may find a lady who's sincerely into you and who'd like you to call. I don't know why so many men in this endeavor don't press to call a woman he dreams to marry? Do lots of reading here and you will be able to better understand how real women talk to men compared to the unreal.