Agency Tricks

[golden25]

Hello everyone.

  My Soon to be Ex-wife Elena worked for an Russian dating / marriage agency. She worked for them both while she lived in Russia and for about a year after she arrived here in America.  Her main job was 3 things 1st to help ladies get their biography set up on the web site along with her photo.  2nd was to translate letters english to russian & russian to english. The agency she worked for {which is the one i used myself} operated by the man buying tokens for about $15.00 each, each token allowed you to send and letter to a lady or if a lady contacted you you could use a token to answer her back.   Well needless to say i used allot of tokens the first few days, after i first signed up and put my info on the web site i received many letters from beautiful young russian ladies.  Now don't get me wrong i am not perfect by any means, when i seen these photos of these young ladies scantily dress i though of what life could be like with such a young and beautiful wife and not to mention what it would be like to crawl in the sack with a lady 15 years younger than me with such a beautiful face and body. But my practical side understood this would not be possible and i would only set myself up for a failed marriage. Now the reason i used allot of tokens was i felt obligated to answer the young ladies back and tell them, [I am sorry i am sure you are a very nice young lady, but i am much older than you and i am looking for a lady my own age. also i have had a vasectomy and do not plan to have any more children and i am sure at your age you do plan to have children for which i could not make happen] after several days these letters from these young ladies stopped. Then i received and letter from Elena, you see i did not know at the time Elena was an employee of the agency and that Elena's 3rd job was to send a bunch of letters from fake beautiful young ladies who do not exisit  to new male members that just signed up and get his hormones runnning and get him to spend a whole lot of money on tokens.  Elena was the one receiving these letters than i answered, when she seen how i was answering these letters she thought i would be a good catch so she put her own self on the web site and passed herself of to me as a client of the agnecy.

  It was not until i met Elena in Moscow did she tell me she was an employee of the agency, which made me wonder if this was all on the up and up, but she certainly would not have invited me to visit her if this was not for real, and she was so charming i fell in love with her anyway.

  It was not until she was here and had stopped working for the agency did i find out that she would send fake letters and  photos to new male clients that just signed up on the web site.  Elena hated her boss from time to time because she would work several months and not get paid, during one of these times of her not getting paid by Svetlana Elena told me about this practice of sending fake letters from ladies who do not exist. Elena grew tired of not getting paid and got a different job here and told Sveta to do it herself. However I don't doubt since Elena moved out quit her new job and relocated that she is again working for Sveta until she finds something different.  Elena and Sveta have a love hate relationship,  they grew up together in Azov nearby Rostov so they have know each other most of their lives, and neither of them have any problem about sending fake letters to get men to buy more tokens.

  I am not going to list the names or URL's of the agency on RWD right now for legal reasons that i intend to raise. Sveta has several web sites,  if anyone wants the URL's of these sites e-mail me i will send them to you.

 So any man using or considering to use a agency web site and you are getting an onslaught of letters from 20 and 25 year old ladies and your 30 to 50 years old its not because these young girls think you look so Distingwished,  the agency just wants your money.

thanks: golden25

 

[Jack]

Thanks for the information Golden. I will be sending you a pm.

 

[Michelangelo]

Thanks for sharing this very important information Golden.  It's something we all need to read and comprehend, before we are pulled into a fantasy world...

I wish you the best of luck...

[KyivTrip]

Hi everybody,

I have been through this. I bought tokens on GL/RL and contacted 5 ladies myself. No response from any of them. Dozens of unsolicited responses. Fortunately, I did NOT use my tokens to respond to these ladies. I had put in my profile that I would be going to Kiev and very few responses were even from Ukraine and that made me suspicious enough to THINK.

My first big mistake, though, was to believe two American agency owners (KG/ UL) who told me not to worry about a woman's English level. For me, this was an expensive lesson. I spent several hundred $$ on letter translations. The women were real, web-chats confirmed this, but still ...  For me, I learned that it is nearly impossible to discuss important issues using dictionaries and interpreters even in person.

I have had better success getting addresses and phone numbers and calling to check their English level. This is my experience and I am not suggesting it is the best way - just the best for me.

David 

[TigerPaws]

[color="#0000ff"][size="4"]David,[/size][/color]    [color="#0000ff"][size="4"]

 Everyone is different in their need  for a girls English ability, my lady knew almost no English and we did just  fine, other men need and require a level of English proficiency, that is a  choice they make, there is no right or wrong answer in regards to a girls  English ability it is up to the man to decide what he is comfortable with[/size][/color]

[Aleksia]

Well, I am not surprised and this is not first time I hear such stories. But the same way works for women.

I am looking through a lot of dating sites in Internet, looking the ways of expending our services, maybe improving something or getting some new ideas.

In one of the agency I have registered, to see how the internal registration system works, as the agency looks very nice. Nice design, a lot of services, etc. etc. as I am not interested in getting a response to my ad, I have written that I am 66 years old, no picture, not text of the ad, nothing! Just enough information to get through registration.

The funny thing - I am getting at least 3-4 times a week notifications from the administrator of the agency, informing me that I got new letters from men who are very interested in a contact with me.

It's obvious that the "so called interest from men" is just the way for the agency to earn money.

[Rvrwind]

Aleksia...I take it the agency in question is charging the ladies in some way or another. I must admit I find that distastful right off the bat. We never charge the ladies for anything with one caveat: if she wants a copy of her photo session pics we do charge her for that but that is optional. She doesn't get charged for the photo session or the pics we use. We don't charge for translations for the ladies either. That comes out of my pocket.

With the new changes we are introducing in the near future there will be access for the ladies to sign up online & submit pics online with no need to visit our office. There are some big changes coming of that you can be sure.

RVR-Canadian Cowboy/Agency Owner

[Aleksia]

I have no idea if they are charging women or not. My guess - they do not.

One of my clients, for some time ago, told me that he has been in a contact with one of the agencies, which worked this way:

Guys register for free. In some days they begin to get a lot of letters from women. To read letters, you have to pay. When they are paying, no women who wrote to them answer.

Somehow he got in a contact with one of the girls, "who supposedly wrote to him", and discovered they she never did it.

It appeared that the agency has been sending some short introduction messages to men, making them think that a girl is interested in a contact with them and therefore to pay.

 

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  take it the agency in question is charging the ladies in some way or another. I must admit I find that distastful right off the bat. [/font][/size][/font]

About the question of women paying for services. I disagree with you here.

We have 4 dating sites. One, Aleksia is totally free for men and women. How it can be free? Because all the ladies already paid for publication of their profile. They paid to make it possible for men to write them without paying anything. The truth is - these ladies are getting very good response because of that. And this way they are getting a response even if they are in their late 40's.

On our other sites we offer both possibilities for ladies - they can add their profile for free and men will pay to contact them, or they can pay themselves and publish their ads in the catalogue where men do not need to pay to contact them.

I think things are changing; women want to have more options and possibilities.

Including a possibility to pay by themselves.

[Adel]

With the new changes we are introducing in the near future there will be access for the ladies to sign up online & submit pics online with no need to visit our office.

 

Seems like it would be difficult to verify a woman then :noidea:

[Kevin]

Golden25 mention a procedure that is still used today.  The  problem with many network is even if the network tries to be honest  sometimes their agents aren't going to be.

Let look at it from the agent point of view. The agent knows that he  makes money for every letter read by the network clients. So the more  letters sent out the more money he makes.   Take into  consideration the work ethics stilll prominate in Eastern Europe and  you can see why these network agents pump out the letters.. 

Other networks use matching software to generate the same form of  letters.  A lady joins and specifies the type of man she  wants.  Everyone  gets a letter from her.  In the agency  Confidental connections,  I can only guess that the 30 ladies that  have writen me just  but down "men" as a requirement because my  profile states, I'm a very old dwarf and I'm married. It even warns that if you reply then you are a scammer. I am still  getting letters weekly.

I personally would avoid the agencies that charge you to read the  ladies letters, because there is such an tempations to send you false  letters. But I do know of a few such agencies that are honest. It just  hard for the new guys to know which ones.


The best way to avoid these types of scams is to watch for the types of  letters you are getting.  Check with the forums for  comments.   The way I check is  too create two  account on these network site. One real profile with your correct info  and another profile that even a mother would reject, try uploading a  photo of an Animal or cartoon figure  and see if you get letter on  both profiles.  A honest network would leave the false profile  alone.

Hope this helps.
kevin

[Bruno]

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  take it the agency in question is charging the ladies in some way or another. I must admit I find that distastful right off the bat. [/font][/size][/font]

About the question of women paying for services. I disagree with you here.

I agree with Aleksia... if women pay, same a very little fee, they become customer... who imply some right of the customer... Women are no more handle like product...

 

[Bruno]

With the new changes we are introducing in the near future there will be access for the ladies to sign up online & submit pics online with no need to visit our office.

Seems like it would be difficult to verify a woman then :noidea:
[/quote]
Not specialy, only need to see how much the agency will work... control of IP is possible ( allow to verify the geographical location of the women : oblast level )... and the agency can ask a copy of the internal passport... or the international one if they have it...

This allow to control if the women are real... but nothing, same a visit to office can certify the intention of the women... agency owner are not mind reader...

 

[Rvrwind]

Seems like it would be difficult to verify a woman then :noidea:

I don't want to let the cat out of the bag yet so I'll just say that the changes will make it unnessessary for some ladies to be varified and leave it at that.

Once we launch the new site what I am talking about will be obvious.

After reading some responses perhaps charging the ladies a small fee would bring other benifits than monetary. I'll have to think on that however as t has always been our policy not to charge the ladies.

Times they are a changing.

RVR-Canadian Cowboy/Agency Owner

[Aleksia]

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I agree with Aleksia... if women pay, same a very little fee, they become customer... who imply some right of the customer... Women are no more handle like product... 

 

Bruno, it's not a matter of product here. I do not think that many agencies are handling women as a product. We also have free services for women, but we do not handle them as a product…BUT!

If a woman is a paid client, she gets more support from us of course. The same as paid male members.

[golden25]

Aleksia, I quoted what you wrote below and i can maybe answer as to why this guy got a letter from a girl who never wrote him,  My soon to be ex-wife Elena was an employee [ read the first posting on this topic]  of an agency.  because the ladies maybe did not have computers of their own and only had access  from an internet cafe Elena would answer the letter from a man to a lady  before the lady before she even knew she got it. and then she would translate it and then e-mail the translated letter to the lady hoping she would be interested in the guy.  Elena would also answer letters for the lady knowing it would be soome time before the lady could answer it herself. Elena would set up e- mail boxes for these ladies and she would log into their mail box and see if there were any unaswered letters from the men.  At one point Elena had her friend Irina from Yaraslavl set up with several different men at one time and one of these men was going on a tour to Russia and i remember Irina called to our house and had to ask Elena what the name of the guy was that she was going to meet. Elena got off the phone and laughed  and told me how funny it was that Irina couldn't remember the guys name, and explained to me that this is not the first time Irina was meeting a man and couldn't remember his name. The reason Irina couldn't remember is because she had very little corrsepondence with this poor guy because Elena did most of it for Irina. I remember later Elena told me that Irina's meeting with this guy was horrable, i guess the poor man got so drunk on vodka and beer he pissed on  the floor of the hotel lobby .  which then i thought was funny. It was all a game and as far as Elena, her boss Sveta and Irina and some of the other ladies they did not care nor did they feel what they were doing was wrong or dishonest.  Elena would also show me photos of  some average looking russian ladies in the 40 to 50 year range  who were a little bit heavy who signed up to the agency, Elena would show me these photos and explain how these fat Sveenya's would not get any man and just make more work for her.  I am sure not all agencies ar run this way, or at least i hope not, but it does answer the statement that Aleksia made below.

[size="3"]. [/size]

[size="3"]One of my clients, for some time ago, told me that he has been in a contact with one of the agencies, which worked this way: [/size]

[size="3"]Guys register for free. In some days they begin to get a lot of letters from women. To read letters, you have to pay. When they are paying, no women who wrote to them answer. [/size]

[size="3"]Somehow he got in a contact with one of the girls, "who supposedly wrote to him", and discovered they she never did it. [/size]

[size="3"]It appeared that the agency has been sending some short introduction messages to men, making them think that a girl is interested in a contact with them and therefore to pay. [/size]
[size="3"][/size]

[info_man]

Hello Golden, I am curious to why you would marry someone who would  defraud people in order to make a buck? Is it just me or am I being to  judgemental, but anyone willing to be part of a scam and defrauding  clients who pay money, not only for the letters, but eventually fly out  there to meet someone they were actually never corresponding with is  pretty cruel. This would be a huge red flag on someone's character and  I would've of avoided her like th plague.

Sincerely,

Info_man

[golden25]

Helo Infoman,  please read the first posting on this subject it lays out more of the details in the time frame that they happended - go the first posting for -->agency tricks -   i didn't know that she worked for the agency until i got to Moscow, i did not learn about the bogus letters until sometime after she was here and we were married. you see she kept working for the agency even after she got to america. all her work was done by computer.

[info_man]

Golden, Thanks for correcting me, and sorry to hear about you divorce.

Info_man

[Ste]

[user=686]info_man[/user] wrote:

Hello Golden, I am curious to why you would marry someone who would  defraud people in order to make a buck? Is it just me or am I being to  judgemental, but anyone willing to be part of a scam and defrauding  clients who pay money, not only for the letters, but eventually fly out  there to meet someone they were actually never corresponding with is  pretty cruel. This would be a huge red flag on someone's character and  I would've of avoided her like th plague.

Sincerely,

Info_man

From my experience most Russians have a thin grasp on what's legal/ethical and what's not. Local economic forces make this a reality I'm afraid.

Witness the pirated DVD's/CD's on sale in 'proper' shops, in fact my gf was totally surprised I'd actually paid for the software on my Mac......

I've told this story before but it illustrates a point, we were walking through town (Maidstone, Kent) one evening past the cafes with tables outside and expensive looking cutlery on them. Was early evening with few folks around, cafe/bars just preparing.

I knew what she was thinking but before I could say she said 'We could steal those knives and forks....'

Not really meaning it but it is in the Russian mindset to think it and size up all opportunities, as it would be for anyone brought up queueing for bread...

Survival.

Ste

[Aleksia]

Ste, you are right about thin line between legal and illegal in Russia, giving examples with the pirate copies, etc. But! Not when we are talking about stealing, cheating, etc.

Believe me, the example about stealing, is not typical for Russia. Frankly speaking, I am totally in shock, even if it was just a joke from her side.

[MandM]

Ste,

I know some English people who would take a 'souvenir' ( a  pretty glass, an ash tray and such) from a pub or a restaurant. Once in a Russian restaurant I was asked by my Spanish colleague to hide vodka glasses in my handbag.  May be for some people its just a bit of fun, but I am revolted by it. So, not everybody is the same.

[Ste]

To be fair to her, she had no intention of stealing anything, was a kind of 'typical Russian' type thing she does as a joke...

When I was got off the train from Moscow to Chelyabinsk, I still had the cool coffee glass mug with metal frame with 'South Urals Railway' on it or sth. I really, really wanted it and I could have took it easy but I just couldn't!!

Didn't mean to imply thieving is cool!

Ste

[info_man]

I have been looking at numerous agencies, I try to focus on the ones that have been recommended here on RWD.

The agency Golden is referring to was recommended here and also listed  on Honest Marriage Agencies. I had visited this site, but didn't find  any profiles that I was  interested in, but thought to myself if I  did, I would use them.

Golden did give this information in private. If it was me I would post it right here for all to see.

Trying to find a honest agencies is almost harder than finding a RW for marriage.

Info_Man

[Bruce]

"The agency Golden is referring to was recommended here and also listed on Honest Marriage Agencies."

 

When you say an agency was recommended here on RWD I assume a member recommended them.  Did he give the context in which he recommended said agency?

[info_man]

I forget Bruce and would have to go back and find it, but they are listed under Honest Agencies.

Info_Man