Anastasia Web

[Mtnmansummit]

I am having systemic connection problems at AnastasiaWeb.  I have telephoned them and I am repeatedly told there is a server problem. I am feel pressure because I leave for Ukraine in about 5 weeks and have many arrangements to make. Any one I have talked to has a blasé non caring attitude. My sense of the situation is that they already have my money so what do they care.    Are any of you experiencing the same?

[Bruce]

I am suprised you do not know by now that the majority of men who post on boards who have experience with Anastasia post extremely negatively about them.  In my experience Anastasia = NO.

[Jack]

Three weeks ago we discovered something interesting.    One of the men on our upcoming tour was real excited   to meet this one lady in Kharkov that he had been writing.  We'll call this guy Martin. Martin had wrote this lady 29 times and she had wrote him back 29 times. Martin was really falling for this lady. As Martin started sharing some things with me, and after he mentioned Anastasia,    I suggested to Martin we had better deliver her a rose   with a card telling her how excited he was to see her.    I told Martin he had to get her address and after several months of writing this same lady surely Anastasia would give or sell him this ladies address. So Martin asked Anastasia for Lena's address and they hemmed   and hollered a bit     but finally gave (or sold) him the address to Martin. We went to deliver card and rose to this address,......no Lena lives here.     When we gave the news to Martin he was heartbroken and angry     , he really fell for this lady. So I decided I would try to locate this lady    and so we went to some local marriage and modeling agencies and sure enough one man remembered her as she was a former model that was with his agency and he had her address. We went to this address with card and rose and sure enough the beauty was there.    We introduced ourselves and told her we had a card from Martin. "Martin who" she asked.    We should her Martin's photo, a few copies of some of her letters. She said she had never seen or wrote this man. We told her their must be some mistake, that she had wrote him 29 times. She said she had never wrote that man. Then she asked why would she be writing this man so many times and we told her because he was interested in developing a relationship with her that might lead to marriage. She quickly informed us she had "No intentions of marrying outside Ukraine".
 
Can you imagine that. Someone associated with Anastasiascamweb pretended to be this woman and wrote Martin 29 times. And everytime she wrote a letter and he read it, it cost him money and everytime he wrote Lena (Yuri) and she/he read his letter it cost him money. The photo of a young and pretty wanna-be model was used to carry out this fraud. This young lady had no idea as to waht was going on. She had NEVER listed herself with a marriage agency.
 
And just in case someone out there might be writing this same lady Lena (I am including her photo), she's not writing you!
 
I would also like to thank the RWD for allowing such information to be posted.    I know on some Russian Discussion boards   when such activities by favored or paying advertisers were posted the post's were quickly deleted. I hope overtime more and more newby's   are made aware of the RWD and it's commitment to report scam and fraud by all agencies guilty of such acts.  

[stoichman]

I had a similar experience. I used their letter writing service before my 2003 trip to Odessa. I was writing four ladies and had plans to meet them all in Odessa when I arrived. One week before my departure all four of them wrote me a "Dear John" letter stating they found the love of their life and would not meet me. Coincidence??? I think not!!!!!! These were not even real girls.  Even though they found the love of their life they remanned on the web site for months afterwards and may still be there today.  Not one of the 4 profiles were removed last time I checked.  They also spam big time, just trying to get you hooked into writing one of their profiles.

[wxman]

I don't know if you bought airline tickets yet, but if you have, I think I would try to get a refund, unless you still wish to go and meet people on your own. The women you have written do not exist, or at least they don't know they exist on Anastasiaweb.  

[philb]

Try to get a refund?  I would just scrap what ever plans I had made in regards to Anastasia and start over.  5 weeks is plenty of time.  Post your profile on a site like this http://www.merrydating.com/ and start writing.  A guy doesn't really need to exchange more than a few letters.  Most of the girls on this site are not affiliated with an agency.  The cost is cheap too.  I think about $20.00 for a month.  I have used it at a couple of different times with good results. 

Anyway, I would do this, meet a few girls in, say Kiev, and see what happens.  If you are not comfortable setting this up on your own, contact Jack with First Dreams, I am sure he would be happy to help you

[Turboguy]

I agree you have lots of time to find tons of prospects.   Another top notch outfit is Elana's Models.    I made a trip to Ukrine with nothing lined up and less than a month to find some and signed up for their platinum membership.   I was getting E-Mails from about 75 new ladies a day.  They were coming in faster than I could read them for a while.  

I don't think you said where you are going in Ukraine but most anywhere you have time.   Just start working to line up some new girls and forget Anastasias.    There are some sites that list the agencies that are not reputable.   One is www.agencyscams.com   Toping the list of most of these is Anastasias and another that is in the same league is Global Ladies or E-700 although other parts of their operation are ok.   Also avoid any agency in Lugansk.   I would suggest staying away from agencies that charge $ 10.00 per letter or so.  Some are on the up and up but the tempation to invent ladies is too great.   Find ones that just sell you the address or give it to you free.

[525i]

I quickly browsed women in www.merrydating.com and noticed one woman who wrote to me. She was on a way to scam me, but I realised it earlier.

When she (or someone else) wrote to me, she was Sveta, age 29 (May 5th 1975), height 165 cm, weight 51 kg and lived in Tocho. I noticed that it is Tocho in Cyrillics and translated name is Tosno.

In this ad she is Lana Checlova, 27 (Dec 18th 1977), 165 cm, 56 kg and lives in Shapki. Both places are in Leningrad region side by side. Here is the link http://www.merrydating.com/profile.php?profile_id=34714

Her first name seems to be Svetlana in both. Height is the same, but she have got more weight in four months. Birth dates are different.

[philb]

Yeah, there is a scammer on every site and, for that matter, for every scammer there are probably a dozen 60 year old lard asses looking to marry a model.

[Turboguy]

Oh, Phil, you have made my day.  I thought I was the only one.  I am so happy to know there are dozens more like me for every scammer. 

[philb]

[Voyageur]

Let me add my experience to this thread, as it is very similar to that discussed earlier, except that it was with a different Agency, Confidential Connections. I was on Jack's tour in the Fall of 2004.  In our discussions about his tour, I told him about a woman that I had been writing to, with Confidential Connections. I told him that these letters back and forth were very specific and engaging and that much personal information had been exchanged except for a private email address and a home address. In a very polite way, Jack told me that, it may be a phony relationship. But, in my mind, I knew that such great letters and dialog could not be forced javascript:emoticon(':cool:', 'images/emoticons/cool.gif')
cool  and had difficulty believing that some agency could just be stringing me along.

I had found out the woman address, as Jack also suggested, by looking at other agencies sites, such as A Foreign Affair.  I found her listed there and bought her address. Jack suggested that I send her a rose and with a card telling her how excited I would be to see her during my time in Ukraine and that I was looking forward to meeting with her.

Here is where the story is a bit different. Jack's people did find her parents at her address, but she was not home, as she was working in a Casino (another big red flag that Jack told me about) in Yalta.  But they did reach her on the cell phone and confirm that she had heard of me.  She was not enthusiastic to her parents, but of course, this was all I needed to continue to send Confidential Connections money for our correspondence. It was also funny, that when I bought a one month, unlimited email writing privileges from Confidential Connections, that this woman started to work very long hours at the Casino and could only managed to send emails to me two times a week, rather than the five times a week that had been our standard level, previously.

Anyway, this continued until the First Dream tour and I did manage to set up a meeting with this woman. But, I had to pay the $ 60.00 to Confidential Connections to set the meeting up and arrange everything.  To be fair to myself, there were warning lights going off in my head during this time, but I figured that I had spent so much money, and our correspondences were so great and engaging, that I had to see it through.

So I set up a meeting to meet this woman. And yes, she knew my name and was the woman in the photos. During our first meeting, I was just happy to know that she really existed and quickly set up another date for the following day. She was very reserved, but polite. (Another potential red flag). So the following day we spent together sight seeing in Kiev. Still, no signs of anything that indicated anything like romantic feelings from her. I set up a third date to see a movie in Kiev. All during this movie, even I could not hope but notice that she was receiving multiple SMS. One time, I glanced at her cell phone and saw dancing hearts playing…and the clue bat hit me, she was being paid to go on this date with me. It was obvious that her real Ukrainian boyfriend was jealous and sending her SMS while she was "working" at the movies with me. In all of our conversations (she spoke English fairly well), there was none of the sparks or common ground that we had found together in our correspondences together. She really knew nothing about me, nor was she interested in me. She was just there.

So, after the movie I looked at her and said "How can you do this for a living…how can you disregard human feelings like this?  It is obvious that you have no interest in me, why do you do this?"  

She looked surprised and slightly confused, but did not say anything.

So I told her, "good by" and walked away.

Jack was right, of course, Confidential Connections had a woman there who had been writing all of this woman's letters for her. I even knew this woman's name, it was Helen. She was the "handle and translator" who was the interface between the woman and myself, who arranged the details of our meetings (only the first meeting cost $ 60.00, by the way).

I tell this story to help anyone who may be going down the same road as I did.  Buyer, beware!

[Turboguy]

Back to the origional problem you posted Mntmansummit, you have to remember the most important thing.  THIS IS NOT LIKE THE REAL WORLD.  Here we are dealing in Russian women and anything is possible.   Here you can be engaged to a girl one week that you had not even written to a few weeks before.   Here you can be an old fat and ugly lard ass and still come up with a young beautiful wife,  If you happen to be a rich, old, fat, ugly lard ass you can even come up with someone stunning.  Age, looks, nothing matters.   Sorta about as much fantasy as Star Wars except we all believe it is real.  Maybe it is. 

Am I serious with this post.  I don't even know myself.  That thought passed through my mind and I decided to share it.  There sure is an element of truth to it.  As far as cancelling a trip 5 weeks out.   There is lots of time to line up loads of great women.   I had suggested Elena's.   You might also check with Jack.  I believe I have heard good things about his agency. 

[jb]

There's been a couple of great posts here, some of them may wise up the newbie to the real world of RW dating.

I read this and was reminded of an analogy I once read on another board written by a much smarter man than me.  He said;  think about baseball, you are brand new to the game, never played it before in your life, you go to the ball park one day and there's a contest for people to draw for a chance to play in the major league ball game for a day, you win~!  It's Dodger Stadium, Saturday night game, the stadium is sold out, not an empty seat in the park,  you get suited up and walk onto the field.  First time at bat, first pitch, you swing, you connect, and hit a home run, I mean,, it's over the fence at center field, outta the park~!............ What are the odds?

That's about the same long odds of landing that model quality, 10 you've been drooling over in the MOB catalog with a one week visit.  I'm not saying it can't happen, but you guys need to remember, most of you ain't playin' in the majors, and you don't have the home field advantage.

Be very careful out there.

Perhaps one matchmaking site that men without serious commitment consider:

http://www.yoshkar-ola.com/e/

I have travelled to this town several times.  I know and will verify credibiltiy.

In last five years, have travelled to Russia five times.  I have met the women.

You may ask, why five times.   I know what I want..  I do not meet her on trip one or two...  So, I continue.

Yes, I am considerable to American women....   I do not want another American wife...  

So talk with Max and his associates...  If you are searching;;;;   she is on this site..

I used matchmaking service.    Many replies..

Hint:  Pay for all cost of correspondence and send some flowers...

[Turboguy]

I think Maxim is pretty reputable and from what I have heard it is a nice city but I think there are some unreputable companies in that city people should watch out for. 

[Son of Clyde]

I have used the Athena agency to purchase addresses and found them to be extremely reputable.

When they found out I was engaged they not only took pictures of her with her Christmas gifts, they also insisted she have her profile removed from the site and that we send them some wedding pictures.

I use Athena now to send gifts and they do a fine job.

When I posted a free profile of myself it was at 1st international and I was receiving a number of replies. It seemed ok for the brief time my profile was posted.

I must also say Jack was extremely kind to me and although I didn't use his agency he was still kind enough to give me his number to call should I have trouble in Kiev.

These are the kind of agencies and agency owners I trust and respect.

Here is a link:

 
http://athenaagency.com/

Tguy,

 I first met Max in 1999.  Since that time have seen his operations expand.  Now he has small coffee shop in office complex.  He has travel agency and photo studio.

  I visited with Max in hospital when there in March '05.  We talk for hours; we being Max, his mom, and my fiancee.

  Max is one of most intelligent and gifted persons that I know.  You know that he was elected to DUMA by his constituents of Yoshkar-Ola. This is not broad approval of Russian politicians..  But I like Max.  He has style and class beyond average business owner..

  In each town, village, city; here or there are shady sides..  You gotta go with eyes and mind wide open.. every day....

[fordreams]

Oh, Phil, you have made my day.  I thought I was the only one.  I am so happy to know there are dozens more like me for every scammer. 

I am not agree that there are ascammers on every site. I am an owner of marriage agency and I confess there are no scammers on my site. probabaly becasue my agency is very small and I aply very personal touch to my clients. In big agencies sure you will be caught by scamers. Also about all these so-called "red flags" dont be so naive, the ssammers always will find a way!

[fordreams]

more: if you really seek for a life partner and dont want to find a scammer instead then find a small site withno 100000000sss of profiles then write a letter to a manager of this agency better to the owner or call on the telephone and speak with this agency explain what you are looking for. Ask for their help. Mostly the small agencies concerned about their reputation and they will do everything to avoid badluck. This is my opinion. I read now the articles on this forum and with many opinions I disagree. For example like a girl exchanged the smsm during the movie. My girlfriend alwasy exchanges sms with her girlfriends and even receive calls.

[Admin]

I am not agree that there are ascammers on every site. I am an owner of marriage agency and I confess there are no scammers on my site. probabaly becasue my agency is very small and I aply very personal touch to my clients. In big agencies sure you will be caught by scamers. Also about all these so-called "red flags" dont be so naive, the ssammers always will find a way!

Please tell us more about yourself. What is the name of your agency and where are you located?

- Dan

[fordreams]

I am not agree that there are ascammers on every site. I am an owner of marriage agency and I confess there are no scammers on my site. probabaly becasue my agency is very small and I aply very personal touch to my clients. In big agencies sure you will be caught by scamers. Also about all these so-called "red flags" dont be so naive, the ssammers always will find a way!

Please tell us more about yourself. What is the name of your agency and where are you located?

- Dan[/quote]My agency is here http://fordreams.net, we are situated in Russia in Rostov-on-Don region in the city of Shakhty, my name is Dmitry Kluchnev. If you have any questions I am glad to answer.

[PeeWee]

You have a good looking site, Dmitry. I hope that it serves you well in the years to come.   Peewee

[fordreams]

You have a good looking site, Dmitry. I hope that it serves you well in the years to come.   Peewee

[/quote]
 

Thank you!

[Jack]

Hello fordreams, cool name, I like it.
 
fordreams you are a much better at running an agency that I could ever imagine doing. You are to be commended. No scammers on your site, never having a scammer on your site, you have done a wonderful job.
 
I, like you, also have a small agency and apply that very personal touch to my clients. I also despise scammers but unlike you, I have had some scammers on our site. Once we find out about them or suspect them we get rid of them for sure, but we cannot say we have never had a scammer on our site. Again, you are to be commended.