I got an email from a girl in Russia...

[jh3]

Hello everyone! I just discovered this site, and hoped that someone here may have some input on an email I received through my subscription at match.com from a Russian woman named Kristina. She lives in Volkhov, near St Petersburg, and is supposedly a dental surgeon there. She says she is coming to the US soon through an exchange prgram with the Ministry of Health, and that she has already paid for the trip. She doens't know where in the US she is going yet (supposed to find out soon), and she hasn't asked me for anything other than to write back and tell her about myself. We have written back and forth several times, and since I am aware of all the scams going on I am being cautious with this one. She seems genuine, but I have no way to check out her story. Does any of this sound familiar? is it possibly legit? She seems nice, and the emails do seem personalized (not just a form letter). Any advice would be appreciated!

[Daveman]

Hello everyone! I just discovered this site, and hoped that someone here may have some input on an email I received through my subscription at match.com from a Russian woman named Kristina. She lives in Volkhov, near St Petersburg, and is supposedly a dental surgeon there. She says she is coming to the US soon through an exchange prgram with the Ministry of Health, and that she has already paid for the trip. She doens't know where in the US she is going yet (supposed to find out soon), and she hasn't asked me for anything other than to write back and tell her about myself. We have written back and forth several times, and since I am aware of all the scams going on I am being cautious with this one. She seems genuine, but I have no way to check out her story. Does any of this sound familiar? is it possibly legit? She seems nice, and the emails do seem personalized (not just a form letter). Any advice would be appreciated!

How did she find you? has she sent you tons of photos tagged 1.jpg, 2.jpg, etc etc...  search her name as well as excerpts from her letters in google.  After that, wait and see.  If she's up to something, there will be delays with her visit and the money whine will come soon enough.

Just don't fall in love/lust with a picture.

Dave

[Sohkay]

jh,

Ask her for her number and talk to her on the phone. Just like you might do with a woman in your own city. Get her number...talk to her and take it from there.

[Phil dAmore]

Volkov is about 2 hours via commuter train from St. Petersburg... Not exactly 'nearby'

Get her phone number.  If she says she doesn't have a phone, move on.  There isn't a female in this country over the age of 10 who doesn't have a phone.

Trust me.

[DKMM]

my roommate is in dental school and he met some Russians in a similar type of program.   So as far as if that part of her story is possible, I would say yes.

[Mir]

I have had similar emails a few times.
The first time I followed it through.
The thing is that they accelerate things suddenly. She will ask you where (which airport) should she come so that you can pick her up etc. Then she will be in Moscow ready to fly to you and tell you that she is $400 short and can you send to money.
Still I am not saying this will inevitably happen but it does sound familiar, but no harm in Carrying it to the end. Afterall if she is comming all the way to US on her expenses and wants to meet you what harm can this cause?

[Simoni]

She says she is coming to the US soon through an exchange program with the Ministry of Health, and that she has already paid for the trip. She doesn't know where in the US she is going yet (supposed to find out soon), and she hasn't asked me for anything other than to write back and tell her about myself.

Sorry Jh3, but it's almost certainly a fake.

I've seen this same story with various twists through the years....

Anyway, it's OK to proceed, but don't get your hopes up.

And when/if the line turns to your providing money to help her get to you...run, Forrest, run!

Good luck.

~Simoni

[jb]

It's a scam.

[Lily]

It's a scam.

What particularly makes you think so?

The mentioned exchange program looks good to me.

There are quite many professionally based international exchange programs of various durations, I could mention a few. Could you eventually ask her about where you could read about this program? Most likely it has a webpage. However, if the Russian ministry organizes that, the webpage may also not be available.

[Jazzyclassy]

It's a scam.

I agree

cos if it is not scam girl would gladly had a phone convo with him , I am just in shock here sometimes , so many guys here are sitting in some kinda nirvana or what,  thinking and dreaming that through letters and e-mails  they can trully know the person,come on  come down to earth lovely romatic princes .......

There are tons of spam people who send these e-mails for ages to anyone and they can invent anything they want in order to just have fun or to scam a person, I also once recieved a letter on my yahoo account from a person  he was telling that he is coming to Russia cos of some charity meeting and bla bla bla please if you wanna pariticipate lets meet here, this is a link you may find all the details , well I know we can not compare such letter to what the author of the topic received but still it is quite similar,

I mean that  just sounds  for naive guys , take a look
well I am from this medical  field like a doctor (or maybe not? oh well who knows who am I at all) going to the USA for practice but I do not know  where yet .
This sentence that she does not know yet where is she going already puts a big big question mark , why are you going there ever if you have no idea where are you going, oh come on that is just nonsense .
Do not beleive those tricks , it is like you never knew such things before

If she really wanted to know you she would ask you for a mobile number and started talking with you for real ! Letters are letters they can remain letters forever and you will be sitting here and crying with a broken heart  why these are only letters, Do you need extra pain ?

think about it....................

Well I just wanna say that I am not sceptic just cos after several things like that with e-mails I already , well it is hard for me to believe only e-mails you know when I already was struck by such kinda scammers on emotions I  would not go there really

[Lily]

Jazzy, it looks like jh3 did not ask her for a phone number yet, so we can not say that she rejected to give it to him.

The fact that she does not know in that US sities she is going to go..well, it would be definitely worth to ask. It depends on the program. By far it is not a practice Jazzy. It looks like just a sort of introductory visits of some U.S. medical facilities, brief internship, some seminars, etc. Definitely a J visa. Might be a variety of programs. Probably this girl will know soon where and for how long she is going to stay.

Actually I don't see a big problem here. If she is going to go to USA, jh3 will be able to meet her in person, then the scam or /and her unreality is not an issue any more.

[I/O]

Lily, IMHO you look upon this too kindly.  Yes it is possible that it is legit, but it is far more likely to be a scam based on thousands of similar styles that have been used before.  This is simply another possible exception and we all know the odds of success whilst one hangs onto being an exception.

Jh3: There is a slim to zero chance this is legit.  There is no harm if you wish to continue to communicate, but check out IP addresses, phone numbers and so forth.  Whatever you do, DO NOT get emotionally involved and DO NOT get financially involved.

My personal view.......it's a scam.

I/O

[Jazzyclassy]

Marvelous:P

Sometimes I think people are completely blind and it will be hard to live in society where people can not see  obvious things, they are under some illusion...
( that is why it is easy to corrupt teenages, giving them fake morals and they gladly accept them.... cos people lost their own mind and their own intuition and their own personality, and it is not the end........)

What I told about the letter does not make me evil or anything , let this person be into this girl and do as many mistakes as he wants , just let him never come here and yell how he was mistaken and cry that why none of the members warned him , I mean this story is always repeating  we all know this

You see I found such a formula that decent girls and normal people will hardly ever be lucky ,  even vice versa they will be considered a scam and doubtful people. When real scam crazy girls will be praised to be angels , basta  please , open up your eyes or some guys here just like to be  cheated and mistreat.........

At least my fav I/O agrees with me:) partially:)

[Lily]

Lily, IMHO you look upon this too kindly.  Yes it is possible that it is legit, but it is far more likely to be a scam based on thousands of similar styles that have been used before.  This is simply another possible exception and we all know the odds of success whilst one hangs onto being an exception.
 
I/O

I am not saying this girl is not scam, I only say that many such programs do exist and I know real people who took advantage of them, including myself. Obviously I am not saying that she is telling the truth. I don't know.

[chivo]

Lily, you're right we don't quite know, BUT... the thing that does stand as was mentioned is the fact that she doesn't know where she is headed.

I too know a few doctors who have had this opportunity to go to the states, but all of them had at least some idea about where they would be, and what hospitals/internships they would be associated with. I mean how do you pay for a trip, and not have some idea where you're going? Does it cost the same to go to Ohio as it does California? No!

The other thing that is curious is, why him? I'm sure he's a nice fellow, by why him? Seems like his name was just pulled from a hat.

Jh3, see where it goes as was mentioned, but these can be dangerous waters. tread carefully. Good luck.

chivo

[jh3]

Thanks for all the replies! I am not at all getting my hopes up, or "falling for" this girl over a few emails. I was immediately sceptical when I got the first email, and only answered it out of boredom, expecting nothing. I have met women through email before, though never out of the country (though one was originally from Slovakia), and learned long ago never to develop feelings for the person until after you meet (well after if possible!). I am seeing a couple people now, so I'm not counting on this working out. I am probably as sceptical as some of you, but I figure there is no harm in emailing as long as money isn't changing hands. Also, she did mention the distance between where she lives and St Petersburg, but mentioned St Pete because she thought I was more likely to have heard of it. If it matters, she emails near daily (supposedly from an internet cafe), and uses a yahoo account. Also, in searching for this site and finding lots of Russian dating sites (and blacklists of scammers), I noticed nearly all are model types; this girl is attractive, but more in the "girl next door" manner. I guess we'll see if she asks for money soon. i'll definitely ask for a phone number; I can call anywhere in the world at work for free. Thanks a lot for all the replies!

[jh3]

Lily, you're right we don't quite know, BUT... the thing that does stand as was mentioned is the fact that she doesn't know where she is headed.

I too know a few doctors who have had this opportunity to go to the states, but all of them had at least some idea about where they would be, and what hospitals/internships they would be associated with. I mean how do you pay for a trip, and not have some idea where you're going? Does it cost the same to go to Ohio as it does California? No!

The other thing that is curious is, why him? I'm sure he's a nice fellow, by why him? Seems like his name was just pulled from a hat.

Jh3, see where it goes as was mentioned, but these can be dangerous waters. tread carefully. Good luck.

chivo

The original email came through Match.com, so she at least saw my profile and pictures there...maybe I looked/sounded like a sucker, who knows ! As far as the trip expenses, she said she had to pay around 1000 (not sure if she was talking dollars or Euros) out of pocket, and her union was paying the rest (around 2000). She did say that she will know where she is going soon; the fact that she doesn't know for sure and has already commited makes me even more sceptical.

[Lily]

The other thing that is curious is, why him? I'm sure he's a nice fellow, by why him? Seems like his name was just pulled from a hat.
 

I think every of us who keeps a profile on a matchmaking website could ask himself or herself a question 'why me'? Why this guy or girl writes particularly to me? Perhaps it is a question worth asking.

But as soon as she knows that she is going to be in the US soon may have caused her to contact as many Americans as possible in a hope for a personal meeting.

Agree that the fact that she has paid big money without exactly knowing her U.S. destinations looks no good.
 
I think as far as jh3 is not sending money to her and is not emotionally committed, he has reasons to feel relatively safe about eventual scam unless he meets her face-to-face in the U.S.

[ScottinCrimea]

If it follows the typical scam scenario she will try to hook him emotionally and get him excited about seeing her.  Then on or near the day she is scheduled to leave he will get an urgent message saying that some unexpected fee is required or she will not be able to make her trip and asking him to please send it ASAP so she isn't stranded.

As far as the exchange program being legit, it's impossible to say.  I know several doctors in Ukraine who have done this.  I know some didn't know exactly when they would be going but I didn't know of any who didn't know where.

[tim 360]

1. Be skeptical.
2. Don't feed the bears and don't send money.
3. Probably a scam.

[DKMM]

wait a minute, she committed to you?  jh3, ask for her phone # and call her.  Anything short of her doing that means you are messing with a scam artist.  In fact, the mere fact that she hasn't given it to you means she is likely not telling the full truth.

[jh3]

wait a minute, she committed to you?  jh3, ask for her phone # and call her.  Anything short of her doing that means you are messing with a scam artist.  In fact, the mere fact that she hasn't given it to you means she is likely not telling the full truth.

She didn't commit to me, she has supposedly committed to coming to the US without knowing exactly where she is going. She hasn't written back, so maybe she found another sucker or posssibly montitors this site? If she writes back I'll ask for a phone number, I'm more curious now than anything else.

[jh3]

I haven't heard from her since Monday, so I'm beginning to think she found another sucker! Do the scammers know about this site? I would imagine they'd have to, it was easy to find.

[SANDRO43]

Do the scammers know about this site? I would imagine they'd have to, it was easy to find.

Depends on what one is looking for. I doubt many scammers may invest much time/money on reading "philosophical" RW discussions and T/Rs, mostly they direct their attention to promising male profiles on MOB sites .

[jh3]

Ok, she wrote back, and threw me a curve I didn't expect...she asked for my phone number so she could call ME! She is supposed to be here in the US in about 2 1/2 weeks, so we'll see...still not getting my hopes up, but I'm not convinced she's running a scam, either. we'll see...