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

[Bruno]

Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:14:34 +0400

This is the time from the computer sending the e-mail...

GMT+4... time zone from Saint-Peterburg, Novgorod, Murmansk, Moscow, Kazan

[jh3]

That is the general area she is from, so maybe this is legit...or at least not a US-based scammer. Proceeding carefully. I signed up for the readnotify, but I'm not sure if I will get any new info from it...she rarely sends a reply, its always a new email.

[jh3]

Ok, a little more info...she tried to call me this morning (I was in the shower), but she left a voice mail message and said she would try back later. The phone number was (896)-269-XXXX; does that sound like a Russian area code? I haven't been able to find anything online yet. She also sent another email today, with her physical address in Russia and even attached a copy of her passport, which she says she just got in Moscow last week, and it looks legit (I'm no expert on Russian passports!). She says she is coming to New York soon, and after a couple of weeks there will be sent to a clinic in Georgia (she doesn't know where yet). She did mention the salary she is going to be receiving, and while its not US Doctor money she shouldn't need any financial help from anyone (and hasn't asked for any). If this is a scam, its a very elaborate one...I'm beginning to think this might be for real.

[wxman]

896 is not a valid country code for Russia or for anywhere else I can find. Makes me think very much the word scam. She sent you a picture of her new passport which she received in Moscow last week. What is the date of issuance on the passport? It should be only a few weeks old. Ask her to send you a scanned picture of her visa. She has to have that in passport to travel. It should have a issue date that is newer than the one in her new passport. So the visa issuance should probably be a week old at best. She doesn't know what clinic in Georgia she will be? These assignments are not give on short noticed when arriving in US. Homeland security wants all the details well in advance. The reason why she doesn't know where in Georgia, is probably she has no map of Georgia. This thing smells scam!

[jh3]

issue date is 6/14/2007. The call came in on my cell phone, and having never received an international call on it I have no idea what it should look like on the caller id. I wouldn't think it would be an easy thing to have a passport issued (or to make a fake one), but I guess anything is possible. Overall it seems like a lot of trouble to go through in hopes of getting some money out of me!

[catzenmouse]

Probably would only take me a half hour to mock up a fair fake passport page in Photoshop so there really isn't much time involved. Even to do a good one might only be a couple of hours. Simply changing the date on a layer would change the issue date of the passport. They could use this file dozens, even hundred of times so a few bucks here, a few there and they have a nice profit on their time.

Good luck.

Ken

[BillyB]

jh3,

Of course she's real. Beautiful, educated RW land at the doorsteps of American men everyday. And the sex is always fantastic.

The men at this forum choose to do things the hard way. We correspond with a woman for months, then we spends thousands of dollars to visit and court the woman and if we are lucky, the RW accepts us otherwise we would have to start all over again. After we find a woman who'd be our wife, we go through the long and painstaking process of proving to the government that we have a relationship with a RW and hopefully they will issue her a visa.

Most scammers use Yahoo mail accounts not to hide their location but because Russian mail accounts are supposedly not allowed on many American dating sites.

Scammers like to use American dating sites because the men there are not as educated to how hard it is for a RW to get a visa on her own to America. Also RW is a refreshing change compared to what they are use to looking at on American dating sites. Scammers usually call the day they are to arrive to announce they need money because of some visa/passport/ticket problems at the airport. Desperate men, so close to pussy, and don't want to lose it, will send money.

It's okay to dream as long as you wake up to reality.

[jh3]

You may very well be correct, and since she is supposed to leave Russia on the 29th it won't be long until I know for sure. I am not experienced at all with this sort of thing, but I am far from being desperate. There are plenty of women here in Atlanta, and I have no plans to go out of the country in search of one; I am atracted to women from that part of the world (dated a Slovakian girl once), but not to the point that I would be willing to do what most of the men here do, spending so much $$$ and effort in order to meet someone. I don't judge anyone for that, do what makes you happy, but that isn't for me. Life is complicated enough.

[Mir]

Scamers phoning you, well thats a new one.

[BillyB]

Scamers phoning you, well thats a new one.

Not really, It's been happening for years.

[Nando]

Not really, It's been happening for years.

this is so true, one phone me one month ago
She gave me her real mobile phone with an 8 for Russian long distant calls and saying that it didn't accepted International calls
Off course it accepted. After  calling from Skype several times without any answer the mobile was shut down

[jh3]

From the searching I have done, the "896" area code is assigned to a telcom company based in Colorado, and from what little I could glean from their website it looks like they do voice over internet, and possilby calling cards, with a large presence in western and eastern europe. I'm following up tomorrow. BTW she called again, but I was at work, on the line with a customer, and could not answer in time. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

[MaxxumUSA]

My fiancee,  whom is VERY real and VERY russian - uses Yahoo.

I pulled some info off an old header from an email she sent me:

X-AOL-UID: 3345.78952463
X-AOL-DATE: Fri, 2 Mar 2007  1:02:58 PM Eastern Standard Time
Return-Path: <XXXXXXX@yahoo.com>
Received: from  rly-yd04.mx.aol.com (rly-yd04.mail.aol.com [172.18.141.68]) by air-yd04.mail.aol.com (v114_r3.2) with ESMTP id MAILINYD41-21245e866bb38; Fri, 02 Mar 2007 13:02:58 -0500
Received: from  web56307.mail.re3.yahoo.com (web56307.mail.re3.yahoo.com [216.252.110.231]) by rly-yd04.mx.aol.com (v114_r3.2) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINYD410-21245e866bb38; Fri, 02 Mar 2007 13:02:35 -0500
Received: (qmail 97905 invoked by uid 60001); 2 Mar 2007 18:02:35 -0000
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws;
  s=s1024; d=yahoo.com;
  h=X-YMail-OSG:Received:Date:From:To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding:Message-ID;
  b=tLn7NIwm9LLJTVNitYcR6/0s2scaONkT0vAGQk0sMRbT5tL54T6X8nAeA02G9fvuyQrJPn0aZIS+Mjmp6pk61CVcIeVgGvcAOSIwJMnXjFyTJ0lxIsLvyj8akpbPNRTyiLqhdqEY2a8fNAd09S1VMBIWiJAa1+AIdMlQx0tYMSI=;
X-YMail-OSG: XFfNCSQVM1l6C7aTRph3P59Q5L625oslfo3e4KvFUACb.AphCyBk6w5ZKXpSrrfJtoX2wAc5.n L2B4vYoYohS..bCKYFmgK1RaoBSQI9NE6J33X67N9G1vU5FngNn.7PouYFMl1JZvzXot4F9RdK tqvK
Received: from [85.113.33.1] by web56307.mail.re3.yahoo.com via HTTP; Fri, 02 Mar 2007 21:02:30 MSK
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2007 21:02:30 +0300 (MSK)

She is in Samara, which is one hour more in time zone than Moscow.

OK...  BUT I believe there is a high probability this is a scam.

This is the time from the computer sending the e-mail...

GMT+4... time zone from Saint-Peterburg, Novgorod, Murmansk, Moscow, Kazan

[catzenmouse]

My fiancee,  whom is VERY real and VERY russian - uses Yahoo.

I pulled some info off an old header from an email she sent me:

<snip>

She is in Samara, which is one hour more in time zone than Moscow.

OK...  BUT I believe there is a high probability this is a scam.

I guess I'm just dating myself in this endeavor. Used to be anytime you saw Yahoo or Hotmail it was an attempt to bypass the access restrictions for US dating sites.

Ken

[MaxxumUSA]

I guess I'm just dating myself in this endeavor. Used to be anytime you saw Yahoo or Hotmail it was an attempt to bypass the access restrictions for US dating sites.

Ken

Ken - I posted that information because ...  well...  we need to know that just because it's yahoo it does not mean automatically scam.

In the instance of this thread I say there is a high probability of scam.  But...  I know my Elena helps her girlfriends and family with Yahoo email accounts, which they do not access often.  One of her friends met a man from Sweden using a similar method to what is described in this thread.  They quickly went to SMS via cell phone with my Elena as a translator.  BUT - that friend DEFINITELY has a cell phone - just like EVERY single person I know in FSU.  LOL.

Get her cell number.  If she doesn't have one I would say she is not real.

[tim 360]

Your caller ID may not display all the #'s of an international call.  On my caller ID I get only 10 digits, ie: my Caller ID will read 535-365-3765 when I get a call from Ireland, but that is not the full tel #.  Usually it is that the first couple digits are missing on my Caller ID.  From Caller ID one would think it was from area code 535, which would be incorrect.

Thus, if your Caller ID only displays 10 digits you are probably missing a couple digits at the beginning and therefore 896 may not really be the area code at all if it is an international call.  Good luck, tim360

ps: next time she calls hit *69 afterwards and see if you get the full #'s.

[jh3]

Thanks for the replies! new info...she sent me a copy of her plane ticket showing a 6/29/07 departure from Moscow to JFK. Two forged documents? Who knows. She did mention that she hasn't gotten her funds for the trip yet (though she does have the passport and ticket), so that makes me suspicious. I mentioned (without her asking) that I would love to send her the funds so she wouldn't have to worry about it, but that I just had a major expense and could not afford to do so. If she is looking for me to send money, I doubt I will hear from her again.

If anyone who is familiar with Russian airline tickets (it looks legit, but what do I know?) would allow me to forward you the attachment, PM me with your email address. Thanks again!

[Wayne B]

Don't change your plans anytime soon....and keep your finger close to the 'Delete' button...

[Lily]

 
Does she already know her program and where she will be staying during her trip?

[jh3]

Does she already know her program and where she will be staying during her trip?
[

/quote]

She says she will be staying in a hotel in New york for a couple of days to handle some paperwork, then she will leave for Georgia. She hasn't gone into specifics as far as an address, but did say that the housing is being provided through the program.

[jh3]

I got bored at work last night and looked up Aeroflot flights to JFK...the flight number and time check out.

[Wayne B]

jh3, if it works out then by all means go for it.....what will you loose....nothing....and what will you gain.....at the least a new friend good luck to you....

[catzenmouse]

Yeah, stranger things have happened. If this does happen just go with it. If not, then no big surprise either.

[Daveman]

Yeah, just see how it plays out.  I'm guessing unforeseen tragedy tomorrow.  As far as the tickets checking out, well of course.. she would expect you to check the numbers. They always check out correctly. It would be completely stupid for her to give you bogus flight information.  Whether she will be on the flight is a different question, but the flight most assuredly will be a valid one.

Now from the other side, she said she'll be headed down to Georgia. Okay, here in Alpharetta or Roswell, there is a company who brings in nurses from the FSU on an exchange program, but it is with work visas, as far as I know which is less than little, for fresh graduates from university to work in a western environment.

It'll be interesting to see what happens. 

[jh3]

Yeah, just see how it plays out.  I'm guessing unforeseen tragedy tomorrow. 

Now from the other side, she said she'll be headed down to Georgia. Okay, here in Alpharetta or Roswell, there is a company who brings in nurses from the FSU on an exchange program, but it is with work visas, as far as I know which is less than little, for fresh graduates from university to work in a western environment.

It'll be interesting to see what happens. 

Small world Daveman, I work in Alpharetta off Windward Parkway! As far as unforseen tragedy, you are correct! Yesterday I got an email saying that her money for the trip hadn't arrived, and she needed $2000 to get to the US. I wasn't surprised, thanks to all you guys, but wasn't sure what I wanted to say...if anything at all...so I didn't reply. Today I got another email, saying she is in Moscow and has borrowed most of the money she needs but still needs another $300, and asked me to send it Western Union to the attention of Elizaveta Sominskaya. She gave me a phone number for her (she is supposedly with the agency), and her number is 718-874-9822, which is, you guessed it, an unlisted number. She is saying she knows I am sceptical (my wallet is shut tighter than a clam!), but that she'll pay me back when she gets here, this is our only chance to be together, blah, blah blah. I haven't decided what, if anything, I will reply. She was supposed to leave tomorrow, so I'm fully expecting a phone call from her to try to convince me to send money...NOT HAPPENING!!!!