Just a Warning

[djcyclone]

Okay I am back. I moved and have been really busy, but that is a long story.

On to the Warning.

About two weeks ago I recieved an E-Mail from a woman in Russia. She indicated that she was in a program that allowed her to move too the United States, and work here for 3 months. She said that she was looking for someone to show her around and help her out as far as getting a job.

At first I immiedietly suspected scam, but I replied just to see what it would reveal. As they say if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. Anyway she started sending me pictures of herself. A couple of them where even adult pictures only (with just her) get your mind out of the gutter.

I continued to talk with her, but I noticed that she would never directly respond to my E-Mails which seemed odd to me. It seemed to be an automated string of E-Mails.

She indicated that she was ready to move, and I even told her where I live. Just a warning, her story is vary believable, and you really want to help her out. I kept telling myself that I would go along with it, as long as she did not ask for money. As soon as she did that I would be out. Anyway this all went on until just yesterday, when she finally sent me an E-mail. She said that she would be arriving at my City's airport. She wanted me to pick her up, and she hoped it would be okay if she stayed with me since she did not have a place.

Come on, what single guy would not go for that. Yes I am a gentlman, but I mean come on. This women is a babe, and she indicated that she was interested in starting a relationship, or just being friends. Her E-mail included all of the flight times, locations and layovers. However it also included one other thing. Suposedly she had run into troubles. The Russian authorities wanted to make sure that she did not stay in the U.S. illiegally, so she had to purchase round trip tickets. She only had enough money for one way, and she needed my help to get the tickets. She had a bunch of excuses, but she needed 980.00$ to buy her tickets.

Even though I had assumed up to this point that she was for real and actually coming over here (remember her story is believable and vary convincing) I immiedietly became furiouse. For some reason I typed in her Email address and did a Google search. The women in the pictures is actually a **** Star. It is not known if she knows that her pictures are being used, or if she is doing this scam herself, but I found a blog that indicated that some 20 guys had recieved the same E-Mail. All of them reported the same story.

Just a warning if any of you single guys recieve this E-Mail. You are more than welcome to play along with her, or them, but keep in mind that it is a scam.

[djcyclone]

I am considering calling the Pentagon. I have fallen for a scam like this before. I fell for this with a women in Africa. She was an American Citizen and was on a business trip. I started talking to her from a dating sight. Everything was believable up to the point when she ran into troubles and needed money. I did send that women 500$, because I believed that she was really in trouble, but then she wanted more. That is when I really started looking into things.

I found out that she is actually and elderly women in Texas, and she is using her Grandaughters pictures as the woman that men think they are talking to. As to who recieved the money in Africa, I will never know. It could have been a guy for all I know. Just a reminder never send money to anyone unless you know them personally. These people are good at getting you to sympothize for them.

Anyway I know that U.S. government is really trying to nail these Internet Scammers, but most of the time they are in a different country, and they move all of the time. In this case however, I have the address of the Western Union post in Moscow Russia. I told the person who is doing this that I might send money. So they are still trying to play the role of woman stuck in Moscow. I do not know if the U.S. could work out something with Moscow police, but I think I will give it a try.

I think I will send about 20$ to them, or whatever the minimum for Western Union is. I will then send an E-mail to the person who is pulling this off, and tell them that I have sent all the money that they requested. There is no way for a person on the recieving end to know how much money was sent until they try to get it. Hopefully the Russian Police would be willing to stake out the Western Union Station and aprehend anyone who tries to take that paticular money order. I know it is a long shot, but it might be worth a try. I just do not know if anyone at the Pentagon, will be willing to set something like this up.

[JMS]

My 2 cents are that you are going to loose 20 bucks and nothing is going to happen. This kind of crime is too small scale to be a priority for many police forces, and some places have limits on what constitutes a crime based on the amount scammed, so the bad guys get off pretty easily.

[djcyclone]

Yea, but imagine how long they have been doing this. I doubt that they have been paying taxes in Russia, on this free money. That might be enough to motivate theire police.

[ksf1973]

No offense, but I have very limited sympathy for people who fall for this stuff. Internet scams have been around for enough years for people to be on their guard. Whatever happened to "If it seems to good to be true, it IS to good to be true"?

[old_pop2000]

No offense, but I have very limited sympathy for people who fall for this stuff. Internet scams have been around for enough years for people to be on their guard. Whatever happened to "If it seems to good to be true, it IS to good to be true"?

Actually, you and I are in agreement. Caveat Emptor-Let the buyer beware. There are all kinds of anti-spam programs etc. to protect people. There are government and private websites that give you good information about scams and online rip offs. No need to be stupid. Sorry for the harsh terminology, but I calls them like I sees 'em. :eek:

Anyway, thanks for the tip.

[Lancer]

I did the same thing. I contacted Russian officials through the US embassy in Moscow and surprise, Oksana Nemova does not exist nor does the US embassy have any record of her being issued a temporary "marriage" visa. I got a feeling this is more of an East European scam. They told me Russians tend to stick to .ru sites, I met "her" on a .com site. Weird, but its best to visit Russia and get the real thing, just be prepared for time consuming passport and visa hassles.

[Mart]

its best to visit Russia and get the real thing, just be prepared for time consuming passport and visa hassles.

Care to elucidate? :D

[Rick]

I got a similar email a while back. I knew it was a scam from the moment I started reading. I amused myself for a couple of weeks by sending nonsense replys (typing gibberish or strings of punctuation) and chuckling over the canned replys. They are very good, just realistic enough to mimic actual replys if the mark was responding as if the "russian girl" was real. I can see how someone might be fooled.

[Jittery]

Only way you can get anything out of them is if the US has a free trade agreement with the country they were sending the E-Mails from. The E-Mails form a contract and you can sue them for breach of contract ;). [so ive been told] This is in relation to the "send us $50 bucks and we will give you $5390898317987235, we just need your $50 for brokerage fees".

I don't know why anyone falls for this stuff anymore though. One thing my brother does, is reply to them CC'ing in the state police, federal police and local member for Parliament (im in Australia).

Tends to stop them.

[john964]

Only way you can get anything out of them is if the US has a free trade agreement with the country they were sending the E-Mails from. The E-Mails form a contract and you can sue them for breach of contract ;). [so ive been told] This is in relation to the "send us $50 bucks and we will give you $5390898317987235, we just need your $50 for brokerage fees".

I don't know why anyone falls for this stuff anymore though. One thing my brother does, is reply to them CC'ing in the state police, federal police and local member for Parliament (im in Australia).

Tends to stop them.I do the same thing with the FBI and USSS plus a realy good spam killer