When we started Anastasia in 1993, the worst "scam" we ever ran into was a girl sending us a photo taken a few years back, or exaggerating her English ability.

Times have definitely changed. With Internet becoming widely available in Russia and Ukraine, "marriage scams" are becoming wide spread and now there are even a few sites out there devoted to Russian agencies and women - scam artists.

If you review these sites carefully, you will see that all of them feature the same 80-150 photos. This is a tiny percentage of 40.000-50.000 Russian/Ukrainian females, currently looking for Western partners. 

The overwhelming majority of Western men search, find and marry great Russian women, without ever encountering a scammer. Your chances of never encountering any scams are about 99 out of 100. We apologize that a few "bad apples" make it necessary for us to warn you.

In general scammers can be divided into three categories:

• Unscrupulous Agencies

• Money-hungry women and... men???

Unscrupulous Agencies

Many agencies out there have outdated databases of ladies. With so many choices out there, customers will not stay long on a site featuring less beautiful women, no matter how respectable the agency might seem. In a desperate attempt to keep the customer, the agencies do not de-activate the outdated profiles of their most beautiful ladies. It's so much easier to sell these addresses over and over again, then to solicit new ladies, which costs time and money.

How to tell the unscrupulous agency from an honest one.

1. Look for the agency's mailing address (a physical address, not a PO Box) and phone number. Both should be clearly posted on the website. If you can not find a phone number and all customer service is by e-mail only - walk away, no matter how pretty their women appear to be. The women are probably not real & you are about to be scammed out of money. If you do find a phone number - call to place your order and make sure that customer service is actually available.

2. Choose agencies that post regular (preferable weekly) updates. If you can not tell when the profiles were added to the site - walk away. For example in our search, you can always see ladies added during the last two weeks.

3. Choose agencies that accept a wide variety of payment options - checks and credit cards included. If you see that the agency wants only cash, money orders, bank transfers & Western Union transfers - walk away, or they will walk away ... with your cash.

4. To be absolutely sure - go with an old, well established company that stands by it's products. 

5. Never, ever travel to Russia to meet only one woman (or a pre-arranged selection of ladies) through a Russian-based agency. These trips are extremely slow and inefficient and can be very dangerous. 

Money-hungry women and... men?????

The scams described below are usually ran by a team of con-artists: both men and women. Most often these scams originate from sites where both men and women can post their profiles for free. The process is simple. 

1. You receive a letter from a beautiful (often young, but not necessarily) woman claiming to find your photo on such a site, or somewhere on the Internet. 

2. Her description of a partner is very broad. She is looking for a "nice, intelligent, good hearted man". She usually does not specifies the age of a partner she is looking for. She never uses the word "financially secure". She talks a lot about honesty, trust and understanding. She is extremely not materialistic & never asks you how much money you earn.

3. She, on the other hand is extremely poor and lets you know it right from the start. Her income is very low and she writes about it in second, or third letter, even though you might've never asked. Most popular version - she is a student.

4. She starts writing you almost every day. She never answers your specific questions, but every next letter is more and more romantic and affectionate. Almost every letter has a new photo attached and sometimes those photos are numbered in sequence. Things progress very fast and she "falls in love" with you on 10-14th day.

5. After she falls in love with you, it is natural that she wants to see you right away. Conveniently, she just happens to know a person who can get her a tourist (business, student) visa for $280-$340. Or she might know someone with a connection to cheap tickets and the whole trip can be arranged for $700-$1500. The only thing is - she has to pay cash. After you send her cash (usually by Western Union and in the name of some man) she is gone and you will never hear from her again.

How this scam works

All you need is 5-15 photos of the same woman, 20-30 form letters and a person willing to pick up the money in Western Union.

Scammers never actually read your letters. They don't answer your questions. They don't remember what you wrote. They correspond with several potential victims at once and have no time to learn the particulars about each one. At first they re-address every form letter with your name, later all letters will start with "My beloved", "Darling", etc. Their letters are all one long monologue about them and their love for you and the desire to be with you despite all odds. 

How to protect yourself 

1. Most often these scams originate from sites where both men and women can post their profiles for free. Please note that these sites do not let you e-mail other members unless you pay for a membership by credit card. Ask yourself - where would a poor Russian girl - a student - get a credit card to pay for membership? Credit cards are a brand new thing is Russia/Ukraine and only the top 5% of the population has them. Students might have bank (ATM) cards, but Russian Bank cards are not accepted on the Internet.
   Instead of using membership, or free personals sites - buy addresses! Scammers will NOT give out their contact information. Having actual contact information for the person you are writing to is very important. It is also easy to check if it is correct, or not.

2. Never correspond with only one woman. Write to as many as you can, establish stable correspondence with a few and feel the difference. Scammers with their flowery, romantic letters always stand out. 

3. Go on a tour! Until you actually go to Russia - nothing happens! You might convince yourself that you are in love with a photo - but it's not real! Only when you actually see the ladies if flesh and blood, only then you can really judge their beauty and character.

4. NEVER, EVER send money to anybody before you met them in person for any reason! We can not say this enough. 

5. Do some research into the company you are dealing with and in general on the subject of finding a Russian wife. Most organized scams are targeted at men not looking for a Russian bride, at those who have done no research on the subject. Most reputable agencies will always provide you with the list of "do's" and "don'ts".

Photos of some Scam Artists. These women are not real!

The best and most tastefully done site devoted to Russian Scam artists is Russian Brides Cyber Guide. It has all the information you need to know about a few individuals soliciting money from Western men.