Do Russian women require "solvency money" to depart airport?

by James
(Wisconsin, USA)

My Russian lady claims to be at the airport and ready to board the plane when Customs official demands to see this money, in cash, or proof thereof. The amount $2800! is this factual or a scam???

Bob's Answer:

Scam: 100%

I think there are cases where someone may need to demonstrate "solvency" to obtain a visa to visit the U.S., but one doesn't obtain that visa AT THE AIRPORT. And, no one in the Russian airport would ever need to SEE this. It's the U.S. Embassy/Consulate that would issue the visa.

And yet another hole in her story is that a CUSTOMS official is demanding to see this "solvency money". Even if it was true that she needed to have "solvency money", it would not be the customs agent who would want to see it. Customs officials are essentially there to make sure that items brought in or out of the country are taxed appropriately.

If you read through other posts here you see others with similar questions.

And be ready for her to stick to her guns and continue to maintain that this is real. I guarantee she will.

At this point, I would advise wiring her some fake money. See my description of this trick at the bottom of Russian Scammers: Email Scams. Seriously, you have nothing to lose.

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American Citizen Services response
by: Anonymous

The story does not make sense, and this is a scam. The document you attached says in Russian that Ms. Zharova is required to show proof that she has $2,800 to travel to the U.S. This is false. There is no such legal requirement. Furthermore, airlines require only plane tickets to board a plane, not proof that one has money to travel. In addition, there is no one with the name Zharova, Elena, born March 5, 1986, with a U.S. visa.

Again, we encourage you to visit the following link for more information about dating scams in Russia: http://moscow.usembassy.gov/dating-scams.html. There you will learn about some of the techniques scam artists use to defraud U.S. citizens.

[Bob's Comment:]

I'm guessing James/Wisconsin (the original poster) provided more information to this commenter since the comment refers to "the document you attached says..." The original post had no attached docs and didn't mention any actual names.

BUT, GREAT COMMENT, and what a great resource in the embassy web link!

Of course that site (http://moscow.usembassy.gov/dating-scams.html) just says everything I also say :-)

But the article does say something I didn't know about... "the Fraud Prevention Unit can verify the authenticity of any U.S. visa via e-mail at FPMM@state.gov."

Wow! That will be included in my reply to every future post asking if a case is a scam.

Thanks much for the comment!

Bob's reply
by: james

Bob,

thank you for that response, I find that you are such a valuable resource with your site in such matters, none better!!

The reason I shared that link was to provide you and others with additional means to defend against such fraud. These "women" play a very good game and we must protect our hearts from such scams.

Your original response to my question included the words, to paraphrase " they will deny it 100% and remain persistent". Well you again were 100% correct Bob! That is happening to this day, but the wiser man will know how to handle it. thank you for all the help you have provided!

[Bob's Comment:]

Thanks for the "plug" :-) Glad to be of help!

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