I started getting emails from this Russian woman claiming to know me from a dating site

by Greg
(Schaumburg Ill)

Four or five emails in she's claiming she a dentist and is coming to America to start a new life leaving Russia and how she was hurt by some other jerk. I played along with it, but now every email I got was from the Russian internet café and that she didn't have a computer got her emails there well I did a search of her email address and it showed me a picture of an apartment building on a rural street. She asked me for $1250.00. I marked her as spam and haven't answered her. I thought the photos and her face too good and her clothers too elegant for a simple Russian woman and that she wouldn't want to live with me in a Chicago apartment. I started getting red flags all over the place... I didn't send her any money so I guess I wont be hearing anything more.


Bob's Comment:

Hi Greg

This is a fairly cookie-cutter scam where the Russian woman claims to have seen you on a dating site or in a Russian marriage agency database, and claims to be coming to America.

Some of your assumptions are good, but not all... You can't really reliably trace an email address to a very specific physical location, and the pretty face and nice clothes are actually fairly common there.

BUT, the idea that she saw you on a dating site should immediately be suspicious if you weren't actually on a dating site, or if she didn't specify which dating site. I get these kinds of emails all the time and when I feel like taking the time to have a little fun, I ask, "Oh, which site was that?"

But the other DEAD GIVEAWAY is the request for money and the whole "I get my emails at the internet cafe" bit. Did she say that she needed the $1250 for the internet cafe or for travel? Either way, you're right, scam!

Bob