Meet a Russian Girl

by Peter
(Denmark)

Hi, I have met a Russian woman and she answers all my questions, and after 12 emails she wants to come and meet me, but needs me to send her money to come. I told her that I don't send money to someone I haven't meet in person. She understands, and told me she has an uncle that will send me the money and then I can transfer that to her! I think its strange, but the story there is somewhat true. I still told her that I won't deal with money with someone I only have seen through mails! So I told her to make a photo of her where she sits in front of a computer with my pictures on. She just sent me the picture, I have studied it, and its not a fake.

Can I believe her now, and let the uncle send me the money?

Bob's Answer: I would DEFINITELY be suspicious. And the very fact that she complied with your request to make pictures with her computer in the background as a way of proving her legitimacy actually makes me MORE suspicious, not less. A sincere Russian woman would usually be offended by this request and would probably call of the relationship.

But a few other red flags occur to me...

One, the most obvious of course, is the whole "send me money so I can travel to see you" thing is the oldest scam in the book!

Second, and maybe I just don't have enough facts of the case to know any better, but this "uncle" story seems weird... why not have the uncle send the money directly to her?

Third, and this may be a little different in Denmark, but if a Russian woman tells an American man she wants to travel to see him, it's almost surely a scam because U.S. visas are not easy for single Russian women to get.

At Avoiding Russian Women Scams I offer a few tips to avoid scams, and one of the most important is for you to visit to Russian woman in her own city. If the woman is serious and sincere, she'd prefer this anyway since it is on her home turf... much less risky. But also, it removes the risk of the most common scams... the "travel to meet you" scam. There are other tips on that page that help further reduce the risk.

Good luck, and feel free to follow up with more questions if needed.