Starting a campaign against Russian dating scam

[Elena]

I am starting a campaign against Russian dating scammers.

Among the main points of my campaign is going to be an effort to file as many criminal complaints against scammers as possible. Police investigators in Russia often have alot more information about certain scam groups than we would think. All they need are well-written, correctly-filed complaints. I am making it my priority for this year to ensure that a maximum amount of complaints get filed.

I am putting together a package of information that I am planning to give to all and every scam victim who has lost money due to visa and tickets type of scam. In there, I am planning to explain the quickest and most pain-free way to file for prosecution.

I am also planning to contact owners and moderators of other forums and black lists, and ask for their cooperation with forwarding the victims of the scam to my Prosecution page.

Another interesting project that I am making a part of this campaign will be collection of statistical information regarding the number of victims who sent money, their countries of origin, the amount of money lost, their level of interest in prosecution, the steps they actually took to prosecute the scammer, and the outcomes of such prosecution attempts.

I am very excited to start. I hope to make as much damage to the scammers' business as I can through increased number of complaining victims.

Wishing myself luck...

[Manny]

I am also planning to contact owners and moderators of other forums and black lists, and ask for their cooperation with forwarding the victims of the scam to my Prosecution page.

Elena - feel free to repost this on RUA as well with the relevant links. We will assist with this in any way we can also.

[Analyz3r]

Whatever you need for your project please let me know, i'll be really happy to help you

[Elena]

Manny,

Thanks for the invitation! Once I am back in the US, I will surely do as you suggest. I am in Russia now, and writing mainly from Internet cafes these days.

[Elena]

Analyz3r,

Thank you very much for your offer!

I am not planning to turn down any help offers, and yours have been the first so far!

I have ALOT of things that I need help with, but I would like to discuss it in private, if possible. I will send you a PM shortly.

Thanks again!

Elena

[wigura7]

One of the things you could do is to advise ladies in Russia who wish to post their pictures on the web to put a watermark somewhere on their face. This can be done with low opacity (as I have done writing FAKE on the passport copies posted on this site), so that the image is slightly altered and therefore can still be appreciated, but at the same time cannot be reused by scammers. A scammer will not use an image of the lady with something.ru written right on her nose. Removing the watermark wil require a lot of time and will cost quite a lot of money for it will have to be done by a professional graphist. Putting a watermark elsewhere than on the face will be useless because the scammers will cut of the watermarked part of the photo, but a photo of the lady with the "cut off" nose or eye will not be usefull for their purposes.

[maxnimrod]

I am interested in prosecuting the sites (one specifically: RLM) that continue to scam us out of money providing services that are designed to rape us of every cent we have and continuing to modify these policies to their advantage.

There is a locked post (36820) referring to one of the sites owned by Romantic tours Inc. This post is updated as a negative for scamming. I have been collecting information including several emails from the owners and complaints to the BBB that prove that they are involved in illegal activities including false advertising and violations of their user agreement and their contract with the marriage agencies. I am currently investigating the legitimacy and legality of the marriage agencies charging and accepting payments in USD only.

I want to pursue this further as i have proof of agency and/or (RTI) created profiles that are supposedly approved that are not representing the women that they claim. I have been using their site for more than four years and have collected a lot of information that can stop them or at least punish them for their unethical business practices.

I met someone there who is genuine and have been corresponding with her for nearly two years. I talk to her mostly on ICQ, but there are some times that I have to use RLM.

I want to start a new thread to continue my campaign to punish them for the way they have treated me and other members who use their service to find a Russian or Ukrainian bride. My goal is to force RTI to operate in a legitimate manner and treat their customers as customers and not dollar signs, or to put them out of business if they are not willing to do so.

I would like the support of your site to accomplish this and give other members a chance to voice their concerns and issues as well as post their comments and experiences with RTI.

[FrumpyBB]

I am sorry but we don´t "do" agencies any more; that´s the reason why that other thread is locked.

Elena had started this topic in 2008 and among other results, one is described here (against individual scammers, not agencies): viewtopic.php?f=13&t=45583

[maxnimrod]

So i have to ask why you don't, and why you have marked russianlovematch as negative. This is not true. I have plenty of proof that shows otherwise. The only difference is that the have a license to operate as a legitimate business when they are not operating within the law and their own contracts with marriage agencies in Russia and Ukraine.

It would seem that fighting individual scammers would be about as effective as chasing my own tail. You prosecute 10 while 400 more get started every day. Very similar to the war on drugs, impossible to win.

These agencies, RTI especially are raping the public by skating around and weaving through US trust and trade laws and "legitimately" getting away with it. They can be prosecuted and forced to operate withing the law, but no one will stand up to them. So this leaves them open to do whatever they want.

I understand the importance of helping individuals fight the people who scam them, but you are talking about pennies compared to what RTI is making alone.

It seems to me that it would be a much easier fight to win. Why did you give up on it?

[FrumpyBB]

Rules. Stamp collectors also specialize early. What can we do with agencies far across the world? Are they illegal in their countries? No. So what can a volunteers board do? Do you do anything yourself, as a normal citizen, against scammers, please ask yourself. I have asked myself, years ago. So I joined this board and not an "anti agency board". Surely they are around, too. I´m afraid we have already enough on our plates with Russian and Nigerian scammers´ victims. And we help maybe quite a number of them. How many scammers have you personally posted with proof, how many victims have you helped personally? I know there could be done more, but something is always more than nothing