One year for nothing, please help me if you can

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 09 Sep 2008 Posts: 1

I write in this forum because I really need help.

I met an Ukranian girl from lugansk last january. We used to write eachother everyday, and in August, I went to see her in Lugansk.
We met every day but the stange thing was that she was always with her friend (girl). I booked a flat for 3 weeks, everything was ok, even if I had to pay a fortune everything, restaurants, they used to book taxis for full evenings (400 grv), the full week cost me around 3000 grv.

She spoke poor english but the emails were written in a perfect one. She told me this friend was translating all the emails.

She is studying in lugansk, I know it is true because we met by surpise foreign workers of red cross working with her, I know for sure that she lives there.
After the first week she had to leave to Moscow, she said her grand father was very sick. I didn't receive any news for 2 weeks, then I received a sms telling me that he died and she would stay there all september, she also told she liked me a lot. This was 3 weeks after my arrival and I decided to go back in my country. Since then I have no news, just strange things like 3 calls + 1 sms in 3 days from differents ukrainian numbers I don't know.

I looked the ahead of emails, the last emails IP are from 92.112.214.253, 92.112.229.29, 92.112.213.131, 92.112.196.35, always begining by the same but with a different end for the 50 I have.
The emails are sent with "The Bat!". She has no computer, she is supposed to access the one of her university, internet cafes and the one of her friend.
The IP is in Kiev. Maybe it is a translations service there. She has very poor family and cant afford full translating servive. Unless other western men pay for it.
Last week I decided to send her email with readnotity.com, I know this is not nice but I am so fed up now. 2 days later, I received the read notification. My email was open with "The Bat", in Kiev.

The domains beyong to pool.ukrtel.net and the owner is Remiga Alexander.
I looked on internet and there are many scam reports with that name.
What is that? A scam agency? Sorry for the lenght of the email, but I don't understand anything.

I quit my job for that girl. And it was a very good one. I booked a flat for 3 weeks and stayed 2 weeks alone in it, waiting for her. I liked and still like her so much, I can't and don't want to beleive that all of this is a lie. I only want to know the truth.

Thank you if you can help me a little bit.

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 4:26 pm

First, sorry for what happened to you.
It seems to be a real scam although I'm not sure why they stopped scamming you, maybe those phone calls were planned to do so. Check your credit online or at the bank so you can be sure that's safe. Try to remember if they had the chance to copy your personal information, like passport, credit cards maybe more documents?
OR.......She might just not have had the guts to tell you that she wasn't so sure anymore about her "love" too, hard to say with no info.
But you want closure anyway possible, I get that
What you should do is report it on scamwarners.com so others don't step in the same trap.
Apply again for your old job if you think that's possible and explain the situation while you do that, you would be surprised how many people have a similar experience and are willing to help out. That way your RL is back on the tracks and this was just a nasty bump on it.
What we can do is "bait" her again so you have proof that she was in it for the money and that should give you some emotional closure or if she doesn't "bite" we could give you her new info so you can contact again. This is also best done by a Moderator and by PM so that her (and your) RL info doesn't linger on line.
I'm feel sorry for you (and lots of eater members have been on that road too), but you can leave it behind you once you know the truth.

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 4:39 pm

Hello, Christopher.

I'm not an expert on 'love scams' by any means, but mention of 'the bat' immediately raises suspicion. The Bat is an email client designed to work with scripting & mass mailing. Have a look at this thread:

http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=147513&highlight=bat

You might want to check out our sister site too for more information:

www.scamwarners.com

Googling Remiga Alexander came up with this:

http://www.romancescam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9643

There are a couple of pics on there - look familiar?

edit: What Bill2 said as well.

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 4:51 pm

Casting aside the baiting and scamming part I think you have to look at this matter with a cool head, which I know is not easy to do.

You have tried to romance her, and it appears quite clear that she was never going to let it go very far, having her friend with her. If at any stage she wanted to go further, her friend would have disappeared, but as long as she was there, there was little chance of you ever managing to develop any sort of relationship, and don't be in any doubt, her friend was there to prevent you going any further. the girl wanted it that way.

She may not be a scammer. She may have led you on, and enjoyed having you pay for things, but if you continue to hold on to your dream, then it becomes likelier that you will get scammed. What she has done is nothing more than what many gorls the world over. Girls like to have men buy them things, and if you don't take the hint, they'll keep taking. men have faults too. Very Happy

I think you have to accept that this romance was not a success and move on, just making sure that you have not left any credit card details or anything else that could be used.

Not all Russians are scammers, and she may have just been a girl who welcomed your money more than your interest, which can happen in your home town.

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 5:22 pm

Christopher,

I'm so sorry to hear what you went through. Scammers and Pro-daters (which is what she sounds like to me) are interested only in your money, and they have no qualms whatsoever about crushing your heart along the way. Sad

As others have recommended, please visit our sister site www.scamwarners.com and post your story. I will also suggest www.romancescam.com, where you can learn more about Pro-daters.

Rest assured that, although you are not alone, there are people who dedicate themselves to warn and advise victims of such scams. Smile

Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:39 am

Asking for money for "translation services" is a common trick too. It's somehwat unusual for internet scammers to meet with their victims face to face so I think that unfortunately she's a girl looking for someone to spend money on her and nothing else. I am very sorry that she took advantage of you like this and hope that you can learn from this bad experience so next time you find someone honest and genuine. Good luck.

Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 2:19 am

Like Titania said, this sounds very much like a pro-dater. I would definitely recommend checking out romancescam.com, then go to the forums and look at the pro-daters forum. Check out some of the info there, and see if your experience aligns with those of others--I suspect it will. You might even find your girl posted there by another vic, as pro-daters are typically juggling several "love interests" at the same time.

Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 12:06 pm

Sorry about what happened, man.

I'm also very sorry to say that, with the exception of one or two minor irregularities, this perfectly fits the modus operandi of a scammer/pro-dater.

Look out for other Hollywood cliche Eastern European traits. For example:
-Loves dancing or dancing instructor
-Loves gymnastics
-Poor family
-Oppressed by government
-Refers to the "motherland" (ironically East European scammers picked this up from Hollywood rather than the other way around)
-Very close to family
-Some major family tragedy has occured (but then again, that fits with all scammers)
Being Eastern European myself, I can assure you that all of the above (sans the final one) are American inventions.

Anyway, I can only offer the same advice that several others have given: Cut your losses and look to the future rather than the past. Focus on getting your job back rather than on how you lost it. I'm very sorry that there's no better way of saying this, but, she was only after your money.

Good luck and stay strong.

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