Scam dating agency: NiceBride.com. Need help please.

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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 4:25 pm

I've been contacted by a vlad (now 3 "girls", all possibly the same vlad) on MyBelovedNet (free dating site). They all use eMail addresses out of another site called NiceBride.com. I checked it out, and it's set up as a "marriage agency" which is mainly used to lure victims for a translation scam. On this site several other fake "services" are advertized, such as: "gifts", "flower delivery" and "English lessons" for the victims' imaginary girlfriends. Of course the "girls" never manage to actually learn English since they don't exist, and that would eliminate the need for the "translation services" which are actually staff of the "agency" writing the letters and pretending to be the girls in the photos.

The way they operate is to set up fake profiles on free international dating sites (like MyBelovedNet) pretending to be some of the "girls" at their agency. They then contact a large number of male members on the dating site, inviting them to communicate with "her" and giving "her" eMail address at the "agency". Once contact is made "she" admits to not speaking English and needing the translation services of this "agency". As per their "policy" (which the "girl" conveniently fails to mention) they let you exchange 3 letters for free with the "lady", and then you have to pay 42€ per month to continue corresponding with "her". In "her" third letter to you, she mentions that the "manager" of the "agency" will contact you about "helping her" pay for the "translation services". You then immediatly recieve an eMail from the "manager" telling you that you'll have to pay the monthly fee if you want to continue communicating with your new "girlfriend".

Check out their "services" page and let me know what you think:
http://www.nicebride.com/serv_corr.shtml
These are the 3 "girls" that have contacted me so far on MyBelovedNet:
http://www.nicebride.com/cgi-bin/conf.pl?step=prof&ident=1559&swit=1&menu=2
http://www.nicebride.com/cgi-bin/conf.pl?step=prof&ident=1654&swit=1&menu=2
http://www.nicebride.com/cgi-bin/conf.pl?step=prof&ident=1665&swit=1&menu=2
If anyone recognizes the pics, let me know.

Here's what twigged me.
1)The first "lady" contacted me on a free dating site, and the pictures "she" sent me were obviously done by a pro photographer. "She" is exceptionally beautiful and likely a model. I haven't been able to identify who the pics belong to yet… still searching. "She" tells me how handsome I am in her 2nd letter (I don't want to be cruel, but the guy's pic I sent "her" is no chick magnet). "She" also complemented the beauty of my daughters… I mentioned them, but didn't send a photo of them… oops! Laughing

2) The "agency" is based out of Yoshkar-Ola, and specializes in "ladies" from that area only.
3) The "director" and "services manager" both use Yahoo! addresses, instead of their own domain.
4) The "ladies" all communicate exclusively using addresses out of the "agency" site. So there's no way to continue with "her" once the "3 free letters" are up. Requests for other contact information, such as a regular eMail address or phone number are denied. The usual excuse is "she doesn't speak English". Any attempts to contact "her" again on the dating site are ignored.
5) The "agency" displays on it's homepage a www.russian-scam.org logo. But they are not in this organisation's member list. As far as I can tell, this organization is legitimate. The 1st member in their list is "Elena's Models", which is a reputed agency. On the "Elena's Models" homepage, there is the same logo for this anti-scam organisation, and it does link back to them.
6) There are scam reports about them all over the Internet. The only positive report about them I've seen was an ad which they posted themselves.

There's a detailed report about NiceBrides.com here:
http://www.romancescam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=389

What complicates things is that some of the girls advertized at their "agency" are real, though many of those are probably pro daters or paid a commision by the "agency" to go on dates with some of their victims. It's likely though that all the girls on the first page of their gallery are fakes, since those are the most attractive ones.

There's a detailed account by one of their victims from the USA on RomanceScam. He corresponded with one of the "real" girls at the "agency". Though from his account of events it's much more likely he was actually communicating with a staff member pretending to be her. After several months of exchanging letters with "her" he decided to visit her (something which they try to discourage, I wonder why? Rolling Eyes

). They charged him exhorbitant fees for visa support and travel between Moscow and Yoshkar-Ola. He stayed there for 3 days, but she was always "very busy" and didn't have time to meet him. Finally on the last day he managed to get one dinner date with her (with a paid interpreter from the "agency" surely). He was then sent home and the translation scam continued. No sincere Russian/Ukrainian woman would act like this. I can vouch that from personal experience, having met several. The saddest part is that even after telling his whole story, the poor guy still wasn't convinced that he'd been scammed… Shocked

even though it had cost him thousands of dollars and a trip to Russia for one date with a girl who barely talked to him. He said that she was much friendlier in writing and thought she must have been shy in person. Sad

The "agency" likely gets a commission from the hotel and restaurant too, like most pro daters do. The girl got a free meal in a fancy restaurant, and probably some money from the agency for her participation.

Their first letter is a standard copy-paste job with only the victim's name added in. The 2 following letters are partially personalized (questions answered) to hook the victim quickly, but still mostly follow a script.

The letter from the "manager" includes the following:

Quote:

You can send the funds online from your credit card using www.paypal.com This way the money should be sent to the address [email protected]

IMPORTANT:
To make sure that our Paypal account is not closed any more we ask you not to send any additional messages with the money about the services and ladies you are paying for. It will be enough if you send us a separate e-mail to [email protected] or [email protected] and tell us the services you are paying for, the number of the lady's profile and any comments or questions you may have.

So it looks like they've had their PayPal closed down for fraud before, and don't want the mangement there to know who is using this account or for what purpose. Let's do it again. Twisted Evil

I'm thinking of doing a few things to keep this vlad (or vlads) as busy as possible while throwing a wrench into the gearbox of this "business". Tell me what you think about my ideas.

1) Report the site to www.russian-scam.org since it is apparently fraudulently using their logo by claiming to be a member. (I'm thinking it may be best to hold off on this for the moment and use it as evidence to help acheive #4 and #6)
2) Not answering him right away, as technically our next exchange will be the last "free" one, and then he'll obviously ask me to pay 42€ to continue to correspond with his fake "lady". (this has already occured)
3) Write to "her" on MyBelovedNet (the free dating site where this scumbag is advertizing his services) in Russian (my wife is Russian Very Happy

), telling "her" to open an account on one of the numerous free Russian webmail services, and write me back from there… in Russian since "she" doesn't speak English. (tried that, my letter was of course ignored)
4) Get their PayPal account closed again so they'll be forced to use Western Union only, which will hopefully twig more victims.
5) Mass bait them which will seriously cut down on their profits, and may even force them to lay off a few employees.
6) Get their website shut down. (I know, very difficult according to the following posts and I agree… especially considering that it's not really a fake site and proving that they're scammers is going to be difficult, that even with fraud evidence the Russian ISP may choose to do nothing, that they are certainly working under the protection of the Russian mafia, that they likely have purchased the "cooperation" of the local authorities… who wants a challenge? Very Happy

)
7) Try to get bank account information out of them (I know, also very unlikely) and try to get that closed.

I'd like some opinions from the experts.

EDIT: corrected/updated some of the information in my post.

Chuck Norris Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 1369

Quote:

Domain Name: NICEBRIDE.COM
Registrar: INTERCOSMOS MEDIA GROUP, INC. D/B/A DIRECTNIC.COM
Whois Server: whois.directnic.com
Referral URL: http://www.directnic.com
Name Server: NS.MTW.RU
Name Server: NS1.MTW.RU
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 28-nov-2008
Creation Date: 25-nov-2000
Expiration Date: 25-nov-2009

Would be hard to kill if fake, for a number of reasons.

Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 4:39 pm

This might well be a scam but I do not think you will get this domain killed.

It was registered in 2000 so it is 8 years old. The registrant whois does not look fake or stolen. Also the hoster is in Russia.

Your evidence is going to have to be far more solid than what you have listed above.

Edit: Beaten by Akai but at least we agree Smile

Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 5:39 pm

I didn't know it was a contest Laughing

^
You'll have to bait for results here that can prove their malicious ways, but it will be hard.
If you want I can give it a try and see where it will bring me/us? I'm a sucker for lost cases, so no guarantee, but if... I'll report it back to you.

Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 6:55 am

Nice web site. Clicked on "gifts", was offered the option of buying "Jewellry". Bought my girl the golden "Ear-rings" for the cost of "€70-300". I then checked out and gave only the quoted cost - no name, address, "Lady's number" etc., then clicked the "Send to manager" button. Order accepted with the message "Your order was sent to manager. Thanks."

Lots more to check out, but this site seems, umm, a tad incompetent.
Shocked

Not quite a Newb Joined: 11 Oct 2008 Posts: 30

I've had about 10 hits from "ladies" through this site, and they have all ended up as the typical translation scam.

Although I could not say 100% for sure that the site itself was dodgy, and that it might just be scammers using the site, you get the standard scripted message "your lady still wants to talk to you - it would be such a disappointment to her if you didn't continue - here's our extortionate fees" from the site itself.

If the site were for real, wouldn't they recognise these scammers, who have to visit the agency personally, because the scripts they use are blatantly vlad scripts, and not at all individual or personal.

Alembic

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:47 am

It's amazing just how many Elena's there are in Russian, and it makes it very tricky for us, when we have a couple or three with the same name.

And have you run the picture through "tineye" to see where she's been.

You could try working with pay-pal, if there listing that as a payment system.. regardless of if they prefer WU. Simply listing it will make pay-pal sit up and take notice.

As for the scam,, Just play it as it comes, be gullible, they like that, and keep asking WHY, they hate that. make them go into details, with the gifts, they want you to pay for. Ask about guarantee's warranties, makers names, place of origin,
certification certificates, you can carry on for weeks about a watch, that at the end of the day doesn't exist in the first place.

Good luck..

Not quite a Newb Joined: 03 Dec 2008 Posts: 77

Sent the manager an email asking about the russian language lessons. we'll see what develops.

Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:27 am

I've updated my original post and trying to revive this Don Quixotish cause. Very Happy

• Bait with "girl" #1 is now finished. I refused to send money so now being ignored by "her", even on MyBelovedNet.
• Baits with "girls" #2 and #3 are in progress…

I'll post more details about these "girls" and this fake "marriage agency" in my new thread about vlads, coming soon to a forum near you. Very Happy

@ Akai Ryu and Artemis
I know. But I'm a sucker for problem cases. I married a Russian girl. Razz

@ bill2
Thank you Sancho!!! Laughing

GeorgeBush

Quote:

this site seems, umm, a tad incompetent

I'd be tempted to say something topical… but we're not allowed to talk about about politics. Laughing

But seriously… look at it realistically; the victims are already paying 42€ per month to exchange letters with a "girl" who's address or phone number they don't have, and who never sends any personalized photos… so I doubt the layout of the website will bother them much. Sad but true. Confused

They can buy a video of her filmed with a webcam though. Rolling Eyes

@alembic42

Quote:

If the site were for real, wouldn't they recognise these scammers

No, because the site itself is owned by scammers. Wink

@weareborg

Quote:

It's amazing just how many Elena's there are in Russian, and it makes it very tricky for us, when we have a couple or three with the same name.

I don't have too much trouble with Elenas. Only got 2 of those. But Ekaterinas… blimey! as my Aussie bloke would say. I've got 8 at the moment. Shocked

I'll try tineye and let you know. Wink

I'll give PayPal a shot, definitely. They usually are pretty aggressive against scammers, and are known to shut down accounts of people just for being in the FSU or West Africa.

Quote:

As for the scam,, Just play it as it comes, be gullible, they like that, and keep asking WHY, they hate that. make them go into details, with the gifts, they want you to pay for. Ask about guarantee's warranties, makers names, place of origin,
certification certificates, you can carry on for weeks about a watch, that at the end of the day doesn't exist in the first place.

I'll try that. But they don't seem to be very patient. At least they weren't at all with my first character. Translation scammers rarely seem to be, probably because they're going for small amounts… like lotto lads. I doubt they'll answer many questions unless I pay for at least 1 month of "translation services". But I'll give it a shot again with the 2 other "girls".

@high-seas-piracy
Let me know how it goes.

Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 11:22 am

Baiting that site won't accomplish much.

Demonstrating, and documenting what goes on there, and posting it publicly, will help more.

With another set of fraudulent sites, we set up fake 'normal' profiles, and demonstrated 'normal' people, couldn't contact other 'normal' people, a 'normal' person could only contact an inhouse 'ringer'...and be lead down the translation scam path.

The more times the sites name appears on search engines associated with 'scam', the better.

This won't reach every potential victim, but will help people who think to check things out on the search engines...which happens often enough to make it worthwhile.

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:55 am

Why would baiting them not be useful? All the time they waste writing to baiters is less time they have to spend on real victims, and it will cut into their profits. Don't you consider that useful?

There's already tons of fraud reports about them on the Internet. Though of course posting more can never hurt. Baiting also collects evidence for those reports. Wink

Not sure how "normal" profiles could be set up on their site… they don't have a signup page. From what I understand they only accept women from Yoshkar-Ola. The only way to join would be to write to the "manager". And I'm sure he'll want personal details like home address and phone number, and probably a live meeting to be sure the girl is real and will do whatever they tell her. I know a few girls in Moscow who might be willing to assist, but I definitely wouldn't want to put them in any risk of danger with these criminals. It would be foolish to mess with the Russian mafia, especially for a girl. Giving a real address or home phone number would be out of the question. If you have any suggestions, I'm listening.

Master Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2007 Posts: 214

Regarding baiting them - the NiceBride site is located in Yoshkar Ola AKA Scamski City - they will cease writing after a few letters if you do not pay and continue to try to land other men.

I have tried in the past to do as you suggest but then you just get a few pre scripted mails from the manager and then ignored.

As pointed out there are many scam reports on the net and they have been in operation since 2000. There are even stories of men meeting girls from the site but they were not really interested and just turned up after serious confrontations and discussions in the front office.

See this thread for a more lengthy discussion and the correspondence u can expect

http://www.romancescam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=389

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 4:08 am

I know the Dolly in the 3rd link, The one with the fur coat is known as
"katuska" and is all over "my beloved.net"

I have baited it for a while, but it went no where, no talk of Brides are Us. quite a lot of vlad's on By beloved, have prefixed NiceBride.com. as an email address. So there not hard to spot..

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