The problem of fraud and dishonesty is one of the principal Internet problems, and the reason for that is that we don't know personally those people with whom we talk in the chat, correspond on the sites or try to meet in real life. This is very dangerous both for men and women. It is widely believed among those men seeking their other half in Russia and other countries of former USSR that every other Russian woman is a scammer and prostitute. The similar belief exists among women who think that every second man seeking in the Internet is a pervert, sex fiend or a polygamist. Of course, all this is not true! Such people exist and sometimes come to the dating sites with their own goals and plans, but our task is to beware of these people and to try to reveal them before some serious trouble may happen.

In fact, it's rather easy. There are several simple rules, which can prevent you from taking the bait.

Rule # 1.
Never send or transfer money to the lady! You want to ask why? Well, it's very simple. By nature women are fond of new things and clothes and not always good at counting money. When she receives money, most probably, she will at once spend it - pay the rent or buy herself new clothes, make-up etc. This is quite the same for ladies from any country. Of course, there are exceptions from this rule, but it's no good trying to press your luck. It means that if a lady is going to come and meet you, you'd better book tickets for her via an airlines agency or a reliable travel agency. Yes, it's going to cost you a bit more, but if you send money to the lady, you may lose everything!

Rule # 2.
Never think that your penpal will fall in love with you after a month or two of communication via Internet. What love can one speak about, especially if the age difference is rather big? It will be some kind of affection at best. To understand if you need this person, you need to meet him/her in real life first. Of course, correspondence and video chat will enable you to see a person, to learn about his/her thoughts, tastes, preferences, but in fact, you will never be able to understand his/her nature, behaviour and reaction to this or that event. That is why before thinking "It's love", first meet the person and spend at least a week with him/her. Then you will know for sure if you need each other.

Rule # 3.
Use the services of the professional interpreters. You may think - "What I need them for? The lady must know English - she is going to meet me". But here the biggest mistake lies. Yes, girls study English at school, and some of them continue studying it in the university, but you shouldn't forget that they have no practice of oral or written speech. After learning foreign language for several years they can hardly recall half a hundred words necessary to explain the way somewhere. And what are you going to do with her when she comes to your country and fails to go shopping or to speak on the telephone? You won't have any problems with communication at first, but what will happen further?

Experience shows that most ladies who come to the agency, are sure that they know English rather well, but actually, they don't understand even half a letter. That is why ladies usually need the interpreter's help, and this is too expensive for some of them. But a man can translate his letters into Russian himself and send them to the lady, though it will cost him three times as much as it could cost a lady. Never use the electronic interpreters. When ladies translate their letters with the help of electronic devices, men usually laugh and say that they didn't understand a word from their letters. Do you think it's not the same in your country? Any electronic interpreter, even the newest one, won't translate adequately! For that people use various sites, where translations are made by the professional linguists-interpreters. It makes it much easier for men and women to understand each other. But if a lady doesn't speak English at all, she will have to attend some language school, otherwise she won't be able to pass the interview in the embassy and won't get a visa.

Rule # 4.
Ask a lady to send you as many amateur photos as possible or invite her to the videochat. The swindlers often use the photos of the ladies stolen from other sites and commit fraud on behalf of them. The real lady whose photos are used for these purposes may be completely unaware of this. After that the lady usually finds herself in a scam-list, absolutely unexpectedly for herself.

Large clubs value their reputation. They check the identity of the ladies' data, make and keep the copies of their documents (passports etc.) in order to prevent fraud at the very beginning. The smaller clubs don't do it, as a rule. Very often they accept ladies who are still married or wishing to leave the country fraudulently, and then to bring there their family. Large clubs stop such ladies at once. Besides, such clubs at once take charge of other things - translation of the letters, delivery of flowers and gifts, organisation of the tour and so on. This is much more secure than going to an unknown country by yourself and using the services of some suspicious agents and taxi drivers. If you go by yourself, nobody can guarantee you safety, and such a trip sometimes may finish very sadly.

When seeking your other half, you shouldn't create illusions for yourself that the wife from a poorer country will cost you cheap or be free at all. It's not true. The main man's error is belief that if a lady knows English, she will easily come to a foreign country and start living there without any problems.

First of all, a person without speech practice can hardly speak English. Second, in order to come to a foreign country a lady needs at least once go to the embassy to get a Fiancee Visa. In Russia the ladies need to go to Moscow, and since Russia is a very big country, the return ticket will cost them about 1000 USD. Also, they should pay for their staying in Moscow which is well-known for its high prices. In case the outcome is favourable they will have to pay for their flying to another country, and it may cost from 1000 USD, depending on country and direction. And the problems don't finish after the lady's arrival to her new country. Then new problems start - adaptation, studying language, looking for a job... It may last for a year or two, and the man will have to pay all the expenses himself. Please, don't think that everything is going to be easy with a Russian lady. This is a difficult and important step for you, but if you make it, you'll have a beautiful and kind wife who will love and respect you.

Women are very trusting and credulous. As the saying goes, women love with their ears. Most of them are easy to deceive or to delude, and this is what marriage swindlers need.

There are several kinds of fraud committed against women.

1. The complete "cleaning out" of the lady. Many ladies in Russia possess an apartment, some jewels or an old car, and they are the swindler's prize. He persuades the lady to sell everything in order to come and meet him, then takes her money and is gone in a flash. There also were men who robbed the ladies already after their arrival to a foreign country.
2. Sexual exploitation. A man comes to the lady's country in order to have a good time very cheaply, or he invites her to a no-visa country, allegedly for getting to know each other better, or after they meet, he can invite her to his country; he lives with her, until he gets tired of her, and after that he just drives her out. Very often he at the same time looks for another victim in the Internet. And being thrown out is a good lot comparing with the destiny of some girls who have been killed. Men think that nobody will look for her in a foreign country, because she has no rights there. As a sign of understanding this problem, in March of 2006 the US government passed the special law, forbidding the US citizens to exchange contact data with foreign ladies.

There are a lot of sites with scam-lists in the Internet, but a half of them is just a fraud meant to delude the men! Many mens' complaints are lies or deliberate misrepresentation of the facts. Some men even pay these scam-lists for publishing of the data of those ladies, with whom they failed to put things right. In such a way they want to revenge on her so that nobody got interested in her. If you see a lady's photo, name and address in a scam-list, ask the site owner why she was placed there. Most probably, you will get some unintelligible answer that she asked a man for money or that she received a lot of presents from the man, and then refused to come to him.

Of course, there are real scam-lists - with photos, names, addresses, complete correspondence, dates, sums and money orders numbers and other data. If such information is absent in the scam-list, the lady is likely to have been placed there by a man with unstable mind and vindictive nature because she refused to communicate with him.

There are a lot of such stories.

It is worth thinking about all these scam-lists, which don't provide any proof of the ladies' guilt, and it means that the fact of scam itself is absent, according to the presumption of innocence!

Besides ladies' scam-lists, there are also mens' scam-lists, where photos, names and addresses of the men scammers are published. Also, there are special forums for discussion of these men. All there correspondence is placed in public view so that nobody could fall for their bait again. As we say in Russia, God helps those who help themselves!

Even a large club site cannot give you a 100% guarantee.

The large clubs sites do their best in order to protect both sides from possible fraud - they check passport and contact data, call the clients etc. But even all this is not enough if man and woman failed to create strong relations with each other. No site gives a 100% guarantee that they will be able to get along well. In the course of their communication both man and woman may reveal rather unpleasant traits of character - rudeness, bad temper or lack of understanding. In this case the relations break, and the presents given by you may be never returned, and each person will remain unconvinced and with pain in one's soul. But such is life. Some men think that international dating club site is the same as Internet-shop and that if they wrote to a lady, she is obliged to correspond with them. They have no idea that a lady may dislike them in many aspects - beginning with the fact that he is dark-haired, and she likes fair-haired men, and up to the fact that she is 25, and he is 62. Men also should take into consideration the ladies' requirements. They are not goods - they are live people.

We wish you the best luck in the search of your other half!