RUB - FSU children compared to USC children & others

[eekee 182]

In Russia SIM cards are 100 or 150 rubles, I forget which because it's been a few months since I bought one. Ukraine could be more expensive. But on my BLOCK alone there are five stores selling cell phones and a couple of little stands selling just selling SIM cards from individual providers. Everyone from babushkas to seven year olds has a cell phone. You can get a new phone for 25$. Claiming to only have a landline is a HUGE RED FLAG. It is far more difficult and expensive to get a landline than a cell phone.

[baron555 934]

You are the one that needs to put in the effort.....to some regard. She probably has a very busy life......What does she do for a living now?

And has a child to tend to.

My suggestion is to push the cell phone thing and get her to talk to you, regardless of what language you each use.

If she will not even do this...then drop her and start all over.

You never told us about the other women, the one you got married to?!!! Your history is not so good in this international regard.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

In Russia SIM cards are 100 or 150 rubles, I forget which because it's been a few months since I bought one. Ukraine could be more expensive. But on my BLOCK alone there are five stores selling cell phones and a couple of little stands selling just selling SIM cards from individual providers. Everyone from babushkas to seven year olds has a cell phone. You can get a new phone for 25$. Claiming to only have a landline is a HUGE RED FLAG. It is far more difficult and expensive to get a landline than a cell phone.

Pasha has a real job now and goes to Ukraine with enough money that the girls all think he is a "rich American" but before that he used to get a job selling SIM cards when we arrived for a visit. He knew a couple guys to hit up and within an hour he was out hawking the things on the street, he made a comission selling them. The little stands are everywhere. Every market, city street, etc. has places selling phones. It has been a while since I bought a "new" SIM card,but it was $7 as I recall, it may be cheaper now. we just refill the ones we have.

I had a landline in Odessa and never used it and did not even know the phone number (I lost it) One time it rang and I had no idea what that noise was!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I will let others comment on the marriage agencies, and I have heard good things about Elena's Models, but my landlord in Odessa had a marriage agency, he kept trying to get me to use it, which would have been like buying sand from him to take to the beach, but two girls in my building did "work" for him as translators/writers and they were actually writing the emails being sent to clients. They admitted to frequently embellishing the letters to increase the interest which they thought was a service to the women they were writing for. OK they were a couple girls making some money and one does not make judgements about such things in Odessa Ukraine, or Cherkassy for that matter. The marriage service offered a "translation service", unlimited, for $100 per month per client. These girls were the translation service. As Alla says "All people must eat"

But you say she writes her own in Russian, correct?

[Peter_Pan 661]

SIM cards are basically disposable over there--if someone's a creeper, you can just change your number for three bucks.

If I were into a guy, I'd want to speak on skype, etc., especially after 2 months.

Too much work for a creeper. If you want to talk to me, fine, talk on my terms, if not ... good riddance.

[Peter_Pan 661]

I wonder how you two met?

Its one of those "cardinal" rules concerning long distance dating....if you can't remove the person from the agency and get private emails and then within about two weeks on average a phone number...then drop them like a hot potato and move on.

Any serious woman who intends to be serious will want more than just email correspondence.

OP: How, besides EM's verification process, have you determined the person with whom you are emailing is the same as in photos or being described?

To me it was pretty easy since I met him by accident, had no intention of going into a long distance relationship (or ever getting married). Being a literature major, the way in which he wrote gave me almost all information I needed, certainly all relevant data at that point.

[ONA 133]

In Russia SIM cards are 100 or 150 rubles, I forget which because it's been a few months since I bought one. Ukraine could be more expensive. But on my BLOCK alone there are five stores selling cell phones and a couple of little stands selling just selling SIM cards from individual providers. Everyone from babushkas to seven year olds has a cell phone. You can get a new phone for 25$. Claiming to only have a landline is a HUGE RED FLAG. It is far more difficult and expensive to get a landline than a cell phone.

That's true. It took my family YEARS to get a landline. There was a time when we just used one of our cellphones as a "home phone".

Too much work for a creeper. If you want to talk to me, fine, talk on my terms, if not ... good riddance.

Really? Buying a card on your way home and inserting it in your phone is too much work? Good luck receiving a million calls from your stalker (there are no laws, protecting you from that in Russia, or even if there are, they don't work). Nothing personal, but since I was born and raised in Russia, I pretty much know the way it works.

[eekee 182]

To me it was pretty easy since I met him by accident, had no intention of going into a long distance relationship (or ever getting married). Being a literature major, the way in which he wrote gave me almost all information I needed, certainly all relevant data at that point.

I was a literature major in undergrad too, and I don't see the correlation. What if he was a writing major and could use fancy literary devices to trick you?!

[highlander08 9]

I still dont see why any type of scammer would continue correspondence for that long without asking for money or something of value.

I have not disclosed my financial position or assets.

[baron555 934]

I will let others comment on the marriage agencies, and I have heard good things about Elena's Models,

Yes EM seems to be one of the best but everyone needs to vet out the reality of the women they correspond with on their own.

There are "standard cardinal rules" that should be employed without fail when engaging in this process.......

....and one of them is to get the lady away from the agency and correspond on your own.

The OP seems to have this first part but I am amazed that after two months they have not escalated to verbal and possibly visual contact.

I would never plan to visit anyone that I had not previously vetted out as being real and being serious.....Email alone even with photos is not enough. Period.

To the OP, in my opinion, you are not ready to make a visit to see this woman unless you are prepared for no-one to show up when you arrive. You have no proof that she is real.

And to rely soley on EM is foolhardy.

Edited April 10, 2012 by baron555

[Peter_Pan 661]

Really? Buying a card on your way home and inserting it in your phone is too much work? Good luck receiving a million calls from your stalker (there are no laws, protecting you from that in Russia, or even if there are, they don't work). Nothing personal, but since I was born and raised in Russia, I pretty much know the way it works.

Would be hard since I don't give my number to people I've never met face to face, that's what I said.

I was a literature major in undergrad too, and I don't see the correlation. What if he was a writing major and could use fancy literary devices to trick you?!

Then I would just love him more.

Literary talent trumps honesty.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Too much work for a creeper. If you want to talk to me, fine, talk on my terms, if not ... good riddance.

OK

That's true. It took my family YEARS to get a landline. There was a time when we just used one of our cellphones as a "home phone".

Really? Buying a card on your way home and inserting it in your phone is too much work? Good luck receiving a million calls from your stalker (there are no laws, protecting you from that in Russia, or even if there are, they don't work). Nothing personal, but since I was born and raised in Russia, I pretty much know the way it works.

Stop trying to talk her out of it.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I still dont see why any type of scammer would continue correspondence for that long without asking for money or something of value.

I have not disclosed my financial position or assets.

The usual scammer, who is not even a woman, would not. A clever one would. Scammers work many people at once, they are not getting by on some piddling $100 per month. Or even $500 per month. They are working many at once with more being groomed to eventually replace those being disposed. Many scammers keep it going all the way to the interview and then bail out, milking the guy for months. By then they have another than has been groomed and is sending in the cash.

Many scammers are not women, they are men working from internet clubs (no home IP address) with scraped photos of hot women. They use multiple names, of course. Often one of the give aways we have seen reported here is when the victim gets an email either addressed to the wrong guy or signed by the wrong "woman". These people, for obvious reasons, have every excuse to not talk on the phone. Americans who have not been there are silly enough to go for the "I am a poor Ukrainian village girl and we have no cell phones here" You go there and find out every Ukrainian woman has two of them on a cord around her neck!

But you said you are using EM and they have a good reputation as I have read here.

[baron555 934]

I discovered a few scanners when I used EM.

One out and out scammer, quick I love Yous and then I need money for visa to come visit you.... Then about three GTGs.....stringing along, never sending real life photos, wanting to set up a meeting...never asked for money but also never wanted to talk on the phone, etc.

To avoid talking on the phone is a red flag, period, regardless of the agency used. Period.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I discovered a few scanners when I used EM.

One out and out scammer, quick I love Yous and then I need money for visa to come visit you.... Then about three GTGs.....stringing along, never sending real life photos, wanting to set up a meeting...never asked for money but also never wanted to talk on the phone, etc.

To avoid talking on the phone is a red flag, period, regardless of the agency used. Period.

What is "GTG"?