Specialists say that today’s dating industry market is a good scope of work for scammers. Up to 50 % of Ukrainian dating agencies systematically full foreigners around. They hire whole staffs of speculators. Usually, they are professional photo-models who successfully cheat on credulous men.
- A girl will be constantly asking you about petty cash, – says the site of a well-known Odessa sex-hotel. – A dating agency will get the most of the money you will send. You will be usually asked to pay for English language courses for a girl, for a repair for her flat, purchase of a computer, treatment of a relative.
As police admit, it’s very difficult to catch such offices in the act, to make findings of the fact of fraud. One has to prove criminals’ purpose and corrupt practice.
- Men give out money by themselves, – speaks a policeman in Odessa. – Then a girl says that she has changed her mind about getting married. It’s impossible to incriminate her fraud legally.

However, not only men but also girls suffer from the scammers’ activity. Often under a board of dating agencies hide offices which organize sex-tours. A woman places her questionnaire on a site. After some time a John or a Jack starts communicating with her. They agree to meet in a hotel. Then some more dates happen, after which a ‘fiancée’ disappears. Used and abused…
However, after some time there is nothing kept secret that will not come to light. A person who suffered a deceit tells about his misfortune to another one, the other one to anyone else and as a result a ‘dirty’ agency is just ignored. By the way, before the crisis there was a visible recession in demand of Ukrainian dating agencies. People just stopped trusting them. However, now the number of those whishing to marry a foreigner has considerably increased. It means that the number of scammers will increase.
How is it possible to check if a girl you got acquainted with on a dating site is honest? Tips of a private eye from Odessa:
Be realistic. A beautiful girl from Odessa will not fall in love with you desperately through the internet. There is a huge gap between western and Odessa cultures, and a girl needs a fair reason to leave for another country. And if this reason is just money you have a possibility to make sure in it: having met your bride in Odessa go to a toilet and leave a voice recorder switched on in a pocket of your jacket. A girl will likely call her friends to tell about you. Having listened to a recording then one can definitely know if she is sincere.



Men usually give presents to their girlfriends for their birthday, Christmas and other holidays. And your wish to give it to your girlfriend is quite understandable, and you order it through an unfair dating agency…
The idea is simple – a man will transfer a definite sum of money to an agency that will purchase what a client will wish and give it to a girl. In practice it will look so: prices for ‘gifts’ and ‘surprises’ for girls differ greatly from the real ones in Odessa. Money got from men is shared between a girl and an agency ion certain proportions. Girls usually get from 30 to 50 % of this amount of money. Nobody buys the present.
How can is it possible to make oneself safe in such a situation? Demand not just a photo or a video of a moment of the present giving (it may be just taken in a shop for some time and returned to its place after giving), but also a video of the process of buying a present. Also, make a condition of sending a check for purchased goods by e-mail.

Lately more and more often one can hear about Odessa dating services oriented at not a result but income. Yes, there are such, but there are completely different agencies as well – dating agencies that don’t just form catalogues of fiancés and brides, but create real families. They choose people who are matches and are able to create a good, harmonious couple.Read more