Thousands of people are victim every year to Russian online dating scammers, but not everyone is victim in the same way. Some people lose their life-time savings, some lose their peace of mind due to extortion, some others are victim of identity theft and find out years later that their names and personal information have been used to run illegal activities somewhere else in the world. But one of the things that concerns most to our private investigators in Russia is that many of the victims ended up in this situation because they didn’t know the risk, and wanted to play the game.

Some of the victims of love scams do not have the information needed to make a wise decision. They are not well informed about Russian dating scams and they didn´t think about hiring a professional to conduct a background check investigation in Russia to verify the identity of their online partner, probably because they did not know they should. These victims could not see the red flags because they did not know how to recognize them.  After all, scammers change their tactics regularly.

However, there are other types of victims that are becoming a greater concern for Russian private investigators. These are the people that like to play risky games, but who do not realize that there is no happy end to this. Online dating can be very dangerous if people do not take the proper safety measures.  Once communication is initiated with a criminal, it can be too late to back out.  Your online dating partner can install a virus on your computer or blackmail you for money.

There is an increasing amount of victims of Russian scammers that confess they had spotted the red flags, but decided to continue playing the game of online love because it was fun. Most of these people think that as long as they are aware of what is going on, there is no chance they could be victim. But this is a mistaken argument.   The fact is, people don’t know the real risk of crime.

Professional investigators are alerting people not to play these dangerous games.  Online criminals are not smarter than anyone else, but they do have resources, and they are dangerous. Everyone who is involved in online dating should know that there is a significant chance that the people they have been communicating with are not who they claim to be. In countries like Russia, Ukraine, Romania and other eastern Europe countries the chances of stumbling with a criminal are even greater. That is why hiring a background check investigation in the initial stages of a relationship is crucial.

The people who decide to continue communicating with a criminal even after recognizing red flags, and sometimes even after having clear evidence that this other party is a criminal, are not calculating well the risks involved. “Many people consider that chatting is harmless and that as long as no money is sent there is nothing at stake”, says Nicholas Donkova from the Russia PI team. But there are many things that are being ignored.  Information is being collected on you – the potential victim.

The first is that Russian dating scammers are not isolated cases of women wanting to get some extra income. These criminals are often part of a crime ring, part of the mafia, and in most cases they are not even women! So when someone wants to continue chatting with the lady just for the fun, they should also consider they are talking to a well trained scammer, who does not look like the gorgeous lady in the photos, and whose only purpose is to get anything that can be of value out of their victim.

The second thing to consider is that they will try to obtain what they want, one way or another. You may not agree to send money, but without being aware you may be providing something else. For instance, your personal information, access to important things in your private life that may be stored in your computer (photos, address book, work documents, details about your family and loved ones). All of this can, and most likely will be used against you if you deny to send money voluntarily.

Online criminals are as dangerous as any other criminal. Do not play their games. Be cautious and contact us today for a confidential quote to verify the facts.

C. Wright
© 2016 Russia PI™

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