Ukraine & Russian Dating Scams: What You Need to Know

Dear friends,

Have you been on the receiving end of a romance scam? Or know someone who has? 

You know the kind scam, right?  

You sign up for online dating and create a stunning profile so women or men would be interested. You start chatting and connecting. You think you’ve finally found Mr or Ms Perfect because the person ticks all of your boxes of what you want for an ideal partner. 

Once you’re in love and have given this person your trust, BAM! They’ve disappeared because they got what they wanted: enough information about you. And now you don’t have an identity anymore (that is, it’s been stolen). 

As an online dating and relationship expert, I do my part when I review online dating sites and give you information to help you stay out of trouble. Unfortunately, scammers get smarter and smarter by the day, so you always need to be careful and on the lookout. 

Let’s get into what a dating scam is, what are the main types of Ukrainian and Russian dating scams, and what you need to do if you’ve been scammed. 

Reasons Why You Can Trust Krystyna

What is a dating scam?

A dating scam is also called a romance scam, online dating scam, or romance fraud. These scams usually happen when you’ve joined an online dating platform and connected with someone you like. It can also be a person you’ve been matched to.

You become invested in the relationship, all the while the other person isn’t real – they aren’t who they say they are because they are a scammer. A scammer’s profile is usually fake, but it can look real enough to draw you in.

Ukraine Online Dating Scam

Apart from your love interest who may be a scammer, some online dating platforms are scams (not legit sites) or they run various scams to con people like you out of your money.

Being scammed under any circumstances is cruel, but romance fraud takes it to a whole new level. Your emotions are involved. And scammers usually prey on those who are vulnerable or whom they see as “weak.”  

Facts and statistics of romance scams

Here are some interesting facts and statistics on romance scams:

4 main types of Russian dating scams

There are various types of online dating scams doing the rounds, but here are the 4 main types of Russian or Ukrainian dating scams you should be aware of:

Russian online dating scam

Pay Per Letter

Pay per letter scams is one of the worst kinds of romance scams as the dating site or dating operators aren’t legit. And unfortunately, some Ukrainian and Russian dating platforms only work in a pay per letter way. 

On pay per letter or paid chat dating sites, you need to pay to communicate with beautiful women. The scary part is that this request for payment comes the minute you’ve signed up. With no profile, photo, and other information about you, people already want to connect and chat.

Sounds scammy, right?

You need to pay for every photo share, message, letter, or chat, and you can’t exchange contact information so the “ladies” can reach out on “free” platforms like email. Except the ladies (who may be men, coz how’d you know?) may be scamming and aren’t even “real.” 

Fake Profiles & Asking for Money

The other kind of online dating scam that’s quite popular on Russian and Ukrainian dating platforms is when the ladies – or men – create fake profiles.

A fake profile is one that is designed to catfish you or lure you in. These scam artists are proficient in getting you to trust them and fall in love with them. With the use of strong emotions, loving words, sharing, and gifts, they catfish you – hook, line, and sinker. 

Ukraine dating scam

And because you trust “your soulmate,” you don’t think twice about sending money when the scammer asks or sharing a load of too-personal info with them. The scam artist may even ask you to share personal, intimate photos or videos of yourself, which may be used as blackmail.

You may be asked to send money via a wire transfer or buy cryptocurrency, send gift cards, and more.

The scammer comes up with creative ways to get you to depart from your hard-earned money, from them wanting to come visit you but can’t afford it or having been mugged to needing to pay their taxes. Because you believe you love them, you’ll help them out.

Professional Pro-Daters

The pro-dater scam is more immoral than it is illegal. A pro-dater is a real person who wants to meet you in person, and they often use their real information.

They don’t typically request money before they’ve met you in person, but after meeting face-to-face, they’ll continue to milk or harass you for money. A pro-dater will “date” you for the sole purpose of getting you to pay for gifts, send them money, buy travel tickets and holidays, etc.

Pro-daters aren’t interested in dating you – they simply use that as a means to get what they want, and sex isn’t off the table either.

There are usually other accomplices involved in the pro-dater’s scheme. A taxi driver or interpreter – all these people need to be paid at an exorbitant cost by you – the victim of this scam.

The whole scheme is pre-planned, too. As the “wealthy” foreigner, you pay for everything, but everything is the expensive kind – fancy restaurants, 5 star hotels, pricey gifts, and more.

Translation Agencies

Translation agencies are another type of scam in the online dating world. There are a few scenarios to how these scams work:

  • A Russian or Ukrainian lady starts chatting with you and sends you some messages or letters.

You then receive an email or message saying that the “lady” paid for the translation service so she could communicate with you, but unfortunately, she can’t afford to pay for these translated messages any longer.

So if you want to continue communicating with her, you need to pay for the translation of messages. 

The agency even includes a link or details to how you can pay.

The lady and the translation agency are the same person – aka the same scammer.

Ukrainian online dating scam
  • Another version of a translation agency scam is that you get a message from a translation agency that encourages you to use their services and pay them for these.

The translation agency doesn’t work through the site that you registered on, so this is how you can tell it’s a scam. 

From my experience as a Ukrainian dating blogger, I have to mention that some Western men want to get scammed. They do the same mistakes (e.g. sending money to the translation agencies or to the women because of the emergencies in Ukraine). 
Krystyna
International dating blogger

How to avoid getting scammed?

Guys, just follow my advice:

  1. Don’t assume everything you see or you are being told is real and factual.
  2. The scammers will “fall in love” with you within a few emails. Don’t rush into anything.
  3. Ensure you are using a legitimate, trustworthy dating site. There are many “fly by night” operations floating around on the internet just waiting for potential victims.
  4. Precaution and skepticism are important.
  5. Common sense is a very useful tool in detection.
  6. A potential victim is full of fantasies not reality.
  7. Question anything that is too good to be true.
  8. Do research on Russian and Ukrainian women and culture.

Here are a several tips to keep in mind: It is highly unlikely that women or men who look like models will be posting on dating sites so skip anything with glamorous and perfect-looking people. Few people look like models, and nine out of ten, they are already in romantic relationships.

Do not form any association with people who ask you for your e-mail and residential address or your cell phone number through the Russian dating website no matter how much the potential victim likes her. Sooner or later, the scammers will find a way to worm their way to the victim’s affections until the victim becomes attached that he or she sends money and provides intimate information for targeting.

They will keep bombarding their victim with attention. Remember, some of these scammers are part of organized crime. They know how to manipulate their victim by profiling based on the things that the victim writes about himself.

For examples, if the victim writes that he loves animals, the scammer will use that to gain the victim’s trust.

What to do if you got scammed online?

Did you get scammed? If yes, what do you do now? If your friend has been scammed, share this information with them.

Usually, victims of romance fraud are more devastated because the romance or relationship they perceived to be real and invested in ended than for any financial loss they suffered. 

Follow these steps if you’ve been the victim of an online dating scam:

If you’ve paid the romance scammer via debit or credit card, gift card, cryptocurrency, cash, money transfer via wire transfer or app:

You can also request a credit freeze to stop scammers from using your credit report in a fraudulent way. You can do this via Experian or another credit bureau.

If the scammer made an unauthorized transfer, contact your bank. Ask that they reverse the transaction.

If you’ve given the online dating scammer your personal information:

If the scammer has access to your phone or PC:

Report the romance scam to the FTC or similar institution in your country. You can also report a fake website and online scams to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.

If you are an American, report international scams to econsumer.gov.  

You need to discover superb overseas girls and feature an thrilling global courting adventure, however you do not know in which to start. Don’t worry, we can help you! ☝️ Ask Krystyna
krystyna yourtango

Meet Krystyna, an esteemed international dating expert, blogger, and the founder of Ukrainian Dating Blog. With over 1000 articles published in English and German, she specializes in cross-cultural relationships, prevalent dating topics, and tackling romance scams.

Featured in many major publications including DatingAdviceSpace Coast Daily & SWAGGER Magazine.
Any questions? Just ask:  [email protected]

37 thoughts on “Ukraine & Russian Dating Scams: What You Need to Know”

  1. Evgenia Malykhina from Krivoy Rog Ukraine is a known scammer. Google search her by name and you will see her on the Internet! A real low life this one, most talented liar I have ever known if you can call lying a talent!

    1. All the ladies are scammers and fraud I can give two ladies they screwed me personally. I see we should burn Ukraine and whats in it.

      Pretty picture and fraud.

      1. Bob, whoa there buddy the Germans already did this with the Russians. I been to Ukraine many times, yes you had scammers. You will meet them on any dating site especially the big ones like Anastasia date or a foreign affair. True Ukraine ladies are not scammers at all. I been to Ukraine many times, I have many friends there, you must look to marriage agencies! Not things like Anastasia date.com. They are dating agencies.

        Talk to ladies, call them, if they do not give personal information about themselves they are fake. You may write to ladies for months, do not go there and expect a lady to jump into your arms, they are modest wonderful ladies. Do not chase ladies with a 20 year age difference it is not going to work! You need to make contacts and be on the ground and meet many. Forget the supermodels, they are not real on any of the big dating agencies, yes they will date you and that is all.

        Also if you know their first name, and age search them on vk.com in city that they live with birth date. You will be ahead of many things to know about them with this. So burn Ukraine? No, we all have bad experiences but keep them as experience! It did not kill you did it? I had bad experiences with Anastasia date.com that was fake, I do not hate the fraud lady, I actually feel sorry for her! Her loss!

  2. Krystyna, I congratulate you on succinctly describing the scams that take place within many of the Ukraine based ‘marriage agencies. My view is the girls are also often victims, not realising what they are getting themselves into when they agree to the “free photoshoot”. You are also absolutely right to highlight the fact that it is not uncommon for girls to work several profiles, either by using photos taken from social networking or model sites and/or, hijacking the identities of girls who have left the agency. I have also heard examples of girl that were fearful or threatened when they tried to leave the agency. It is a very murky world and the reality is, the website owners, often based in the USA could and should do more to stamp out rogue agents. Great article!

  3. Krystyna. Thank you for a very useful website. I met a proffesional dating scammer Valeria Novitskaya from Nikolaev. She meets anybody for a weekend in Ukraine or abroad.

    Having met her for real..Swears undying love. Then starts asking for money gifts holidays etc etc.. She often travels to Egypt to see her real boyfriend.

    She uses Anastasia id1692679 as well as alot other sites. The most convincining liar you will ever meet.

    Be warned or loose a fortune..

    1. hello Paul , thank you for your report , I was supposed to meet Valeriya Novitskaya in december in Nikolaev so I will cancel my trip .
      How do you know she has a boyfriend in Egypt ?

  4. Hi Henri. I hired a investigator after a friend of hers tipped me off. She has so many men on the go its unreal. She is a professional scammer & gold digger. I had the misfortune to be taken in by her scams & met her more than once. She still uses Anastasia id number 1692679. You will save yourself a lot of money & time by avoiding her. Where did you meet her..? There is also photo’s of her with her..?? on scamming sites on the internet.. good luck with your search.

  5. I met her twice over a year ago … she ripped me off for a lot of money. I thought I was good at spotting a liar but she fooled me. She is beautiful. I ignored the red flags … there were no scam reports on her when I met her now there are many, many, many. She does go to Egypt a great deal.

    She works with an interpreter friend Katie … they are a good team. They sure had me fooled … I thought she loved me. Says she is a travel agent … I doubt whether she has any job except ripped men off. She talks about her daughter Dasha all the time.

    Stay away from her and never never send any of these girls any money … never.

  6. There is much about Valeria Novitskaya on the internet now. that i think she is going to come unstuck big time & possibly get seriously hurt or worse.

    I thought the boyfriend in Egypt was serious but its not. She has got more than 1 man there that she sees there. Also from what i have read she has scammed over a 100 if not more in the last 3 years. She has obviously made a fortune..She really is a dangerous peice of work. But i think we are going to read about her having real misfortune before to long. Its sure to get back to Egypt before to long.

    I feel sorry for her daughter & family. What on earth posses women to put themselves & there loved ones in danger like this..?

    What do you think Krystyna..?

    She conned me out of a lot of money but i sure do not want to see her maimed or worse. She denied everything when i confronted her & was so convincing with tears etc i nearly believed her..
    Her 2 younger helpers Julia & Katie are just as stupid. & probably are unaware of the dangers they are putting themselves in. She could spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder.

    Like many others i believed all the lies about marriage, love & being the only man for her..

    My advice to any man is STAY AWAY it will end in tears..

  7. Scammer Valeria Novitskaya is now useing Veronikalove profile number 132650. she is useing a different main photo. But it is most definately the Queen of scammers Valeria.. Keep well away if you value your time money & sanity…

  8. Hi,

    I would like to report a SCAM. This lady, Anastasiia Stepanova, from Ukrainian origin, just spend a few days in France (coming from kiev via Cologne) before contacting me by skype (i think she was registered in the Travelgirls site)

    She wanted to meet me in belgium and asked to wire money for hotel and train expenses. i helped her and she finally never came and disappeared (i believe she is now in Cologne)
    I lost € 250 in the process

    I would like to warn others about her practice. Steal money from others to spend for own purpose

    rgds
    Jean

  9. Latest on professional dating scammer Valeria/Valeriya Novitskaya she is now using Step2love i.d number 100192 & V.K.com.
    Be warned she is very convincing & devious & will have you believing all her lies & making you think you are the only man in the world for her.
    She WILL gtake you for as much money,gifts,holidays etc as she can. Avoid her at all costs. She seems to be unstopable…

  10. Scammers, and everything else bad with ladies? What about the psycho men that the good ladies deal with? You use marriage agencies only, make brief contact before you go to meet “some” ladies. Do not use the big dating agencies like Anastasia date.com or foreign affair and the ones associated with them. Also a lot of local dating agencies work with these big scam companies.

    These local agents get paid to recruit profiles and they also get kick backs to chat. Example, you are chatting online, yes video with big dating site supermodel. She is smiling all the time and seems to type while you are not receiving anything? Why because she is chatting on multiple screens via the local agent at home, “making money” the local agents get paid lets say .12 cents per minute, the lady gets lets say .04 to .06 cents per minute. She chats with ten men and ladies, yes ladies are looking to meet other ladies on them to! So she is getting while chatting .60 cents per minute, that is $36.00 per hour! Very good money! Now convert this to UAH it is 291.36 per hour! They are making a killing!

    How do I know this, been there talked to locals on the ground while in country, they call it dirty work! Also if you are curious, cruise the webcam nude sites and search for your lady! You might find her there! Please, do not waste your time with the big dating companies, it is just not real! You have to go to the country and be there with her for much time to find each other!

    Find local marriage agencies that verify are real, there are many and some are very anti Anastasia date or a foreign affair. Check out tonybochene.com he once worked for both of these dating agencies and will show you how they are not real!

  11. Valeriya Novitskaya is now working for Step2Love. id 100192
    She is a proffesional dating scammer & total fraud. Avoid her at all costs & never ever send her money no matter what she says. Even if she says she wants to meet you. everything she says is a lie unfortunately.
    99% on S2L are frauds.

  12. Valeriya is now working the Romance Compass site as well. I.D 32461. Be careful guys. She is also on Hamster porn site & works as an escort for wealthy Arabs.

  13. Dear Krystyna, this is important, there is a search engine promoted Ukrainian dating website called real.ukraine-women-for-marriage.com which is Nothing but a SCAM. I initially thought I came across a real Ukraine marriage dating website, but was I wrong when I started talking to the scamming woman, I then tried to report the scams to the website administrator and got No response from them, and they still have the same woman that tried to scam me on there every day, here is the letter that I sent to real.ukrain-woman-for-marriage.com website administrators:

    Hello, you have allot of SCAMMERS on your site at: real.ukraine-women-for-marriage.com, some are from Russia, and allot of them have their info listed as living in the United States, but in reality they have Never been to the United States, allot of them live in Accra Ghana Africa of all places, and they try and get you, from your site, to chat with them on Yahoo Messenger and/or Yahoo email, and then they say they can come and see you if you give them money so they can buy an airline ticket, but will Not accept if you buy the ticket for them, that’s a SCAM Con Game, here is one of your Scam members by the user name of: Flirty, she has her living info as United States, but Never been to the US, and she is trying to run a money scam starting at your site, read some Flirty emails to me:

    flirty Deen Hi dear..I just called and confirm on the price of the airfare..It $1400 for one way and $1200 for round trip.They also told me it would nice and easy if i get the plane ticket here becos of the econo
    To Me
    Today at 9:01 AM
    Hi dear..I just called and confirm on the price of the airfare..It $1400 for one way and $1200 for round trip.They also told me it would nice and easy if i get the plane ticket here becos of the economic problems going on all over the world and also there will be a refund on them..Here is an update and hoping to read from you soon..Stay bless and have a nice day..Hugs…

    Ohh okay but they told me it advisable to buy it here incase there is a problem they sort it out and save me from embarrasment becos they have been having issues about that when people buy tickets outside the country and found them saves in a mess on the departure day and moreover here is not develope for such things even though they accepts that…thats what one representative told me when called their customer service number…

    Okay but explain further that the reason why they advised me to get it here is the world cup people will be trying with all sort of drug and people will be smuggling illegaly to different countries thats why and they have making advertsiment of it on Radio and Tv and also newspapers i dont want to get myself in any sort of emabarrasement my dear i hope you understand me now?

    Here is some more Scammers on your site:
    Username: Brandy
    Username: Alena Alenhik
    Username: Vivibaby
    Username: Valda

    I hope you take some actions to clean up your site because there are Lonely men that fall for these Scammers on your site and get ripped off, that’s low down dirty rotten to a man.

    Dear Krystyna, could you post this important information on your site so maybe it can help Stop these terrible scammers, regards Steve.

  14. has anybody dealt with tatyana 1612305? on adate, she told me her name was kidlova but on vk she is kidanchuk, after a year talking she refused to communicate freely on skype, a pro scammer i think, but maybe i am wrong.

  15. Claim to be dance instructer from Ukraine irina ibrahomiva her name given has fake passport sent me copies of paid non refunded tickets from delta airline from a coral travels agency of Ukraine agent named Yulia says she a manager irina said she needs 3000 to recieve tourist visa to the U.S. For 3 months

  16. Romance Compass IS a TOTAL SCAM !!

    I wasted $ 200 and i know for sure. DON’T waste your time as NOTHING will EVER Happen !! They prey on men’s loneliness. They even posted a friend of mine on their who is a Russian Model and is NOT registered with them. They even listed her wrong address on her page !! THEY ARE FULL OF *censored* !! STAY AWAY !! SAVE YOUR MONEY and TIME !! David

  17. Romance Compass does have a bunch of legit dolls up there but avoid this site at all costs
    I only wasted $85 on this site on a model named Anastasia Klovanich and she talked up on how much she needed me to be with her and be by her side until i eventually received her details. I tried adding her on VK and on Facebook but she blocked me off after refusing to add me for a few weeks and blocked off my number. I will be taking her down in February in a song I have written up ;). Otherwise stay away

  18. I have experienced scam at paid websites. Now, I am much wiser. I have made a policy. I don’t believe in fake Photoshop photos. Hence, Skype is 100% requirement for Internet-based dating. Guys don’t worry.

    Skype can translate written text automatically in case lady is unable to speak English (Skype translation is a big help during preliminary introductory phase of knowing her). Additionally, I don’t mind emailing photocopy of my passport. And, in return, I require photocopy of lady’s passport. I am happy to report that I had found many well educated ladies on free websites (for example: Fdating.com). I have contacted about 190 ladies over 90 days without paying any fee, whatsoever.

    I have also received photocopy of passport from all ladies with whom I have shared photocopy of my passport. In two cases, I have even received photocopy of academic diploma and transcript from ladies. In general, Russian / Ukrainian degrees are not accepted in Western countries. Why to bring a foreign lady lacking academic skills to complete a degree program. It is best to get lady’s diploma evaluated by western universities.

    Moreover, it is not inappropriate to request CV from ladies. CV would tell employment history, past employers and complete mailing address. I wish I was this wiser before experiencing Internet scam.

  19. The only way to possibly meet a non-scamming, non-gold-digging Russian or Ukrainian woman is to travel to Russia or Ukraine and spend time there.

  20. I have asked a woman on a russian dating site to send a photo of her holding up a sign that said “Hello dear _____”

    When she got that email… she replied by asking me to do it for her first, and then she came back in the next email with a photo of her holding up a sign with the same words exactly how I requested…

    I found out she is not good with English, and now needs me to help pay for her translation costs…. is it real or fake? I do believe that women have a harder time in Ukraine making a living……but I’m still not sure…. what to do???

  21. Gentlemen, I can confirm two real marriage sites. Ukraine Brides Agency and Ukraine real Brides. I’ve met women personally from these sites.ive traveled to Odessa and I have met real women, verified!!. Yes, I know it costs alot. If you have the money but not the time, then use these sites. BUT!!!, If you’re really serious, then I suggest that your delete your profiles of these scam sites and get your ass down to Odessa or Kiev. Spend 2 weeks or more during summer, I promise you that you will find the most gorgeous woman just hanging out around the mall or McDonald’s etc. Dude, I ditched the chick I met over the dating site because I met the most gorgeous hotel receptionist. I got her number, we chat on WhatsApp and I’m planning to see her again soon. My point is, in Ukraine, there are women everywhere, at the restaurants, coffee shops, karaoke bars, at the beach front.,just get there for the experience. You will not regret it!!

  22. There are truly women on the internet whom are legitimate. I have met someone whom I have no doubt loves and cares for me. I did struggle for a many times until I learned more about her culture and how I had misread and hurt her. She is affectionette loving and my best friend. I am tired of all of these sites that say every Russian or Ukrainian women is a scammer. Is that true of all USA women. I have had worse times with them

  23. Arnel Bernardo

    Is Eurodate.com a dating scam? I noticed that some women in the dating.com are also listed in Eurodate. Please help me to decide if it is true or scam

  24. You’re killing me with humor. Catfishing, such a great term. Currently getting bombarded from Intcupid..Was kicked off because I posted an email address, perfect. Now 3 bots have disappeared from my mail and one remains, trolling me as this innocent wanting to marry 35 year old. Truly funny articles from your site.

  25. Hi has anybody come across a girl from Ukraine under the name Polina Dziuba, she is 32 years old, we have been chatting every day for past week now, she told me she was due to come to uk via an internship scholarship funding course that is meant to be funded by the uk embassy, she told me she was going to receive a grant of 10,000 uk pounds to help start up her own practice & that being a first time traveller to the uk wanted a friend & companion to stay with & perhaps more interment relations with. Now she has just asked me for 250 pounds as she has current rent arrears at her current residence in ukraine & she can not leave her country until she has paid this debt off. At first her letters seemed genuine but now with this sob story I am beginning to doubt & think this is just a scam? I have tried googling her name but only seem to find a professional basket player under that name.

    1. Hi Robin (such a nice name, my son’s name is also Robin!),

      Many thanks for your comment and sharing your story.

      If I were you, I would not send any money to the girl. She is a grownup woman, 32 years old, and should solve her problems by herself.

      She might have friends and family who can help her and taking a credit at the bank might be also an option. You are not in a relationship, therefore you are not obliged to send money to a person you do not know.

      Honnestly, her story does not sound right to me.

      Stay safe and be careful!

      Regards,
      Krystyna

  26. Bonjour je met en garde les gens contre le site Luckydate qui sont apprament spécialisé pour extorquer de l’argent par le tchat un texto = 200 credit une video 5000 credit et lettre via messagierie 1000 euro et cela va en augmentant.
    Pour avoir ses coordoonnées il faut dépensé 300000 crédits et pour 20 dollars 5000 crédits et 50 euro 25 000 credit 75 euro 50000 credit et 150 ca monte encore voyez combien il faut dépenser pour avoir ses coordonnées avec le risque quelle ne vous les donnent pas, leur photos évidement sont super ont voit que c’est fait par des pros et il y a des photos un peu provocatrices. J’ai contacter une agence matrimoniale sérieuse et elle m’a dit que ce type de femmes c’est un appat. Pour être plus claire me disait que les tres belles femmes russes ou ukraininiennes qui voulaient se marier passait par une agence matriomoniale et ne choisissait que des riches, aisés ou qui ont une situation importante et oui j’ai eu le meme sentiment mais malheureusement j’ai testé et y savent y faire.

  27. hi met this one called valentina rasterguova on zoosk ,straght away she said could we exchange emails ,so we did and saying she loved me and wanted to travel to my country , called me twice only for few minutes ,that if it was her ? wanted money for airfares and then visa office to show she had money for her visa ? even had someone phone me from visa office asking if i knew her .thats if it was acually visa office , kept on saying send money by the diffrent money sites , found her fake id on another scam site the one she sent me .

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