A Newbie's Observations

[JimS]

... in response to SCAM: possibly. What agency?, posted by Harry88 on Oct 1, 2001

I found the girl on kiss.com, however when I got a email reply it was introduced by the Socrat agency. The email address was;

socrat2001@ukr.net

thats one of those free email servers like hotmail. They have no web page and google.com doesn't find anything. I received two generic emails which were long but had no detail whatsoever such as her job, family , city etc. I forced her hand by asking her these questions in my last email.

Three girls I found on kiss sent me identical messages including the spelling errors! The girl asking for the money was one of these. I can give you guys the ID numbers, then you can contact them and see what they say?

[stud muffin]

... in response to Re: it was called SOCRAT Agency, posted by JimS on Oct 1, 2001

Jim S:

See also my above posting on this topic.  Socrat is the agency which sent me the exact letter you got.  The girl who I wrote to, her name is Angela (on www.absoluteagency.com) and the other one's name is Natalia.  I recall they are in the 21-23 year range.  Both are from Lugansk.  Lugansk is the capital of the world for Scammers.  Just be careful.

[Den]

... in response to A Newbie's Observations, posted by JimS on Sep 30, 2001

Before you get too far into a correspondence with any gal, be sure to get some candid, non-professional photos. They have got some of the best glamour photo, touch-up experts in the Ukraine. They can truly make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

[Oatmeal]

... in response to A Newbie's Observations, posted by JimS on Sep 30, 2001

Another thing I forgot to mention to look for,
Is that as you further your letter writing with a girl you should be able to get some more non-professional photos from them in casual settings (More genuine photos)  

Also you should be able to get their address and phone numbers.  If you have difficulties with this then I would contact the web-site or marriage agency and find out what the problem is.  Some marriage agencies will try to control your relationship too much and you will want to try to avoid this if at all possible.

[Oatmeal]

... in response to A Newbie's Observations, posted by JimS on Sep 30, 2001

Hey there Jim,
  I don't think you have too much to worry about at this stage.  A lot of marriage agencies will have some professional photos taken of their ladies to make a really good impression and they will also send out the initial "Form" letter to you as well.  What I would be looking for is a couple of things.
  Number one is that if I was interested in a lady I would start asking specific questions about her life (Family, Work, Hobbies, etc...)  Look for specific answers in her replies and also that she uses your name specifically.  I look for instances where she will be answering very specific questions that I ask and nothing too general.
  The second thing is that I would look out for the ladies if they start requesting large amounts of money.  I think it is okay if you want to pay a little money for their correspondance but I would not fork out a fortune for that either.  
  In my opinion you will want to write to quite a few ladies but also you can expect that when you go over there to visit these ladies that you may not want to spread yourself too thin.  Sometimes this can create a very big problem.  I would say you just have to use your gut instinct and not your lustful desires for the prettiest girl necessarily.  Just incase things might not work out with any of the ladies you meet I would make sure to have plenty of back up plans just in case (i.e. marriage agencies, addresses of other ladies you did not get a chance to write to yet, etc...)  
Good luck and keep on posting,  
Jim

[BubbaGump]

... in response to A Newbie's Observations, posted by JimS on Sep 30, 2001

The girls usually get good photos taken to look their best.  If you look at the competition they're up against, you should understand.  You will get a good response rate initially but don't be surprised if that tapers off real fast.  Some will ask you for money to keep writing and a couple might ask if you will meet them at the next tour meeting and tell you to forget it if you don't meet them right away.  

I've had that same experience as you with a girl just disappearing when you say you're coming to meet them.  I told one girl was coming, then all my emails to her start bouncing back.  So I cancel my trip, then she starts to write and says when are you coming?  I told her I cancelled my trip, but I'll come another time.  So I make arrangements to go again, then she stops writing again, so I cancel my trip again.  Of course, she starts writing again and again says when are you coming?  I told her I cancelled my trip again and I am definitely not planning to come now.  She starts writing me more letters telling me to come but I just ignored them.  I never had her address and she didn't have a phone.  She went on vacation a lot and seemed to just work off and on if she worked at all.  I think a lot of these girls don't work or work intermittently.

Bottom line is to write several girls, maybe from the same general area.  Get the address and phone number of where they live.  Call them where the live a couple of times to be sure they're there.  Possibly contact agencies in the area you will visit to set up a translator or a back up plan to meet more girls in case she doesn't show and you need to meet somebody else.  

Some girls with sexy pictures you can't stand when you meet them in person and other girls you would never pick from their picture are quite sexy in person.  

[BrianN]

... in response to A Newbie's Observations, posted by JimS on Sep 30, 2001

New too, however, I could say with reasonable qualification that the FIRST email you will receive will ALWAYS be copy and paste.  It costs money to have russian emails translated to english, (and vice versa) so why not send the first one, as a generic copy ad?

Another piece of qualified advice... Stay away from icq/aim communications.  These are in my opinion, the russian hookers/scammers of the internet.  (Unless somebody else has a different opinion/experience).

My best recommendation, will, and always will be, put your profile up with a picture, and see who writes you first.  I do recommend that you use a secure service so that half the US doesn't have the ability to see you...

There are good ones out there, but it is so easy to get "nailed to the wall", if you're not careful.  

Greed knows no nationality.  (Especially here in the USA).

BrianN

[BrianN]

... in response to Re: A Newbie's Observations, posted by BrianN on Sep 30, 2001

I have no face to face experience yet with Ukrainian women, but have written some and been on a couple of tours to other countries. This is not as easy as it's made out to be at all. It turns into a lot of work to find the right girl amidst all the scammers. If the girl wants more than a small amount of money from you to keep the communication going, then move on to another girl.

There are guys from this board that have met with success right away but most have to try over and over to find the right one. Isn't that how it is in regular dating also. After a guy is successful, they usually drop off the board and just check in occasionally. Some guys have quit their jobs and gone to the Ukraine and Russia for extended periods of time to succeed. They failed initially.

I suggest you use the winter to write a lot of girls and try to get in some sort of initial visit later on to gage them for actual interest. If you're not a rich, good looking guy don't bother with the really hot women, but that doesn't mean you have to settle for an ugly one. I met some girls that were beautiful in their picture but pretty strange in person (and some of these trolls think us guys are strange). If there is no chemistry at all in the meeting, don't rush into a marriage. Any girl that you seriously consider, you should meet at least a couple of times and spend a lot of time together.

I've tried a couple of tours without writing any girls and it's an expensive way to fail. I'm still willing to try because I know many of these girls are sincere and I can afford to keep trying. I wrote a past post on the trouble you can have at the tour socials. Go read that post.

Even though I haven't been to the Ukraine yet, I think it is one of the best shopping grounds for women. Russia is pretty good too.

New too, however, I could say with reasonable qualification that the FIRST email you will receive will ALWAYS be copy and paste.  It costs money to have russian emails translated to english, (and vice versa) so why not send the first on , as a generic copy ad?

Another piece of qualified advice... Stay away from icq/aim communications.  These are in my opinion, the russian hookers/scammers of the internet.  (Unless somebody else has a different opinion/experience).

My best recommendation, will, and always will be, put your profile up with a picture, and see who writes you first.  I do recommend that you use a secure service so that half the US doesn't have the ability to see you...

There are good ones out there, but it is so easy to get "nailed to the wall", if you're not careful.  

Greed knows no nationality.  (Especially here in the USA).

BrianN

[rojak]

... in response to A Newbie's Observations, posted by JimS on Sep 30, 2001

Jim, when most U/W-R/W go to an agency to register, they are provided services of a professional photographer.
As to the type of initial response you get, be patient. Many women receive fifty or more responses within a short time so they must respond at first with what seems like a "canned" reply. After the first few exchanges you'll see a change in tone if there is some chemistry. Remember that in most cases their English skills are very limited. Imagine yourself trying to send a letter in Russian! Of course you could eventually do it, but not to a lot of recipients in a short time. This effort is worth the trouble. And, don't get too defensive if a woman you are interested in tells you she needs some small money for e-mails. Their incomes are way below Western measures of "poverty levels." Honestly, they have no discretionary income.
Take it easy..

[jimS]

... in response to Re: A Newbie's Observations, posted by rojak on Sep 30, 2001

Thanks for the tips. I think some of my surprise was due to the fact that I'd been used to dealing with latin american women. They tend to have much lower reply rates(in my case anyway) and often poor quality photographs (sometimes out of focus). I'll be heading over there in late Nov maybe early Dec, so want to build a list of a few women to meet on the trip. I guess you only need to find one girl who is right for you!