I am writing this, to help clear the name of a woman, that has been falsely accused of being a scammer by the website Russian Detective. Her name is Svetlana Bystrova and here is the link to the scam page;
http://www.russian-detective.com/black_lists/individ/new/bystrova_svetlana.htm I have been writing Svetlana since September 2002. During this time she has NEVER asked me for money. I did send her money for internet café and SMS but she did not ask. It is now April 2003 and I have sent a total of $70, $10 a month for Internet access for 7 months of writing.
I bought her profile on the website A FOREIGN AFFAIR (AFA - loveme.com) but she was also listed on the site 5 STAR out of Dnepropetrovsk. Around December 2002 she asked to be removed from the websites. She went into both agencies she was on. 5 STAR removed her profile immediately. MARRIAGE AGENCY ASSOCIATES (MAA - An AFA affiliate - dating-ukraine.com) would not remove her. They told her they would not remove her till she was engaged. Even when the lady herself requested to be removed, they refused until she said she was engaged! What does this tell you about this AFA affiliate? They wish to continue to sell this ladies address even when she has expressed to have no interest in corresponding with any other men. From December on Svetlana did not read or answer any email or letters sent to her through regular mail. Anytime she got a letter, she took it unopened, into the offices of MAA. Each time she demanded to be removed from the websites. They finally told her they removed her profile around February. She asked me to check and see if she was removed, I checked and saw her profile still there. She kept going into the office but they told her MAA did remove it but they can't do anything about AFA. MAA said they did send the request to AFA to remove the profile and they could not control what AFA did. A couple months went by and she was still listed, her address STILL being sold and as we know now, someone responding to men writing her. That's when I realized that MAA, the agency and AFA affiliate she had listed with, still had her on their site even after they lied to her and told her she was removed.
On April 10, 2003 a friend sent me an email saying that Svetlana was now on a scam site called Russian Detective (russian-detective.com). For a second, I got very sick, thinking how could I be so wrong about someone. But that thought only lasted a second. After reading the scam report, I knew there was no way she did what was said. To me it sounded like an agency replied to her email but I have no proof. I called Svetlana right away and we talked for over an hour about this. I could hear how hurt and upset she was that she was accused of this. She said she would go down to the agency MAA that day (April 11, 2003) and see if she can find out what happened. The agency told her it was her fault because she turned down so many men. Can you imagine this! After asking to be removed from the agency because she had found one man she wanted to communicate with, to get to know better, this AFA affiliate says it was HER fault for turning down so many men! And that maybe it was one of the men trying to get back at her. If the profile had been removed when she requested it, this scam report would not have happened. She asked them why was her profile still on their site. They told her it was deleted. She asked me and I told her it was still there. When she told them this, the agency still said it was taken off but it was not. She got mad at them and told them to remove it. Only after this did they finally remove her profile and send a request to AFA to remove it. Five months after requesting to be removed, after five months of continuing to sell her address and to write to men pretending to be her, they finally remove her profile. Within a couple days her profile was removed from all of AFA's sites. I called AFA and they said that was the first request they got to remove her. It sounds like MAA never did send a request to remove her and they definitely did not remove her from their site till she demanded it.
After I talked to Svetlana, I sent an email to Elena (
elena@russian-detective.com). I explained the situation to Elena in this email. I understand they can't just take my word for it (even though they will take only one man's word for what happened on their site) but Svetlana already agreed to talk to them if needed to help clear her name. All I requested is they look up the facts and investigate it. Isn't that what their website is all about? If they would not remove her post, I requested to put my experience with Svetlana on her scam page. There was no answer to this email and it is now April 22, 2003. I also sent 2 more emails as well as called and left a message. On my emails to both Elena & Ed Garrett (
huguenot1627@nospam.com) I asked for them to feel free to contact me by phone or email. I also told them I can call them at anytime to discuss this. I got no answers from all 3 emails.
I then asked for the assistance of Mr. Jack Bragg from First Dream. Mr. Jack Bragg wrote the owners personally, they are from Dallas as he is, and he told them they were making a mistake by falsely accusing a good, sincere woman as being a scammer. Mr. Bragg told them he knew of the lady in question, his people had met her and he knew of our relationship and we have been corresponding for several months and that the agency that she was previously with has been guilty of scam activities before. Mr. Bragg informed the owners of Russian Detective that the agency in question has done so in the past, and he strongly suspects they did with Svetlana, to keep Svetlana (and other women) on their site, which they did, even after asking to be removed, and wrote to men who were writing to Svetlana and pretending to be Svetlana. One man, not two or three or four men, but one man reported this scam activity, a scam activity being done by the scam agency. Mr. Bragg indicated to Ed and Elena that this was one of the very reasons why he would never post a lady from a single report and that he required two independent, verifiable reports before he would post a woman as a scammer. He told the owners of Russian Detective he was so sure that Svetlana was a sincere woman and that this agency was behind the scam that he asked them if he could offer a rebuttal on their site underneath her posting, just as I offered. Ed and Elena, owners of Russian Detective, would not answer Mr. Bragg's request. Mr. Bragg told me that often he has men ask about women listed as scammers and he feels part of the responsibility of posting a scammers site is to be able to help men and answer questions they may have ESPECIALLY if a man or woman says they are falsely being accused of being a scammer. As of the time I write this post neither Ed nor Elena has ever contacted Mr. Bragg even after Mr. Bragg has told them they are making a terrible mistake by falsely accusing a good woman of being a scammer.
Svetlana also sent Russian Detective an email from the agency website. She did not want to use her personal email on this for fear it would be put on the scam site. The agency MAA will not allow the women to type their own email. The agency types it in for them. This is why Svetlana says it is impossible for her to even ask for money because it is against the rules and the agency "would never allow that, since they type it in." She went back into the MAA offices the following Monday. The agency told her that Russian Detective did reply, saying they would forward her email to the man that posted the scam. Svetlana was not allowed to see this email or the reply by the agency. After no more replies she also wrote Russian Detective from her personal email requesting they answer her. As of today, there has been no answer. Earlier today the agency sent one more email on her behalf to Russian Detective but we are both sure they will not reply. Such type of behavior from a site calling itself an anti-scam site is scam in itself. Russian Detective should be held accountable for their actions and un-professional business attitude.
I can say I am 100% positive she had nothing to do with this scam. During the time we have written, Svetlana has never given any reason for me to not believe in her. I can call her at anytime day or night. I can SMS her at anytime and unless she is in her English class she will always reply. If she is in English class she will reply as soon as she can. We talk 2 to 3 times a week for a hour or two at a time. She also goes to the internet café. First Dream has also delivered flowers and other gifts to her in the time we have written. Galina, who is the Ukraine manager of First Dream, as well as other First dream staff has met with and talked to Svetlana, as well as helping to translate our letters, until Svetlana was comfortable doing it herself.
I believe she is wrongly accused of this and if they will not remove her from the site, I will tell our story to everyone that will listen. All I requested was to post my comments, which I feel is a very simple request. So far Russian Detective hasn't replied to any of us, so you can be the judge of who is honest or not.
Sincerely,
Mr. Nobby Coburn
San Diego, California USA
