International dating via the internet has been quite popular among American men and while many men have met genuine, loving Russian or Ukrainian women, unfortunately very often men encounter scammers who not only become a waste of time but even worse end up pulling money out of them. Some of them are easy to identify and with all the information about Russian and Ukrainian dating scams available on internet, it seems easy to detect one. But it looks like they too sometimes get creative and do not follow those scripts that expose them on the internet. Sometimes it can take months and even years to understand that the person you correspond with is not who she claims to be (and may not even be a she at all!). It can be quite heart breaking to discover that all your happiness about finally finding the right person is no more than an illusion, the result of a well-organized scam.
Throughout many years of delivering flowers to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, we worked with many North American and European male customers dating a Russian, a Belasussian or a Ukrainian girl. Many of the orders were delivered successfully; however, some ran against some issues such as a non-existing phone number or an address, no person with the given name living at the provided address, or the recipient’s attempt to receive the order through a second party. This experience allowed us to see how a flower delivery can actually help in spotting an online dating scammer. We even had customers using our service of flower delivery to Russia and Ukraine specifically for the purpose of identifying whether the person was the one she claimed to be.
There is plenty of information on the internet on how to identify a scammer during your correspondence stage. We are not going to repeat it, but we will tell you how you can use flowers delivery as a way of making sure that you are corresponding with a real girl, not a scammer. Although it will cost you some money, it will allow you to avoid disappointment down the road and also it will assist you in preventing from taking heavier financial losses by making wire transfers to a scammer.
Here are a few things you need to do in order to use flowers delivery in spotting the scam early on:
- Ask your girl for her full name, phone number, and her address and tell her that you want to make a little surprise.
- Order a small bouquet from international flower delivery company. You can choose the cheapest bouquet at this point since your goal is just to make sure that the provided name, phone number and an address are legitimate.
When making an order, ask for the picture of delivery. In Russia (and other countries of the former Soviet Union) most florists agree to take a picture of the recipient with the flowers, provided that the recipient does not mind. FlowersUSSR will provide you with the picture of delivery at no additional cost (if the recipient agrees to have the picture taken).
So how does it works? How will flowers delivery help to spot a dating scammer?
- If she refuses to give you her phone number, it should alarm you.
If she says that she does not have a phone, that is a big alarm. The times when people did not have phones in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus have passed and nowadays absolutely everybody has a cell phone although they might really not have a landline phone. Do not believe a person who tells you that she does not have a cell phone. - If she refuses to give you her address, it should alarm you.
Of course, if you ask her address after a few letters, it would be reasonable of her not to give her address to a stranger. However, if you have been chatting for a while and you tell her that you want to send her something, why would she refuse to give the address? Only if she is a scammer and does not want anybody to spot that. - If we call the recipient to arrange the delivery and find out that the provided number does not exist, it should alarm you.
- If we call the recipient to arrange the delivery and somebody else picks up the phone and says that there is no person under the given name, it should alarm you, unless the girl made a mistake telling her number or you got it wrong, not finding the person at the provided phone number is a clear sign of a scam.
- If phone verification did not work out (either wrong number or nobody ever answers the phone), you can proceed with a so called “at-risk delivery”. At risk delivery means that the florist will go to the provided address with the bouquet of flowers you ordered to make a delivery. Our local florist can discover that the given address is wrong (usually non-existent house number) or that there is actually no person with the given name living at the given address. This is a definite sign of a scam.
We hope that your journey of finding your beloved one will not be puddled by scammers and that your flower delivery will bring a pleasant surprise for your Russian girl and peace of mind to you.
Yes, so very true! Thanks for sharing your experience. I learned it the hard way, but it was worth it. I’d better pay for a small bouquet than continue living in the illusion of relationship.