Mauricio
18 December 2005, 04:25
On 10/06/2005, I was contacted on my Yahoo personal profile, by a woman named Anna Minyukova, Lenina Street 21, Arkhangelsk, 163015, Russian Federation. She indicated that she was single, with no kids, and looking for a serious relationship. Soon thereafter, we started an online email relationship, exchanged pictures and some information about each other. She sent me about 14 pictures of herself and I sent her some pictures of myself. I did give her my home address and phone number, but no other personal information, and she gave me her home address, but no telephone number, as she said she didn't have one. She did call me once, at 3:10A.M., we talked briefly for about four or five minutes. As the relationship progressed, she indicated that she wanted to come to the U.S. to meet me, and I expressed a similar desire and invited her to come to the U.S., but she indicated that she was poor and had no money for all the required traveling expenses and immigration fees. She asked me if I could help her with all the expenses. I was reluctant at first, but all her conniving love letters and pictures, convinced me about what a wonderful woman she was, and so I agreed. On October 24, 2005, I sent her $480.00, so she could travel from Arkhangelsk to Moscow, to file for a nonimmigrant tourist visa at the U.S. Embassy. She indicated that the U.S. Embassy had required her to have a round-trip airfare from Russia to the U.S., the airfare tickets would cost $2,010.00, on Delta Airline, money which I sent to her. On November 1, 2005, Anna indicated that the U.S. Embassy has requested her to have a pre-paid credit card, in the amount $2,500.00. She said it was to demonstrate that she was a financially secured citizen. So, at that point I almost didn't send the money, I had my suspicion that it may be a scam. But she convinced me that we could not turned back, and since I had already begin to spend money on her, I felt compelled to send the money for the credit card that she indicated. On November 5, 2005, Anna contacted me back telling me that the visa was taking longer than expected and said she was running out of money for food. I only sent her $45.00 on that day, and that the last time I sent her money. Two weeks later she said that she would have to go back to Arkhangelsk, because the visa was taking too long to be issued. One week after arriving at Arkhangelsk, she indicated that her mother was having problems with her heart, and that she would require a heart surgery, and that even though the expenses for the surgery would be covered, the medicine was not, and that they did not have any money for medicine. She asked me for money to help her for her mom's medicines. I told her I did not have any more money, and that I had already spent a great deal of money on her. Up until that point, she had emailed me on a daily basis, but then she stopped emailing me after that. She didn't email me for about a week. On December 15, she emailed me indicating that her mom was feeling better, and that she would be flying soon to the U.S. That is the last time I heard of her. At this point I am certain that this is scam. I am depressed, embarrassed, and mad at myself, for allowing myself to fall for this scam. This has been a very expensive lesson for me to learn. But if my experience can help to prevent this from happening to others, I am sharing this with you. Today I found her home address to be on a blacklist at blacklist@florist.ru, under other women's names:
Elena Elyanova, elencka@pochta.ws; and
Olga Ushakova, olckk@mail.ru
Elena Elyanova, elencka@pochta.ws; and
Olga Ushakova, olckk@mail.ru