The U.S. State Department calls Russian Bride Scams 'Boris and Natasha' scams because the Natasha usually turns out to be a Boris. The scam relies on the good will lonely people, usually men, who will be too embarrassed to report the crime.
These inter-net scams are relatively simple. The criminals, either female con artists or men posing as Russian women in meet their victims through personal ads on web sites such as America Online and Match.com, supposedly seeking love. They then write e-mails and send pictures, usually of a pretty model.
Eventually a visit will be arranged; that's when the scammers ask the victim to pay for a visa and plane tickets, or ask for money or credit card numbers to pay for one thing or another. When the scammer thinks the victim is running out of money (or getting suspicious), they simply stop returning emails and move on to the next victim.
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