Russian Anna (The Dating Scammer)

By A Nonimouse

This book is essentially a transcript of an email correspondence which took place over a period of approximately a month between myself (playing along) and Anna Khripunova, a Russian woman who contacted me via a well known dating website. It was an exercise in wasting the time of the scammer, having a bit of fun with "her" and ultimately uncovering the nature of the scam so that I could scam "her" back in a final online sting - an albeit pretty tame one, but nonetheless satisfying. What this demonstrates is the lengths these fraudsters will go to in grooming their prey, slowly reeling them in before battering them over the head and stealing all their money. But not on this occasion. Read it to believe it and hopefully enjoy my interjections of humour along the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A Nonimouse
• Release date: Jun 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311713230

Book preview

Introduction

Some years ago, when off work and at a bit of loose end, I thought it would be fun to play a trick on what I would describe as rather optimistic and egocentric blokes by posing as a bimbo on an online dating site, just to see how gullible that type of cynically-sexist twerp could actually be. The completely invented persona was ridiculous, with an obviously made-up name and positively worrying history - but whose fake profile photograph was suitably stunning and slutty. I managed to string-along three blokes for a couple of weeks, before one finally sussed it, at which point (as I had previously decided) I curtailed the deception. What was staggering is that it took that long for any of them to sniff a rat – I had been overtly preposterous, but that did not put them off!

So to the present: finding myself in a state of decree nisi – and still with some time on my hands – I joined an online dating site. No shame in that: it’s the modern way (I think); well, it is when you get to my age anyway. Let’s be clear, I was not looking for any bimbo – far from it, and made that evident in my profile blurb – and I needed to meet someone reasonably local… About a month in to my membership, I received a message from someone purporting to be 37 year old language Teacher living in Elsing – a remote village in Norfolk. There was no photo on her profile, but she was a promising match; however, where she was supposedly living was just too remote for me to even consider. In her message she had embedded an email address, as she obviously wasn’t a full member of the site and needed to establish an external line of communication. Her email address was [e-mail] – not implausible – so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and chose to contact her in order to politely turn down her proposal on the grounds – quite truthfully – that she lived too far away. That should have been it. However, our Anna persisted, and ignoring what I had plainly stated, continued with her proposition. As will become immediately evident from her first email, there was something decidedly fishy about our Anna. I considered just ignoring her and forgetting about it, but the writer in me could not resist playing her along, mainly out of curiosity to establish what exactly her angle would be, and well, basically, to take the piss! After all, I had good reason to be a little miffed that she chose me in the first place! However, as will become obvious as we go along, she probably contacts absolutely everyone – or may be someone else is responsible for that part of the scam, and she just does the email grooming. Either that or she is dealing with so many different saddoes simultaneously that she just loses track of whom she has and has not already contacted. Thing is, I was using a very distinct pseudonym…? Anyway, I should not take this personally.

Initially, I was effectively role-playing in order not to spook her and just stringing her along - much like she was trying to do to me. I wanted to be plausible, though I couldn’t resist little digs at what I knew to be the truth; but it was very soon plain for all to see that anything like that went straight over head. Now, she claimed to not only teach French and German, but also, English! I may be wrong, but wouldn’t that require fluency; not to mention, some comprehension of grammar and knowledge of English speaking oral culture? Therefore, the longer this dialogue continued, the more I exploited her lack of any real understanding of the English language. I must admit that I did expect her to cut to the chase a great deal sooner than she did; in fact, I was getting bored in the end, so I began to force the issue, employing some outrageous tactics. What surprised me is how slowly and patiently her grooming technique was: and all the more insidious for it. I’m still not clear if it was just a money defrauding racket or