Anna Maksimova
Complaint 16304 Details

I met this Russian girl from Match.com. After I sent her a message to introduce myself, I got a response within the hour saying to write her at [email protected]. I tried to be cautious especially considering she is located on the other side of the world. She said that she lives in Novotroitsk, Orenburg, Russia (close to the border of Kazakhstan and that she is originally from Ilinka City. She said she was a teacher, teaching children from 7 to 8 years of age. She also taught piano lessons to children up to 15 years of age. We wrote everyday to each for two months when she wrote that she wanted to visit me here in the United States. I didn't think of anything suspicious because she said that she would go to the travel agency and start the process for a visa and an airline ticket. She wrote back that she didn't have enough money and that she would ask her parents if they can help loan some money to her. Her parents didn't have enough money. So the parents supposedly went to the bank with her to take out a loan of $2000. Well, surprisingly they got turned down. I felt so bad for her that I offered to send $2000 via Western Union to her, so she can come here to the US. She wrote me that she would leave two days earlier to catch her flight from Moscow - Domodedovo Airport. She took a train from Novotroitsk to Moscow; it is 764 miles one way. On her supposed flight to come to the US, she was stopped at Customs for not having enough cash or credit cards (as a means of getting by and returning to Russia). She said she needed $3070 to get through Customs. I thought DAMN. She is so close to getting on the plane to fly out. So I sent $3100 via Western Union to her. Two days later on her supposedly second attempt to get through Customs, she was stopped at Customs for not having a registration of address (because she told me she left her apartment). She said that registration would cost $3310 and that she sold some of her jewelry plus the $3100 I sent her to pay for the registration of residence in Moscow. She said that after she did that, she still needed $3070 to get past Customs. I was getting a little suspicious. However, me being me, I wanted to have faith that she is truthful and that I didn't want her to be stranded in Moscow (hundreds upon hundreds of miles away from her hometown. So I pulled multiple sources of funds and sent another $3100. Suffice it to say, this scam was so elaborate. She must have had practice doing it for a while. I couldn't even see the deception until I ended up standing at the Arrival Gate for several hours at San Francisco International Airport. I followed up with a call to Lufthansa airlines and asked to confirm any booking for Anna Maksimova on the Moscow to Munich to San Francisco flight. Surprise...surprise. She never booked a flight. I was dupped. The money doesn't upset me as much. I'll survive. It is the deception that really makes me angry. I really thought she had feelings for me, and I thought I would have had an impact on her. I guess she got what she wanted.