Reading comments to my earlier article about pay-per-minute and pay-per-letter dating (PPL), some men expressed the opinion that they believe it to be a scam. Are they right or wrong?
Elena’s Models is not a pay-per-letter site, it uses a membership model. This means, letters and chats are unlimited and don’t cost any extra.
But you will see many other companies that work in pay-per-letter model, which is often being questioned.
What is PPL dating
In short, PPL is a way of operation of some dating sites (especially in the international dating industry), where men are paying for every letter they send or receive from women, or for every minute of chat and video chat. The sites state that men are not paying to women to date them but the money is spent of translations, made by “agents”.
Costs of PPL dating
Usually men are required to pre-purchase “credits”, and opening each letter takes 1 or more credits, as well as several credits are deducted from your account per minute of chat of video chat. For most sites the minimum amount of credits you can pre-purchase will be around $100, with the minimum price per letter of around $3.
Some men state that they have spent as much as $70,000 dating women from PPL sites, and were unable to establish a genuine relationship. Other men point out that letters that were supposedly received from women living in different cities were word to word, which raised their suspicions.
PPL dating sites and their Terms of Use
If you read Terms of Use of most pay-per-letter sites, you may discover that the scheme of letters not necessarily originating from women themselves is covered under the user agreement.
The truth is, you had probably agreed when you registered that the site would not be liable if their agents are not 100% kosher. (No one ever reads Terms of Use.)
Is PPL dating a scam?
PPL dating model is certainly prone to exploitation.
- Pay-per-letter sites share their profits with local agents, who are supposed to translate letters. The integrity of PPL sites, assuming the site itself is not a scam, depends on the integrity of the local agent, who can be a sole person.
- There are reports of ads in Ukrainian papers and online seeking women who would work on hourly rate talking to men online, preferably English-speaking.
- Theoretically, there could exist a software that receives and answers letters based on pre-loaded templates.
However, when I think of PPL dating sites, to me they seem to fit more the model of 1900 phone services offering hot conversations about any fantasy you’d like to explore at the rate of mere $3.95/minute.
Common features:
- Their ads are omnipresent. Anywhere you go, you will find their enticing offers.
- They are very easy to use! Just pay as you go, and your communication will keep going. No effort on your part is required.
- The ladies you are talking to are kind and nice to you, no matter your looks, job, and marital situation.
- If you do not pay, communication stops.
Do you see similarities?
Real women don’t operate this way. They are often moody, unreliable, picky, choosy, they can disappear without a notice, stop answering, ask inconvenient questions, and easily get upset.
As opposed to that, your typical PPL date is very pleasant. And it’s nearly impossible to offend her.
This is why, to me, PPL sites offer men some great entertainment value! 🙂
For not too much money (well, if you only talk to 1 person and only send 1 letter a day), you will have your ego stroked for quite a long time. Compare this with costs of real life dating! Without taking into account continuous efforts it takes.
So, if you’d like to read some sweet nothings, and dream of your perfect relationship with a perfect woman (and that’s all), you know where to go.
But if you want a real relationship, it always involves work!
What media thinks about PPL dating sites: The men who go to Ukraine looking for a wife then fly home alone and broke (Guardian, UK)
Read also:
- What is PPL dating? — Pay-per-letter and pay-per-minute relationships
- Online dating scams: Are you being scammed?
- How quickly can you meet a girl on Elenas Models?
- 3 signs that she really likes you
>> All articles (in English)
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Greetings, I thought that I would add my two cents to your article. Yes, I am a veteran of the very popular PPL website. Fantastic web site, very glossy, professionally taken and then Photoshopped photos and thousands of extremely beautiful women. That’s the good part. The bad part? Pretty much exactly as you state in your article. I spent a few months on the site, met a few seemingly nice ladies, and then took the plunge and went to chilly Odessa, Ukraine in the middle of February. So let’s get that issue out of the way up front. YES, I… Read more »
Robby, thank you for your comment. . 1. There are NO “hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian women” who are OK with marrying a foreigner (a good local man who is slightly older, yes, but not a foreigner). At any time, there are only about 10-20 thousand single women (in both Russia and Ukraine combined) who are members of various international dating sites, some girls are on more than 1 site. The reason: public opinion in Russia/Ukraine is distinctly negative about marriages to foreigners. This is why only a very low percentage of single women would actually entertain the… Read more »
Elena, First off, sorry for the typos in my first post! I forgot to spell check before posting. OK, so maybe I was a little optimistic on my estimates of eligible Slavic ladies participating on various dating sites! There are tens of millions of Americans using dating sites these days. I know that it is nowhere near that common in Eastern Europe, but some Slavic dating sites that I have belonged to over the years claim 30-40,000 female members Second point on the issue of costs. Sure, I totally agree that PPL sites are quite expensive. I am new here… Read more »
I’ve been to Kyiv 4 times this year meeting a variety of women. A few were sincere and a few were scammers wanting taxi money everyday and to go shopping. The sincere ones made it worth the trip. I only paid $25 a day in downtown Kyiv for an apartment and spent about $50 a day for food if I ate out. I never tried the PPL services as it smells scammy. I met a total of 12 ladies from websites and 4 of them were really looking to find someone. One clue aside from the taxi money hustle is… Read more »
Hello everyone, In a reaction to this item, i would like to tell everyone that there is a lot of truth to this. In a number of cases in the PPL system, it is the agency you are writing with, not an actual lady. I have travelled on several occasions to Ukraine, and upon meeting the lady in real, she did not even have the slightest clue what we wrote about. I just returned yesterday from a two week trip to Ukraine, spent time in Kiev, Odessa and Kherson over the holidays. I had appointements with three ladies. And when… Read more »
In my experience, PPL sites should be treated with extreme caution and avoided if at all possible. The Elena’s Models formula is much fairer and trustworthy. Yes, there are genuine women on the PPL sites, but the uncertainties, hassles and costs involved in meeting makes the whole process very stressful, to put it mildly. Always in the background is the strong possibility of your being ripped off. It is absolutely essential to communicate directly – and on webcam – with a lady independly of the agency as soon as possible to keep costs to a minimum. On those PPL sites… Read more »
Before get here, I’ve visited many PPL sites, they all suck. Just one was enough decent but you had to do slalom between scammers and when you did find a real woman face the fact: “is she here to try something new or for something serious or what else?” honestly I’ve made new friends on that websites 🙂 ’cause nobody was really interested, except some rare case without solution, because the fear of move abroad is a power full brake if you have never travelled out of your country. Even some “popular” agency on internet, if you search and search… Read more »
Dear All I can tell you, that i am very experienced in PPL-sites…. and i have to warn everybody. Of course PPl does not mean automatically that the agency does not work seriously. But in reality all PPL sites which i worked with were real betrayers. I know for sure (girls and interpreters confirmed this), that often the girls are paid for meeting with men. I know one case, where a girl got serious problems with the agency, because she rejected to meet any men. She even had to change her living place and phone number to hide. So some… Read more »
I have not spent as much money as Winfried, but I have been to Ukraine many times. Not only to visit women, but I now have very good friends there who started out as my travel agent. I have to agree with pretty much everything Winfried has said. The agencies, if not the websites as well, absolutely reek of ripping off men. I have come across the same experiences as Winfried. Stay clear of any of the network sites. The network swears that they are above board, but it is absolutely obvious that most, if not all, the agencies they… Read more »
My 2 cents… I’ve spent my share of cash on PPL websites. I’ve met a lot of women on them all claiming to be interested in me. For me, it was a serious waste of time and money. There are real women on there that have contacted me outside the system. Unfortunately, they’ve all been prostitutes. They want to cut the agency out of the bargain and set hotels for my stay, go on a city tour with me, etc. Such women are dangerous and you don’t know what you’re getting into. My advice is to steer clear of PPL… Read more »
Cheers for all the highly experienced & valuable advice my friends. Have still not made it to Europe so far, as I ran out of funds, I too wasted alot of time and money over a couple of years on a particular mainly Ukrainian-dating but American owned PPL site, came away feeling ripped off and like a total chump. Their complicated credits system hides how much it will really add up to and I admit I got addicted. I paid alot for contact details of different girls who mostly wouldn’t answer their phones, the site lied that most Slavic girls… Read more »
I have been very concerned about these scams after having read several website accounts of fraudulent activities at some of the biggest PPL sites out there.
My sense is that the model used by this site is the future (and in this case here now). There are less questions about motivation and practices which might cause one to raise an eyebrow on other sites.
God bless you all and help keep you safe!
I initially signed up for a PPL site. In two days I received over a hundred letters and smiles from gorgeous women some who are 20 years younger than I am. It was a very uplifting experience for the ego. Initially I just assumed that these girls were desperate to come to America and/or can’t find good Russian men. So I nevertheless entertained the idea of going to Russia or the Ukraine. I then signed up for a popular Russian (non PPL) site and that’s when reality struck. Even though the women were not anywhere near as beautiful as the… Read more »
I was excited about signing up for a Russian dating website. My first was a PPL and just like so many others, I received 100s of letters within a week from young beautiful women. I was sceptical because most of them claim to not make money or be in school and their pictures were professionally done. Now I wondered how they could afford the pictures? And all of their letters were written as if they were too eagar. No way a woman could tell if I was her soul mate by reading my profile. And my information was filtered in… Read more »
Hey everyone thanks for taking the time to share your experiences in great detail. It has been most informative. One thing I would add is that, having looked at dozens of other dating sites, when you look at the “gallery” of photos from the “Tours” that they promote to meet women: NONE of the women in the group photos taken at the social events on the tour look at all like the glossy photos on the website; furthermore NONE of the women in the photos look even remotely attractive. I have a very large computer monitor and blow up these… Read more »
Guys, Think of yourself as an investor: do you want to put your money in a savings account, in government bonds, in mutual funds, in shares on the stock market, etc…, or in your mattress? If your money is in a savings account of a good bank, you may even go to sleep for a whole year and only check your account after 12 months, but if your money is in shares traded every business day , …you know what you need to do and the kind of skill sets you need, etc… My point is that there are also… Read more »
Francis, comparing PPL with government bonds isn’t a very good analogy. I think you haven’t actually purchased anything on EM or any PPL site, or you would not be philosophising this way. You maybe have a profile on both, and compare responses to your free EOI’s on EM with hundreds of bait letters on PPL sites, which you hope are totally genuine… So, you actually have no personal experience at all! But trying to teach others what they should do… you think you are so much smarter than anybody else, don’t you? 😉 If you are a true investor, invest… Read more »
I have to agree with everything that has been said about ‘PPL’ websites, in so far as “if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.” I’m in a good position to comment, in that I just created a profile on one of those sites (that starts with ‘ua’ and includes a word related to sleep), but have not paid anything yet (nor will I after what I’ve read). What strikes me the most, is that the girls are ALL just way, way, waaaaaaaay too good looking, i.e. they are certainly not representative of the norm, even… Read more »
David, of course, young girls would very much prefer to meet a good man in their own countries. However, even if you think she looks like a model, she may be pretty average in her country. Again, modelling there is not very well paid, unless you are picked by a Paris modelling agency and start walking podiums in Europe. I had plenty of actresses and models working for me in Russia distributing free samples in supermarkets on marketing programs. After the age of 22 women are considered somewhat “old” and their families start questioning them about marriage. If she doesn’t… Read more »
David, I can tell you that the site you mentioned is likely a big scam,. I was on another membership site and hit it off with this lady. Actually had some good discussions on line with her and started to like her. She even asked for my email address, which I gave to her. … but she never sent me hers, which I did not think anything of as we were communicating on the site and being membership based the letters did not cost anything. Then a letter that her computer has died and she’s taking it into the service… Read more »
I too have been a member of the PPL site, several in fact. I have found in my various experiences that it becomes way to expensive and the results are shoddy at best. Yes you get lots of “letters” and I suspected from the start that many of them were computer generated. To test the sites I usually build 2 profiles one with and one without pictures, If I get the same responses from my letters to the same women, it is a safe be it is not a real response. I was a member of this site (Elena’s Models)… Read more »
I have been a member of a PPL site in the past. Now, while I won’t go so far as to claim that particular site is a scam, I found it glaringly obvious that I was receiving many, many letters from women that had never read my profile. I have some views and requirements that many women deem to be deal-breakers. Many of the women that wrote me on the PPL site mention desires and expectations in their profiles that are in stark opposition to the most significant elements in my profile. There is simply no question a very high… Read more »
From my perspective, I believe that paying for each message, or each time you use one feature of a service, it is definitely not a scam. But it is when that method is used along with artificial intelligence (which is available as dating website software) that the pay per use method becomes a scam. A service known as “comet chat” which is being used on over 30,000 websites around the world, does have a “text bot” which will have an interesting conversation with you in their demo of the software. The text bot is affectionately named “Catherine Alana” and “she”… Read more »
Jonathan, yes. . .technically all pay by letter sites are not scams. I mean I am sure a lawyer could make quite the case that PPL is a legit way to conduct business at a dating site. And if most PPL sites were honest, we could not say anything. WE are saying it is a scam because we are debating honesty at the site. I actually can argue there are sites where you get chat request, etc. from “real” women. At a site that took a good $2,000 or so from me, I met real women. I could see the… Read more »
I have joined (both PPL sites), and also Elena’s Models. I haven’t paid the PPL sites a penny because I am sceptical about the hundreds of beautiful young women (under 30) who are interested in me, a man of 60. Whilst on Elena’s models, none of the ladies who expressed an interest in me were under 40, although there are plenty on there …. funny that, isn’t it …. draw your own conclusions.
Nice to point that out Chris. I don’t know why this is even a debate. If PPL sites claim to be honest, let them prove it. I cannot tell you how many ladies at PPL sites I have found with boyfriends, husbands, children, etc.
It is easy model that is easily corrupted.
It is interesting to see that some men still use ppl sites. I guess they are hard to give up. The profiles of the women are so beautiful and sometimes they send naked or nearly naked pics. Then the women are so much younger than us. 🙂 I was scammed at one a couple of years back. It is so funny how in letters, she would always want to be with me so badly. Yet in real life, she wanted nothing to do with me. I was a bother to her. All I hope for is that men begin to… Read more »
I would like to add my 2 cents to this discussion. Based on what I have seen on 1 major PPL site it is mostly a scam. The girls if real are almost certainly working for a local agency. In some cases the agency just uses some girl’s photos. As soon as you sign up the flood of letter will start. They don’t even read your profile in most cases. As a test I have set up a fake profile posing as someone who has retired from the adult entertainment industry. LOL. Interesting how many nice, traditional women wrote to… Read more »
as recently as the 31/12/15 I became enmeshed in a ppl love site as I was lured there by a seemingly authentic woman who stated that it was her personal profile account. On establishing a simple profile of my own I was immediately inundated with an armada of dreamboats rarely known in the history of the universe. Over a 4 day period I racked up about $350 AUS before I sat myself down and gave myself a reality check.Believe me when I say that there was a very significant psychological effect at play in this form of ensnarement,before I realized… Read more »
Guys, what’s wrong with you? Are you dumb morons? Do you like to be treated like this? Is this girl in the phone sex ad real? Of course, she is! It’s just not the girl from the picture you are talking to (while paying $3.99/minute) – and even if she was, she has no desire to perform all these tricks she’d been telling you about in a sweet voice, while the clock was ticking! If you know what it is and keep paying for this, you deserve every ounce of it. Of course, there are not so many hot sexy… Read more »
All PPL sites are a scam. Whether they admit it or not, the local agencies which they depend on for signing up women to their sites engage in revenue-sharing arrangements. Go to the eastern european equivalent of facebook vk.com and do a search for работа брачное агентство on vk.com (you can translate the results using google chrome and the translate function) and you will see individuals and agencies marketing/recruiting women and models with revenue-sharing arrangements. There can be no mistaking all PPL sites as complete frauds