Pseudo dating refers to a process, where one party believes in genuinely building a relationship, while in reality it is not a true intent of the other participant of the exchange. In recent years, pseudo dating mushroomed into a fully fledged Internet industry. Pseudo dating sites advertise opportunities for building relationships but in reality sell clients purposefully fabricated content, authored by writers on commissions.
Shockingly, such enterprises are making hundreds of millions on trading dreams online. The size of the industry of paid correspondence (PPL or “pay per letter”) is estimated by insiders at over USD $200 million yearly.
Pseudo dating: How it works
Hundreds of thousands of western men are duped into believing promotions of unscrupulous websites, selling paid correspondence under the guise of developing relationships.
2015 investigation into practices of pseudo-dating enterprises by Elena Petrova revealed the scale of the problem. Since then, not much changed.
The scheme dominates paid online advertising channels and continues to lure thousands of new potential victims daily.
The essence of the scheme is simple:
- Local agents in Ukraine recruit 2 types of workers: (1) Pretty women to sign contracts as “brides” in search of a husband, for a one-time fee or share of future profits from her profile on a pseudo-dating online portal, and (2) Writers (chat operators) who communicate with men in English under the identity of the ‘bride”.
- Pseudo-dating company charges men for communication: Chats, mails, and photo shares.
- The pseudo-dating “mother” company pays commission to local agents, from which they renumerate “brides” and writers.
As such, the money paid by a client is split between:
- “Mother” pseudo dating site, which usually cooperates with hundreds of local agents
- Local agent, who employs multiple “brides” and writers
- Writer (chat operator)
- Pseudo bride
The scheme operates in utter pseudonymity. Most paying clients have no idea who the real players are.
Ukrainian job ads
Even though pseudo dating Internet entities usually advertise Russian brides or dating Eastern European women, the operations of local agents are concentrated in Ukraine.
Russia and Belarus, other popular destinations for courting women from Eastern Europe, have much stricter laws and order. Ukraine became the hub for pseudo dating structures and their recruiters, which openly advertise through the largest online employment platforms such as Work.ua or Trud.com, often with blatant descriptions of what the job entails.
Sources report that a local operator in Kiev may be earning around USD 10,000 dollars monthly on conducting preposterous correspondence with men dreaming about a relationship with a sweet Eastern European girl.
Writers are trained by supervisors how to grab attention of hopeful love-seekers and maintain a steady stream of paid communication for prolonged periods of time.
Current situation
Lately, a trend for employing mono-operators of profiles has gained notoriety. In other words, the person in the photos communicates under her own identity, while still being paid commissions for the amount of generated content (chats, messages, photos). PPL sites deny that payment to “brides” is a part of their schemes, although they admit sharing commissions for the paid content with local recruiters.
The job ads, however, are quite explicit about the description of the work of a chat operator or “marriage agency model”. Although the ads toned down since 2015. 2 years ago the ads were stating clearly how women were supposed to extract money from foreign suitors. In 2017, many ads limit the list of responsibilities to basic statements. However, a phone call to the recruiter by an undercover potential worker is all that’s necessary to find out the truth.
Besides, vacancies on Work.ua are only placed by officially registered businesses. The registered name of the company has to be supplied for publication. They are not hiding. Undercover journalists had several reports published over the years about practices of such operators. It is no longer a big story for the news but common knowledge.
Work.ua openly lists 329 vacancies in marriage agencies for the last 30 days. Most of them seek writers to operate existing dating profiles and new “brides”. Search done on 4 June 2017.
Vacancy on Work.ua dated 2 June 2017 seeking a model for a marriage agency. Applicants are required to send photos and links to their profiles in social networks.
Another vacancy dated 31 May 2017, seeking a chat operator. Requirements call for women 18-35, who will communicate in live chats minimum 5 hours daily.
Law enforcement
There has been a report in press about an agent prosecuted in Kiev on a complaint from a duped groom, who arrived to visit his supposed online girlfriend, with whom he chatted for months online. When the foreigner realized he fell a victim of a pseudo-dating scam, the man filed a case with the local police, which concluded in an arrest.
However, this was over 2 years ago, and the scheme keeps flourishing and skimming tens of millions dollars monthly from unsuspecting online users. New websites eager to charge credit cards of love-stricken foreign males pop up constantly.
The PPL swindle was featured on Dr. Phil TV show, although the host didn’t understand the essence of the scheme, aligning it to “catfish” dating scams. However, catfish scams are run by individuals, while pseudo dating structures are purposefully designed organizations, with thousands of employees and layers of hierarchy.
The scheme could be legitimized on the same basis as “phone sex” lines. However, at present times, the true essence of these operations is not openly disclosed in their promotions and paid advertising online. The costs per minute or per message are not advertised, as well as the fact that someone else may be operating the profile instead of the person in photos. The fact of the operator receives remuneration for proclaiming affection to the client is also hidden. Instead, the users are led to believe the love proclamations are genuine. This is a clear breach of consumer legislation of any first-world country.
To our knowledge, western authorities, including federal police and commercial watchdogs, had not instigated any inquiries into practices of PPL websites or introduced any legislative measures to protect consumers from predatory practices of pseudo dating operators.
Share this article
Hello, I’d like to ask you just a question about the way these fake sites and local agents work. Could it happen that, at the end, after some months for example, a real meeting with a “bride” occurs? Is that an “admitted” practice? Or, if that happens, it means that it was a “less fake” scenario? I have no shame to admit that I had a long correspondence with a girl registered in such kind of sites (that I clearly understood was full of fake stuff since I am a software engineer), but at the end we had a real… Read more »
Angelo,
Read this article.
Follow links in the text above.
Look at the scheme.
In short, pseudo-bride (girl in photos) is required to attend meetings, if a man visits. Some agents also allow pseudo-brides to not attend real meetings. Then a man is told she “urgently had to leave the city”, and offered to meet other “brides” (for a fee). But there is a real person behind photos. She may be married with kids for years. But the profile keeps being used.
Understood 🙁 Thank you for your detailed report, Elena.
It was all part of the scam. This is standard conduct. By the way, during her months of postponement, were you spending money on chat time, video chat time, sending her gifts? When you met her, did she recommend nice restaurants? (she got a commission from owner) Do she take you shopping? Also important to note, most women CAN speak English and do not require a translator. But its another way to get you to part with your money. The girl gets a commission from the translator. In most cases, these agencies and girls target American or Canadian men. Why?… Read more »
Why I can’t pay for my membership with PayPal?
Carlos,
We do accept PayPal.
It might be because I am online most of my free time, but for me fake dating websites were always easy to differentiate from real ones. Any sane person should understand that any ad they see online that has words “lonely women in your area” is an obvious scam.
I never knew about these pay per letter sites. Maybe it’s because I am not from Ukraine and I haven’t seen vacancies for marriage agencies though I often look though job sites. It’s so upsetting that someone is mean enough to make money off someone’s feelings.
I’m in one now the intended came via a local dating sit under a alis as kamilla out of a town east of Sydney Australia then became anna from slemonsk west of Moscow 43 widow an angle to look at but no last name only part of email address . does not want to use viber or skype as don’t know to use it, she persists with trust and honesty with every letter but will not reveal her self I do have a phone no and a address. but that doesn’t prove anything it just happens I have a friend… Read more »
Gra,
It’s not a real person, it’s a scammer (but it’s also not “PPL pay per letter pseudo dating”).
It’s an old Internet dating scam.
Report to Federal Police in Australia (call Crime Stoppers, they will direct you to Internet scams). Definitely DO NOT send money. What name they asked money to be sent to? Police will want to know. Also report to the dating site about fake profile.