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Home » What Should You Know About Mail Order Bride Scam?

How to Find a Mail Order Bride and Avoid Scams in 2024?

You probably heard all those horror stories about mail order bride scam. The bad news is they are likely to be true. The good news is that you can avoid such scenarios.

People need to understand that there are always risks involved, and the possibility that someone will scam you should not stop you from making attempts to change your life for the better. You get outside, and the fear that someone will steal your wallet does not stop you, right? So why let risks stop you from looking for a wife? Let’s take a look at what you can do to protect yourself from threats and avoid possible problems.

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What are the risks that men face when looking for a bride?

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Before we provide our recommendations, let’s clarify what problems may arise. In fact, men face typical risks that all people using the internet face every single day. They are data leaks, spam, waste of money, a complete waste of time, etc. However, it is getting serious when a man decides to find a wife in another country.

The thing is this is not the cheapest service ever: the average total cost of mail order bride services provided by mail order bride agencies vary from 1000 dollars to infinity. That’s the main reason why you can’t be too careful when looking for a bride – the problem is not that you can lose some money, the problem is that you can lose a lot of money.

Still, it does not mean that every man who wants to change his life and finally marry the right girl should give it all up to avoid possible risks. You can avoid them without abandoning the idea of finding a bride overseas. There are some tips you need to use, and we wrote this article to provide them, so let’s get started.

1. Choose the safest mail order bride site

Yes, this is the most obvious yet the most useful recommendation anyone could give. Still, we think that we have to emphasize how important it actually is. It’s like safe sex rules. Everyone knows the chance to face with serious health problems or unexpected pregnancy is really big. Still, a lot of people don’t use contraceptives anyway. They just rely on luck.

That’s why we are talking about this. We think that this is the wrong approach. Moreover, we are completely sure that about 90% of stories about mail order bride scam happened because men used this approach. Yes, we know that checking every site is very time-consuming. Yes, we know that it’s much simpler to choose the first random site you like. Of course, we read a lot of Terms & Conditions and found them extremely boring, too. Nevertheless, collecting all available information about the platform and analyzing it is the best thing you can do to protect yourself from scams. 

2. Don’t provide your contact details

Another significant thing to mention is that most mail order bride sites don’t encourage men to provide their personal info like exact address and/or copies of ID or driver license even when they are signing up for the site. On some of them, you don’t even have to use the real name – that’s how the platform protects the member’s privacy. Therefore, you don’t have to provide any contact details to anyone – email verification and, in some cases, phone number verification is enough to protect other members from frauds.

Moreover, you shouldn’t provide any personal or financial details in the self-description section. Just don’t write anything that can be used against you.

3. Ask yourself if your relationship is moving too fast

Yes, such websites and agencies connect people who know what they are looking for. However, they are looking for a soulmate, a companion who will be with you no matter what and who will build a family with you. Of course, in such cases, people don’t usually rush things.

Moreover, though the mail order bride industry is based on women’s desire to get married to a good and successful man as fast as possible, times are changing, and you need to consider this, too. Today, people try to get to know each other better, and if a girl wants to skip this stage, this is a red sign. So if a hottie who doesn’t even know you calls you her soulmate and love of her life, ask yourself why is it moving so fast?

4. Take a really close look at a woman’s photos

Does a woman’s photo seem real? Are you sure that this is the same person in all of those pictures? Please note that photos are really important. If a woman has one or two pics, it’s a bad sign. If they are all blurred, you’d better not waste your time with her. Even if she is real, she hardly takes it all seriously.

5. Trust no one, especially if it’s the emergency

If you met a woman, and you really like her, and everything is moving fast, do not send money! Seriously, even if you are going to buy tickets to her country this week, do not send anything or provide your financial details to her, even if an emergency happens. Please note that frauds are people who can tell you anything, we mean literally anything to get your money. So, don’t think that if she tells you about ill mother or ill child, it’s true. No, it’s not.

Just remind yourself that people who were already scammed thought that this would never happen to them, too. And it happened. Please, be careful and keep in mind that sending money to a person you haven’t even met in real life is the bad idea.

6. Don’t leave the site for no reason

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No scam

Another significant thing you need to know about frauds is that they want to take you to a safer place. Safer for them, of course. That’s why a random hottie met on the first mail order bride site you found on Google can write something like “Hey honey, we’re talking for 2 days and I feel that you’re the love of my life, so I want to get closer, let’s talk in Skype!”

The first thing that should alert you is that you don’t really know each other well enough.

Secondly, you need to ask yourself why a girl wants you to leave the site where moderators care about members’ safety.

Thirdly, you need to bear in mind that communicating on most websites is free for ladies. Just ask yourself what are her motives.

Of course, if you know each other for months and get closer and closer day by day, if you are really building the long-distance relationship, there is nothing weird about such an idea. However, if it’s a random girl who insists that you should communicate somewhere else, you should think twice before you agree.

7. Report any suspicious activity

Protect yourself and help the others – here is the rule for every mail order bride site member who wants to enjoy interacting with gorgeous ladies in a safe community. That is why if you think that another user on the site is very suspicious and that he or she violates the rules of the website (which are mostly very reasonable), report scam or spam to protect yourself and others.

8. Choose the right person

This recommendation may seem weird. “How can I know who is right and who is wrong?” “If I knew how to distinguish right people from wrong people, I would not be single now!” you may say, and yes, you are completely right.

However, there is another important aspect to consider: modern mail order bride sites that really connect people provide them with the possibility to find someone who really matches you. However, you need to know which criteria are more or less important to you.

Let’s be honest – a lot of guys who write the stories about mail order bride green card scam (that may be absolutely real, unfortunately) have very few criteria. In most cases, these were the height, hair color, weight, and breast size. Most men who were scammed did not pay much attention to a woman’s personality. If you really focus on your partner and analyze your relationship, you will hardly be scammed by a person who only pretends to be your soulmate.

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How to choose a scam-free dating site?

The most effective way to avoid getting scammed while dating a foreign woman online is to select a decent site. Reputable and well-known platforms won’t scam you since it is not beneficial for them at all. Here are a few tips that will help you choose a scam-free dating site and avoid fraudulent activity!

Research websites you wish to use

So, the important thing to do is to learn as much as possible about a site you want to sign up on. Search online articles and reviews about the website. Decent sites should have some information online. Websites like Sitejabber can help you learn a lot about the real-life experience of people who use the site. Always double-check information if possible—if there is some information about a website, try to find another proof in a different review.

Choose fee-based sites

Very often, free dating sites are forced to scam members to make some money. A website with payment systems and fee-based options is too expensive and complicated to be a scam. Although there are sites that have fee-based features and still try to scam people, these sites are rather rare.

Test everything for yourself

It doesn’t matter how many reviews and articles you can read, you need to test everything on your own. You choose a perfect site for you, and reviews and articles are written to offer you a general understanding of what the site is.

Yes! Online dating is legal in the United States, other Western countries, and the most popular places in the world. Millions of girls all over the world are looking for serious relationships online. Two acts protect women in the United States who become mail order brides. These acts are IMBRA (International Marriage Broker Regulation Act) and VAWA (Violence Against Women Act). So, you can be sure that women who come to the United States are protected and monitored to be treated well.

What are the most common scams online?

It is always a good idea to know what the most common scams are in the world of online dating. By checking out this section, you will easily figure out that something fishy is going on.

  • A bride asks you for money. Usually, dating sites don’t allow girls to ask for money. So, if a bride tells you some tear-jerking story, 9 out of 10 she wants to scam you.
  • A website asks you to give your credit card information upon registration. If you find such a site, immediately leave it, as it is a scam.
  • Fee-based registration can also be a sign of a fraudulent website. However, it is worth noting that some high-end and exclusive websites for sugar daddies can have fee-based registration.

Conclusion

So, does mail order scam exist? Of course, it does! However, we believe that this is not the reason to abandon the idea of finding a wife. This is the Internet, and threats are everywhere, however, billions of people continue to use this every day. What is the reason some of them are scammed, and some aren’t? Well, it’s in the way they use the web. Some of them are careful and even suspicious enough, and some of them are just careless. To which group do you belong? If you want to save your money, protect your privacy, and achieve your goal, use the tips above!

Mark Manson
Lead Author
Mark Manson is a renowned dating coach who has helped thousands of individuals around the world improve their dating lives. His approach to coaching is unique, in that he focuses on the individual rather than on specific techniques or formulas.
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