WOMEN AND CULTURE
A Ukraine Women Scam Analysis: Behind the Concept of “Exotic Beauty”
Her name was Diana.
She had long, blonde hair and hazel eyes that stood out above sharp cheekbones. She was wearing something blue, with laces that curved along her collar like an expensive necklace. Her smile was beautiful and inviting, and below that smile, she was telling everyone that all she wanted was true love.
Somewhere in Texas, Owen swallowed in nervous anticipation and moved his mouse to click on Diana’s picture.
Little did Owen know that before the day was over, he would become another victim of a Ukraine women scam.
The Dangerous Power of Stereotypes
The international dating industry is very much alive in Eastern Europe, and at the center of it all is the country of Ukraine.
Everywhere on the internet, you’ll find dating sites and companies offering services that can help people, particularly men, find love matches with beautiful singles from cities like Kyiv, Kherson, and Odessa. Each of these sites showcases hundreds of photos and profiles of ladies — all attractive, all available.
Owen is not alone in his hopes of meeting someone special through international dating. And, unfortunately, he is also not the only one to fall prey to a classic Ukraine women scam.
Romance scams that use Ukraine and Eastern European women as the center of their infrastructure rely on stereotypes and beauty standards that have been around for a very long time.
These stereotypes include traits that are apparently universal in Ukrainian women: they are beautiful and submissive, they’re good at cooking, and they are very devoted to their families.
Most of these traits are highly appealing to foreign men looking for their future wives, and while there isn’t anything necessarily wrong with that, they do make it easy to find victims for operators of a Ukraine women scam.
Looking Beyond the Surface
Owen, now 49 years old but still single, can recall with near-perfectly clarity the moment he realized that he was not, in fact, talking to a beautiful Ukrainian who was interested in being his partner in life.
It was when “Diana” started spinning stories that were too complicated to be true that the illusion began to fall apart. When she stopped being the blonde, doe-eyed goddess in her online profile and turned into the demanding person behind her hot-and-cold messages, Owen slowly realized that he was being manipulated.
That he was only being set up for an elaborate Ukraine women scam.
“She looked like everything I’ve ever wanted in a woman,” he shares with lingering melancholy. “I should’ve known it was too good to be true.”
A Ukraine women scam like the one that targeted Owen is one of the many reasons why a lot of people still consider international dating to be a huge risk.
Despite several legitimate dating agencies campaigning against this reputation with award-winning services and a genuine advocacy of helping people find love, fear of being scammed remains a primary concern for people who are otherwise interested in dating online.
But despite his frankly traumatic experience, Owen still believes that it’s possible to meet and fall in love with someone through the internet. It’s just a matter of knowing the right way to get there.
“It’s not just about a pretty face,” Owen urges people who want to avoid being another easy mark for a Ukraine women scam. “You also gotta have genuine intentions.”
A Ukraine Women Scam Analysis will be a series of articles aiming to shed light on romance scams and dating misconceptions surrounding women in Ukraine and in other parts of Eastern Europe.
Suggested read
