DATING SCAMMER Irina Amosova

I found this lady on the web site Bride in December. Her scam is to use foreign men to finance a lifestyle which she otherwise could not afford. She has trained her 9 year old son and parents in how to act. In her first letter she explains she is very busy with work and unable to write me often or to answer my letters very quickly because she doesn't have internet access or a computer at home. There was no mention of financial difficulties.
I arranged a visit with her in Dnepropetrovsk for January 8th. She met me at the train station and offered to let me stay at her apartment rather than stay in a hotel. At her flat, I met her mother Viola and son Genrikh. Her father was away on a business trip. There was very little furniture in the flat ie only one sofabed and one cot style bed. I also noticed there was a lot of new items such as a Sony TV and VCR, a computer printer still in the box, a new washing machine, a new punching bag with boxing gloves, a Gameboy video game and a modern swivel office chair in front of a computer desk. There was laundry neatly draped over the desk so as to hide a PC and monitor.
Her mother, Viola, went on and on about how poor they were. She said it was not safe to drink local brands of liquor because of poor quality and tampering by fraudsters and therefore they would only drink imported *****. It didn't seem to matter to her that one imported bottle was more than her monthly pension.
After some tea and cookies, Irina suggested we go for a walk. She said that she wanted to make me some home made soup. I soon found out that for her and her son, 'going for a walk' meant a taxi ride downtown and a round of shopping.
After we left the cab, she said that Genrikh was missing his scarf and must have left it in the cab. So, we start shopping for a scarf which I pay for because Irina doesn't have any money. She walks us through the appliance stores admiring all the modern conveniences available. Then she walks us through the home Electronics section display of mobile phones exclaiming how beautiful they were and suggests I buy her one. I refuse and later find out she already had one at home.
Now it was time for Irina to make soup for me but first a cab ride to a supermarket for some groceries. The boy gets a shopping cart and within 20 minutes it is so full that he can't push it any more and I take over. The two of them behave like mad shoppers seeming to select anything within reach. They have selected enough yogurt to last a typical family a month. He opens a bottle of sprite and then spots a fresh squeezed orange juice stand and says he wants some. I tell him we already have 6 liters in the cart but, that is fresh and like his mother only wants the best. In the checkout line Genrikh spots batteries which he says he needs for his Gameboy. He doesn't know the size so he takes a variety. When I tell him that I don't have enough money to buy all those batteries, and Irina says she has no money, he puts some back. The total comes to about 650 Grivnas and I have only 400 so I go to the currency exchange booth. Genrikh follows me and stares at my money while I exchange my dollars. He seems interested to know where I keep my money.
We head back to her flat where it seems that we have so many groceries that her mother must put half of them on the balcony. When bedtime arrives, Irina tell me that there are not enough beds so I offer to sleep on the floor and check in at a hotel next day. She and the boy are not pleased and suggest instead that the next day we shop for a new fold away bed with accessories for me. I decline.
The next day, Friday, January 9, I wake up early to have a shower. After ten minutes, the mother knocked and said she needed to use the bathroom. Two minutes later she knocks and slightly opens the door to ask if I will be long. Apparently she was worried about the cost of electricity to heat the water. Irina is equally frugal with the bottled water and Baileys liquer (which I had bought the previous day).
After a light breakfast, Irina suggests we go for a walk and, of course, some shopping. We stop at a video shop where Genrikh asks for and I buy him a set of movie tapes, 6 in all for 125 grivnas. Next, he stopped at the video game store to try out some new game cartridges and asks me to buy them for him. I already suspect that this is a family of scammers and I refuse. She told me that January 9, was her mother's birthday and I suggest that we get a present for her. Right away she leads us to the selection of wireless home telephones and starts looking at the most expensive set. I buy her a middle of the line set with a built in answering machine, cost about 450 grivnas. I was later thanked for the gift but oddly enough there was no birthday celebration. The shop didn't accept credit cards so I had to exchange some more currency. Again, Genrikh follows me and stares but I politely send him to his mother.
Later, at the restaurant, the two of them order the most expensive mearls on the menu. He can't finish his steak or salad so he orders a doggy bag and a take out desert. I pay by credit card and Genrikh asks how much money I have on this card.
Then it was time to go back to the flat and move myself to a hotel. While waiting for the cab to the hotel, Irina suggests we visit a family Spa center, called Tsunami, for a sauna, swimming and massage the next day. The next day, Saturday Jan 9, they show up at my hotel room ready for a day at 'Tsunami' but I tell her I have a headache and can't go. I haven't eaten yet so we go the hotel caf? for a meal. She and Genrikh take one look at the menu and say it isn't good enough for me and suggests we go back to her flat for some healthy soup. I agree and of course we must stop at the supermarket to get a few things from the delicatessen. Again they behave like mad shoppers and I tell Genrikh to put back a large box of pistachios which he wanted. Irina says she has eaten all the yogurt and so takes some more. Final cost about 300 grivnas. Later, at the flat, she calls a taxi for me and then says that there is a problem and her phone line is not working.
Sunday, January 10, I stay in my hotel room and don't answer the phone because I know it is Irina wanting to visit the Spa. I call back and leave a message on her new telephone. She calls back a little later and tells me she must work next day but will meet me at the hotel at 3:00 pm after work. She doesn't show and I call her apartment at 4:30. She answers the phone but claims to be her mother and says that Irina is on her way to see me. I wait until 6:00 pm. She doesn't show so I go out for the evening.
I am convinced that this a family of scammers and advise all to avoid her. I am sure that if I let her, she would have taken all the money that I had and I doubt that I am her first victim.
Also, she wore a very low cut blouse while relaxing around the flat and her parents didn't seem to mind.