'Visa and travel' scams from Asia The problem continues

These scams are fairly simple.   Somebody you meet online, wants to come to your country to meet you.  They need a visa, and money for the plane ticket.    Can you guess why this type of scam is called a 'visa and travel' scam?    
This type of scam is common from all the major sources of internet romance scams, the former Soviet Union countries, West Africa, and the Philippines.
Within Asia, they are most common from the Philippines, and China, but they can surface from within any SE Asian country, since they are often conducted by West African expats who infiltrate Asian countries on student and business visas, often fraudulent.

Most of these scams are conducted using stolen pictures.   You are usually not in contact with the person in the pictures they use.    
The pictures are stolen.   You will never see the face of the person who stole your money, or know the real name of that person.

No matter how much money you send , 'that' person will never show up at your local airport.   If you seem unwilling to  walk away from this scam, these scammers are usually happy to accomodate you, by  coming up with more reasons they need your money.     
The fake girl may claim to be held at an airport by officials for some reason, and needs money to pay fines, bribes, replace lost or stolen passports, or plane tickets.

 If you are willing to listen, and send money, they are willing to come up with new stories and emergencies.


Currently, many of these scams are conducted by West Africans, operating from within the Guangdong province of China.      They go to China to make money, sometimes doing export trade back to Africa.   Some also conduct scams.

The 'visa and travel' scams they are pulling involves setting up fake profiles for Asian ladies on many dating sites.
The girl will usually be Chinese, or a Filipina, working in China.
The girl is cute, and usually between the ages of  25, and 35.
She will claim to work  at a modest job, often as a nanny, tutor, domestic, or office girl.
They will not show a face on webcam.   They'll usually claim the employer is strict, or they do not have a webcam, and the internet cafe is not close, or in a dangerous part of town.

You are not in contact with the girl in the pictures.  The pictures are stolen.

The scammers enhance the con by having an Asian lady talk to the victim on the phone, pretending to be the lady in the pictures.  (She is not)
She is a local Asian lady who works for the scammers.   At times the voice sounds that of a Chinese lady, others she sound Filipino.     The accent is not always correct for the claimed nationality of the fake lady.

 The same 'visa and travel' scam can surface from any SE Asian country, again, conducted by West Africans who are residents of that country.   

Another trademark of the West African 'Asian' visa and travel scam is the use of fake travel agency websites in the scam.
The victim will be directed to the fake travel agency site, by the fake girl.
The site was created by the West African scammer, and new fake travel agency sites pop up, monthly.
The fake site will include phony customer testimonials, as well as claims to belong to travel industry organisations.
The sites are totally fake.
There are so many, it's hard to keep up with them.

How do you avoid these scams?

Don't send money!

Learn the real procedures for an Asian lady to get a visa to your country.  The time frame, costs, and procedures these scammers present are total fantasy.    In many situations, a single female from Asian countries, of modest means, is not going to get a visa to western countries, easily.

See a face on webcam, and often.   If they are using stolen pictures, they will have many reasons not to use a cam.    A few scammers will have short video clips of that face, or one similar, to feed over a webcam.   The clip is short, they'll claim cam problems, and most victims are happy to just see a glimpse of the 'right', or 'almost right' face, on cam.

 On the right is a screenshot of a webcam during a chat with a West African scammer, who was feeding a recorded video of a porn model over the webcam, and claiming to be that lady.


Keep the age gap reasonable, and are you willing to go to her country to meet her?   If you think you can send money to a lady you meet online, and she will show up at your local airport, you will be scammed, every time.

The West African scammers who pull this scam, from within China, annoy me.   I can see hundreds of profiles they have set up, on many dating sites, but I can hardly put a dent into the damage they are doing.

They keep setting up new fake travel agency sites, which cost money, so 
they must be making pretty good money doing this.

The Chinese government does not seem to be too interested in them, since they usually are smart enough not to pull these scams on Chinese nationals. 

The 'visa and travel' scams you run into from the Philippines often have the same traits, and may include phone calls from the lady, or somebody pretending to be an official detaining the lady who claims to be en-route to meet you.    Again, the person has not shown a face on webcam, and you will never know who really stole your money.

 

Are you in contact with somebody online who is asking for money?

STOP.  Don't send it!   

Ask for help.

Do your homework.   Most of these scams are easy to avoid.  Many of the scam formats have been used over, and over.   You may also be able to easily determine the pictures being used are stolen, and it's pretty unlikely an asian model or actress is 'in love' with you, after a handful of chats, or emails.