Why is "Amelie" (no site) on my "Hell No" List?

* This is the Poltava branch of anastasiaweb and dream-marriage, NOT the Amelie agency in Kiev, part of Angelika Network

In my OPINION...

Based on the reports that I have received...

It APPEARS that this site/agency...

OK, read carefully. This is for the affiliate of anastasiaweb and dream-marriage in Poltava, Ukraine.

Being an affiliate of scam agencies is enough to blacklist anyone.

This is the report I got. It is long, but in depth...

Jim.
 
I have read most of your site. THANK YOU!!!
 
Hi, My name is Steve. I am a 39 year old single Englishman. I am a self-employed headhunter and I live and work in Tokyo Japan. Where’s that? That’s a LONG way from Poltava Ukraine that’s where! 24 hours door to door in fact…..but if you assume that it was your average 22 year old blonde nightmare that got me to go over there, think again: If you think I am usually a man of poor judgment check the recommendations on this link: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cornerstoneapkk

The Hook

Just for the hell of it, my  profile went up on AnastasiaDate.com towards the end of April. The tons of gushingly over-romantic letters I received were mostly red-flag-able as  tripe written by economically challenged Eastern European ladies. I did nt necessarily believe the profile photos either, though I dearly wanted to. …………Adobe airbrushing??

However A  pair of eyes on the Anastasia home page thumbnails DID get my attention, and as I read her profile, I realized we had exactly the same interests, (Ski-ing, Scuba and Salsa) and that we  were born a day apart. The first letter back from her indicated a measured intelligence and a careful approach. This WAS mature. THIS was what I could follow up on. Divorced and with son. So SHE would likely be serious..and what fun classy intelligence! This was indeed confirmed during  the phone call thru Anastasia which left me in no doubt that while seductive, she had a seriously good head on her shoulders.  Not the profile of an early 20s gold-digger, and neither am I the standard  lonely late thirties guy. Never been married sure, but I have co-habited, and as an eligible foreign male in Tokyo, I never have to be alone even if Japanese female company has become a little shallow for my taste.

“My son learns languages at school. He is 11 . He is old enough to try a foreign country.I want him to…..”  Yes but JAPAN? ….Hard on her.(especially with barely intermediate English)  Hard on the boy. (especially with such a different education system) I told her that right up front. So I knew I was going to go there to find out more about them , and wrote at the beginning of May that the ticket had been booked so Id arrive the night before her birthday...We had five weeks before I flew, to get to know each other and to pull out if we decided it could nt work. We agreed.

So I told her a lot about myself including why my relationships with Japanese woman had nt worked. And  the letters became increasingly romantic Despite me probing for more of the practical details she  evaded them and become more openly seductive. Love not money was the overriding theme of her letters, even though I was pushing for more info about her real needs and her son, she actually complained that I was being TOO practical. “All I need is love, and love has no boundaries” She said. And she told me that she was sure it was me. She told me a lot that was re-assuring. She told me that she is ready to do the hard work of making a cross cultural/international relationship work.

So 10 days booked 10th till 21st June, to meet her on her 39th birthday (11th) and my 39th birthday 12th June. Set to meet her son, and even talking about the next meet which would have been in Japan.

Foolish maybe, but not completely stupid: My letters were carefully written so  to be as open honest practical, yet romantic as possible……My only protection right? However, The last two from hers set the internal radar going off. .”Do not give me the clean look, keep your hair “ the night before I flew. This was strange, since previous letters indicated a sincere love of my clean look.

“Don’t you think we should talk about the Japan trip as soon as we meet” (No darling, Those are our birthdays! We should just enjoy ourselves.”)

But by then the trip was imminent. 60 letters had been exchanged in the space of five weeks. Some of mine were extremely time consuming. I simply wanted a 39 year old single mother to know as much about me as possible before committing to a visit.  This could be a life changer for her. You cant be LESS than completely honest  to someone in her situation. But What internal voice made me pack my pocket Dictaphone?

The Sting

The first meeting was at the Anatasia managed apartment I had booked. The two silk lounging Kimonos were not received as well I I had expected and as she started to open the wrapped perfume, the phrase “Oooh ..Tiffany???” escaped from her lips….and that was the beginning of ME being subtly maneuvered into buying the gold bracelet for her. She did however make sure that she could nt miss her dance lesson, which specifically showed me that she had not been lying about her interests. But a “romantic” post-dinner walk back thru an elegant tree lined street in Poltava was runined by her questions about the business situation in Japan and even what my tax reduction strategy is!  I was dropped back at the apartment., and the ruse continued the next day on MY birthday, by her alluding to other men, asking me how to handle Japanese men, and by admitting that she had to make her choice based also on the economic situation of her man, This gave  the lie to her final letters which stated that all she needs is love and love has no boundaries etc etc…….But she KNEW form my letters that I am recovering my business from the crash..so WHY have you got me here?

OKAY..This is NOT what the letters or the phone call lead me to expect at all, but to give her the reassurance she needed and to make sure the next 9 days go smoothly I almost automatically did several things: I suggested we go to Kiev together, and asked her how much hotels  are there, I suggested a trip to Odessa, I went to the bankomat to get a wad of cash out, making sure she could see I had several bank accounts accessible, and two credit cards available. And then I dropped 300 USD on a gold bracelet for her. “Ill keep the garuantee” she said. “ I can take it back within two moths if it breaks.”……..hmmmm.

This purchase  was the last thing I did before she taxied me back to my apartment promising to call at 2pm the next day, Saturday 13th. .But earlier that day she had let slip that her son is VERY close to the ex husband who is living in Poltava……giving the lie to her claim by letter and during the Anastasia web phone call that her and her son could move away at any time. Also during that Friday afternoon, another call had come in ..from her agency apparently. She disappeared outside and was gone for 10 minutes: Way more time than was neccessary to answer a question regarding whether she had got the birthday roses.

Later that evening I called her to suggest that we talk the next day about her son and the ex husband. OBVIOUSLY we could not be taking  them to Japan now could we…But since my work allows me to work remote, there would be no reason why I cant move to Poltava for a bit If we start hitting it off. I planned to explore all this with her. Not much romance yet, but how could there be when she had hijacked our birthdays with probes about the finances? In cricketing metaphor, I had been forced onto the backfoot.

The Shut Out

The following text  came in at lunchtime the next day (From a DIFFERENT mobile number) “My sister and her family gave me a surprise visit on my birthday and will be here until Monday..call my agency here are the numbers..you will not be alone.”  

Incredible!  ………………………..7000 USD in trip money and  lost working time just to be taken for a 300 dollar gold bracelet. This is a sick joke surely!

The emotions were sucked back in and the head took over.. I went into “play-dumb” mode and called the agency…Marina, sounded shocked. She  introduced herself as the translator who had done our letters. “Oh I have got so MUCH invested in THIS.I feel like I was helping two people fall in love.”  I took her out for the evening. I Made it quite clear that I was not interested in meeting others.

Marina, on the surface was sympathetic but said she had called Margarita who DEFINITELY had guests. Marina was however sure that the earliest Margarita would be calling me was Monday.

…………So Marina WAS  covering her.

……As was the agency boss Natalia, who I first met on Monday 15th and who covered Margarita with the ‘Ukrainian family life is priority” line. I was offered other dates. “It is NOT the agency`s policy to double book any of our girls with other men”. (I never accused them of that…hmm..  “methinks the lady doth protest too much?” ) 

I found out from Marina that any girl  has to pick up if the agency calls her. This was the first hint that this could be an employment contract

The presents (the ones I brought in And the bracelet) came back on Tuesday at a
meeting between all four of us. I signed for them after Margarita had left chastened by the fact that I had calmly shot holes in all her excuses.

“Not satisifed with my financial stability? You know nothing about it! You have not been told in any detail yet. “

That’s entirely true..I had let her know nothing during those two days that she did nt already know thru the letters. So, Unhappy that shed been forced into bringing back the bracelet…. “All woman are snakes” was the last commentary from her as she fled the interview. And so because I stood tall, and went in hard, and then showed Natalia the dictaphone after Margarita had left, the agency went straight into “damage limitation” mode.

After one more subsequent meeting at the agency I realized they feared getting on the wrong side of a compliant from Anastasia webs anti scammer unit….but REALLY?

I told them Id be taking legal action against Margarita who obviously had just got me there to leverage some pawnable jewllery from me. I mean…Think about it!! Woman interested in potentially finding a marriage partner tend to look at how the mans actions show her how much she is valued. Well I had taken 10 days out of my life spent 4000 dollars and traveled 24 hours to get there. All She was interested in, however, was what value of jewllery she could leverage!

The second hint that this IS employment came when they told me that Margarita is under contract with the agency and therefore I would be suing THEM not Margarita.  I asked them if they had professional indemnity insurance. They had nt. They PLEADED with me to go on more dates with no date fee. Back  in “play dumb” mode, I set two for Thursday 18th.

A lawyer at the FAMILY LAW GROUP in Kiev has since explained why they got me to sign for the presents....She told me that under Ukrainian Law if I sign for the return of the presents the law will not  support any compensation claim for the cost of the trip However I  can  file a Moral compensation claim and seek financial damages under that. I am following up.

On 17th, I suggested to Natalia  the agency boss, that legal action could be avoided if I can continue to communicate with Ms Velichko…At THAT point I found out that if a man writes to a woman , by Anastasia.com rules, the woman HAS to write back. So Natalia would FORCE Margarita to write to me “because I obviously am a level headed guy and her most popular girl needs her head straightening out.”  But Of course.. This is how the translation money is made from the Anastasia credit purchase system. So at THAT point, I realized I can trust nothing that comes to me thru Anastasia.com…..and of course..the only letter I have had from Ms Velichko since I returned to Japan is the one requesting no further contact! ..So Natalia had been  merely  trying to butter me up to go on more dates thereby extracting more cash from me…….just as well I  had had  the good sense to leave the agency flapping by canceling the two dates for Thursday 18th , at short notice  and disappearing to Kiev early the next day.


A simple case of a lady getting cold feet?

Hardly! ..Margarita AND Natalia  knew she had another visitor coming in that weekend, before I flew..Hence the email asking me to keep my hair. Hence the email asking me to talk about the Japan trip ASAP. She had needed to make a quick judgement call had n’t she? Why else would she have been probing to the extent she did  ON OUR BIRTHDAYS when she knew we had 10 days together??  The bracelet purchase was the last thing she did with me before stopping the show. The agency definitely knew about the other guy and were covering her. The letters before I flew were entirely misleading about her intentions and needs. That’s deception. Deception for the purposes of financial gain is fraud. I wonder how long she s been at it? I am following up.

She cannot leave Poltava easily because of the son-ex husband relationship. They purposefully neglected to tell me this in the letters. Her profile pics were of a version of her at least 5 years younger, possibly more, thus giving the lie to Marina’s assertion that Margarita  has only been with the agency six months. The heart shaped cushion appearing in her photos was sitting in Natalia’ s managers office. Is she even interested in LOOKING for a husband??  Seems she can have variety/the thrill of new attention WITH financial compensation/ trips etc..Sure, She could be quite happy like that.

Margarita's  profiles remains up. And that's the final piece I needed to put this whole thing together with no room for doubt. (After all.she can hardly be considering  other visitor as  a serious option if her profile remains up!)  Her Anastasia ID is Margarita (ID: 1133275)  She is also on dream marriage.com. These are the two sites Amelie's woman feature on. STOP PRESS: Margarita (aweb 113275) has changed her name to MARGARET within the last Two days. (August 6th or 7th) The AWEB ID remains the same.

The bracelet WAS an attempted scam. (But I HAVE avoided a long-game scam) The misleading information that got me to take the trip was DEFINITLEY a scam…Margarita/Marina knowing that if she walked away , she could throw me back to the agency and get a kickback. ALL carefully worked out, and Natalia played her part at the meetings to near perfection, acting supportive to the customer and critical of Margarita during the meeting of June 16th.  Maragarita/Marina  had simply  needed to Get me to Poltava  by playing down the MATERIALISTIC side of Margarita, and the two of them succeeded in doing just that..
 
These are slick ladies, but they made mistakes.  I stuck around and booked two dates for Thursday 18th just to make enough observations, because the agency THOUGHT I was neutralised.They thought they had won me over. Here is what I found out:

NO member of that agency (There are 1000 on their Database..I was given access to it to arrange other dates ) ever comes in to see or respond to the letters, I saw NO one, and I was there three times for a total of around 7 hours. The translators are translators PLUS writers. Natalia has a team of 8. How can 1000 woman reply to their letters by visitng the agency? It’s a tiny place!

Natalia admitted that Margarita is her most popular girl, and it seems from the age of her profile photos that she has been at this for a number of  years.  I saw her stats. 490 sent, 260 received. YTD. THAT’S SIGNIFICANT TRANSLATION INCOME FOR HER AGENCY!   Did Natalia put the other guy in ON PURPOSE?  Its tempting to think so: But such an action to protect her top asset  would be as flattering to me as it would be disturbing..

I lifted Margarita’s listed address from the system. She gave me her two mobile numbers herself.  The first number was the one she used to contact ME. The second number was the one she texted me from on Saturday 13th. Different “marks”…..…different phones.   Neither number now connects me to the voice belonging to the lady known as Margarita Velichko.

I am now certain  that Margarita pulled the plug on me after I called her on the evening of Friday 12th AFTER she had dropped me at the apartment. In that phone call, I opined that the Son-ex husband situation needed to be talked about.  That was her confirmation that she had been caught out and that the gist of my letters indicating that I was playing it straight was real. (After all.there is enough compensated dating going in Japan..dont need to travel  if I am into  THAT!) …..In short , she was scared of having the logical conversation about the consequences to our “developing romance” which result from the relationship between her son and the ex husband  She knew THEN that I was not a scammable target. She knew I was nt there for sex. She had a better mark And she needed to get away from me .Therefore the agency had to cover the attempted scam. Hence the meeting on 16th. Hence the return of the presents.

Jim is absolutely right when he says you cannot trust Anastasia date or Dream marriage.com.

Stay AWAY from Poltavan women! …..I spent 7000 USD in trip money and lost working time to go and find out if she was for real. She was not, and no one whose profile is on Anastasia date is likely to be. They are merely pictures that get you to write, that get someone else sitting in an office the other end , replying .This  gets Anastasia around three dollars and the local agency around three dollars. Other sites featuring Poltavan women..I don’t know about.  I was told by Amelies staff that if the woman is registered to THEM they cannot register with another local agency. I don’t know if that’s true…but best to stay away from Poltavan woman altogether I think: The further east you go in the Ukraine, the more corrupt, apparently.

I would be VERY interested to hear any one else’s experiences with Amelie, this particular Poltavan agency,  any other Poltavan woman, in general, and Margarita (Velichko) in particular. Jim will display the photos I took of Margarita. If you recognize her please contact me immediately. Do not go NEAR this woman. In person she is very real, seems to be very HERSELF and therefore VERY like-able and pretty good at what she does. She does n’t act. Rather like me, she has the confidence to know that she can just be herself and be attractive. That’s the key…She is manipulative rather than an outright actress. That is why she is dangerous.

I am resolved to spend a significant amount of spare time stopping the activities of this agency. Please mail me at steveveritt@consultant.com  if you have ANY relevant information.

Amelie s address is (Hope I have got the translation from cryllic to English ok)

36000 r Poltava, np-t Pervomayiskiyi 19, ufis 16

Tel 38 (0532)  50-24 -69)
Mobile  8 067 530 03 47

Natalia s mobile (I have checked again from japan...yup  Its hers. She called me back to my Japan number see who I was ..) :  8 097 395 46 34

The two agency numbers which Margarita used: 8 067 532 1177, 8 093 722 6284
Feel free to direct any commentary to:  info@amelie.com.ua