print versionThe Verkh-Isetsk Court of Yekaterinburg has sentenced a pair of marriage fraudsters to a total of 10 and a half years in prison. With the help of a programmer, student of the Ural Institute Of Economy, Management and Law Alena Fedorovskaya conned foreigners, keen to get married, out of a total of $15,000. Her accomplice Vladimir Osipov created the site "Russkiye devushki" [Russian Girls], imitating an online dating service, although the "database" contained photographs of only one girl.
The programmer sent out letters in Alena’s name to potential victims and offered intermediary services for $150. Then Fedorovskaya herself got involved in the correspondence with grooms-to-be, offering that they send her money for a foreign-travel passport, visa and tickets to reach her betrothed. Five years imprisonment is the minimum term prescribed by the criminal code for mass fraud. There has long been an entire business setup in Russia devoted to swindling foreigners who hunt through the mass of advertised Russian beauties. However, just last year the hugely popular American and the found themselves at the centre of a similar scandal.
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