The market for men seeking to date, form relationships and even marry Russian women (and women from the various Republics inside the former USSR) has never been larger, and seems to be growing every day. A quick search of the subject on Google or some other search engine will get you literally thousands of hits and offer you literally hundreds of choices as far as what services to use. However, as all too many men have found in the last few years, there are also a lot of scams and con games out there. And the tragic part about it is most of the men who have been scammed in the past could have avoided it by taking a few simple, common sense precautions.

The fact that there are people out there looking to take advantage of men who are in the Russian women relationship/marriage market is not surprising. Finding someone to share your life with tends to be a very difficult and very emotional process under any circumstances – and people tend to be at their most vulnerable when it comes to matters of the heart. Still, even in matters of the heart, it is also vitally important that people use their heads as well. Here are a few quick, simple, common sense tips to help you avoid the scam artists and conmen (and women) and aid you in your search for the perfect match.

START WITH YOUR OWN VIRUS PROTECTION PROGRAM – The first step towards finding a legitimate online agency to do business with starts before you even visit any individual websites. It starts with the anti-virus/internet security software that you already have installed on your own computer (and if you don’t have this kind of protection on your computer, you are going to want it get it ASAP). Whether you are using Microsoft, McAfee, Norton, Kaspersky or almost any other major brand, your program will have an internet security feature that will warn you about potential dangers (viruses, worms, spyware, etc.) that are known to be associated with the sites you are considering looking into. Pay attention to these warnings! If a site is red flagged or even question marked by your security software, you will probably want to leave it alone.

NUDITY – While many legitimate Russian relationship/marriage websites feature pictures of their female clients (and yes, remember that the legitimate agencies are working for the women too!) elegantly or even provocatively dressed, few if any legitimate agencies show any nudity anywhere on their site. If you are at a site featuring naked women, the chances are that you are not at an agency, but rather a porn site. If porn is your thing, have fun! But if you are looking for an actual long term relationship, it is probably time to move on.

INFORMATION, RESOURCES AND FAQ’s – Just like any other kind of business, the owners of legitimate agencies specializing in Russian women understand that not only do they have a lot of competition out there, but also that an informed consumer is usually the best customer. Once you have found a service’s website that looks interesting to you, make certain that you dig a little deeper into that site before you spend any of your money there. The best place to start is with their FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section (and if the site you are at doesn’t have an FAQ section, you might want to look elsewhere). The FAQ section should outline, in clear, simple to understand language, exactly what the site can and can’t do for you. It should also tell you right up front what the various services they offer are, what they cost, how they charge, and what you can reasonably expect. For example, beware of any site that guarantees you that the first woman you meet will be the woman for you. Relationships don’t work that way in real life, and they don’t work that way on the internet either. If after reading through the FAQ you are still interested, surf around the site a little and see what resources they offer. Are there easy to use instructions available? Guarantees? Articles and tips on how to start and continue the relationship process? All of these things are a big plus to the consumer. What you are really looking for, however, is what isn’t there. If, after spending some time on the site you get the feeling that the agency’s owners are being unclear about what they charge, or what services they offer or that they are trying to hide something, it might be time to take your search elsewhere.

VERIFICATION – This is perhaps the most challenging – and most important – aspect involved in finding the right agency for you: making certain that the women you are meeting are actually who they say they are, and are actually the women in their pictures and videos. By some estimates, fully 80% of the scams associated with all online dating revolve around the fact that someone is not who they claim to be or, in some cases, doesn’t even exist at all. Legitimate services will have some kind of verification process for the women they are representing – the most effective of which, of course, is actually having a representative of their agency physically meet the women in question to verify their identity. For this reason, it is important that any agency you do business with has offices or partners in the countries that the women come from. Still, and unfortunately, even this cannot provide a consumer with a 100% guarantee and so it is necessary that any service you do business with is able to provide you with a way to prove to yourself that the women you are meeting are the women they claim to be. The easiest and most effective way to do this is via a real time video dating option. With the advances in technology in recent years, most legitimate agencies specializing in relationship/marriage with Russian women will offer some kind of real time video option, providing the customer with an extra level of protection and security. If the agency you are considering using does not offer this option as part of their list of services, you need to ask yourself why they don’t, and consider moving on in your search.

Everyone’s perfect match is out there somewhere, but there are also a lot of sharks circling in those particular waters. By taking a little extra time and making certain that the agency you choose can provide you with the tools you need to make an informed decision you can save yourself time, money, heartache – and move many steps closer to finding that special person to share your life with.