Thinking I was most likely scammed today.
Emma has an ad up on LL right now. She appears to be a verified advertiser on LL, which alone is not enough for me. But then I went to her website (russian-baby.com) (sorry mods if this isn't allowed) and it seemed that there were at least 9 threads of reviews on a different site that commended her service. I proceeded to text her and set up an appointment.
The two lessons I learned, scam or not, are:
1. Do a site-wide search for a provider if you aren't sure. I should have done this before, but did it after and found a thread from the Victoria 411.
2. If an "SP" asks you what city you are in, it is a circumstantial red flag - on its own it doesn't raise a lot of concern, but if you are in fact dealing with a scammer who has ads in multiple cities, they are likely using that info to determine what address to feed you.
Back to the story. I texted, set up the time and date, and then came the dreaded no-no: the deposit. The deposit was in the form of art, purchased off of a website. I went ahead and purchased this art, after which point the appointment was supposedly confirmed, and she sent me a few videos too. Fast forward a bit, and as I was leaving, I texted to say that I would be a few minutes late. She says she has an emergency and has to reschedule or get her bf to send me Bitcoin. I foolishly said I'd reschedule.
I hadn't heard from her in a while, so the alarms started to go off. Sure enough, I found the Victoria 411 thread on her, and it sounds like someone else got given the same story I was.
So I'm 99% sure I got scammed here. Don't think with the little head, and don't assume anyone is legit, and finally do NOT send anyone a deposit (with notable exceptions, such as at least a few of the ones who advertise here). All I have to show for an embarrassingly large sum of money is a few videos and some art, which although not bad, was not worth the price I paid for it.
If it turns out I'm wrong and she is legit, I will take this post down. Send me a PM if you want the videos (unless that's against the rules).
Emma has an ad up on LL right now. She appears to be a verified advertiser on LL, which alone is not enough for me. But then I went to her website (russian-baby.com) (sorry mods if this isn't allowed) and it seemed that there were at least 9 threads of reviews on a different site that commended her service. I proceeded to text her and set up an appointment.
The two lessons I learned, scam or not, are:
1. Do a site-wide search for a provider if you aren't sure. I should have done this before, but did it after and found a thread from the Victoria 411.
2. If an "SP" asks you what city you are in, it is a circumstantial red flag - on its own it doesn't raise a lot of concern, but if you are in fact dealing with a scammer who has ads in multiple cities, they are likely using that info to determine what address to feed you.
Back to the story. I texted, set up the time and date, and then came the dreaded no-no: the deposit. The deposit was in the form of art, purchased off of a website. I went ahead and purchased this art, after which point the appointment was supposedly confirmed, and she sent me a few videos too. Fast forward a bit, and as I was leaving, I texted to say that I would be a few minutes late. She says she has an emergency and has to reschedule or get her bf to send me Bitcoin. I foolishly said I'd reschedule.
I hadn't heard from her in a while, so the alarms started to go off. Sure enough, I found the Victoria 411 thread on her, and it sounds like someone else got given the same story I was.
So I'm 99% sure I got scammed here. Don't think with the little head, and don't assume anyone is legit, and finally do NOT send anyone a deposit (with notable exceptions, such as at least a few of the ones who advertise here). All I have to show for an embarrassingly large sum of money is a few videos and some art, which although not bad, was not worth the price I paid for it.
If it turns out I'm wrong and she is legit, I will take this post down. Send me a PM if you want the videos (unless that's against the rules).