The Kyiv Independent uncovers how scammers on dating sites pose as women trapped in Russian-occupied Ukraine, using fake identities to talk foreign men into sending them money. (Daria Filippova / The Kyiv Independent)
Since 2022, the non-profit Helping to Leave has received thousands of requests to rescue people from Russian-occupied territories. Some of those requests were to rescue women who may have never existed at all.
The charity has helped thousands of people flee occupied areas, and its team was used to urgent pleas for evacuation. But over time, a different kind of request began arriving.
Foreign men started writing to Helping to Leave asking to rescue Ukrainian women they had met online, women they believed were trapped in Russian-occupied territories.
Some asked the charity to arrange an evacuation. Others had already sent money, believing they were paying for the woman's escape and that they would finally meet once she reached safety. They never did.
Over the past four years, the non-profit says it has received around 200 such requests, which now arrive up to four times a week, according to Nataliia, the organization's communications specialist, who asked to be identified only by her first name due to the sensitive nature of her work with people in Russian-occupied territories.
Ukrainian and international media have long documented romance scams in which foreign men send money or travel to Ukraine to meet women who turn out to be fake. But the war has given scammers a new way to exploit the sympathy of unsuspecting foreigners.
An investigation by the Kyiv Independent into 58 cases referred by Helping to Leave found evidence that many of the women were not under Russian occupation at all.
Instead, scammers appeared to be using stolen photos, fake identities, forged documents, and, in some cases, AI-manipulated images and videos to convince men to send money.
The women who 'needed to escape'
The Kyiv Independent spoke to two foreign men who had online relationships with women claiming to be trapped in Russian-occupied territories. Their stories followed a pattern: no video calls, escalating crises, and urgent requests for money.
Stefan, a 48-year-old Austrian national whose name has been changed at his request, had been looking for a Ukrainian partner. Having previously dated a Ukrainian woman, he said he was drawn to what he viewed as the importance of family in Ukrainian culture.
He met "Alona Panchenko," who claimed to be from the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, on the international dating website Christian Cupid. Soon after they matched, she suggested moving their conversation to email.
As their relationship continued, however, he began noticing that something was off.
Over the next three months, they exchanged lengthy emails but never spoke by phone or video. "Alona" said she had no mobile phone and could only communicate via an old tablet connected to public Wi-Fi due to conditions in occupied Enerhodar.
Her story grew increasingly desperate. She said she was unemployed, had run out of money, and had even been hospitalized with "severe exhaustion" after going two days without food. Eventually, she told Stefan the only way they could meet was if he helped her escape the occupied territory.
To support her story, "Alona" regularly sent photos that supposedly showed herself and life in Enerhodar.
The evidence she provided was fabricated. The Kyiv Independent traced her portraits to another person, found that photos she claimed she had taken in Enerhodar came from a local media outlet, and identified signs of AI manipulation in some images and videos. The ID she shared also contained an invalid number and an AI-edited portrait.
The request for money revealed another inconsistency. "Alona" instructed Stefan to list Ukraine as the recipient's country of residence when making the transfer through Western Union. That contradicted her claim that she was living in Russia-occupied Enerhodar, where Western Union does not operate.
Stefan says he never sent the money. But another man interviewed by the Kyiv Independent did.
Karsten R., a German citizen, described a similar experience with a woman calling herself "Viktoriia Kremenchutska." She claimed to be trapped in Russian-occupied territory, avoided video calls, and asked for money to escape.
After Karsten agreed to send money, she said she had begun her journey. But as she supposedly made her way out, she repeatedly asked for more funds — first to cross the checkpoint between occupied and Ukrainian-controlled territories, then to pay off an alleged debt she said was preventing her from leaving.
The documents and images she sent were also fake. Her passport copy was forged — the photo was photoshopped, the surname had a typo, and the font was inconsistent with a Ukrainian passport, the Kyiv Independent found. The photos, supposedly of her, turned out to be images of another woman — a woman from Russia. Other photos showed signs of AI manipulation.
"I told her, 'I want to see your suitcases. I want to see you holding a piece of paper with my name and the date on it," Karsten told the Kyiv Independent. He received the photo he demanded — but the Kyiv Independent confirmed it was AI-edited.
Even after discovering the fake documents and images, Karsten struggled to let go. At one point, he considered driving to a Ukrainian border crossing when "Viktoria" said she was trapped there trying to leave. Eventually, he became convinced he was talking to scammers.
Following the faces used in the scams
The Kyiv Independent examined 58 cases referred by Helping to Leave, using available photos and contact details to trace the identities behind the profiles.
The relationships mostly started on dating websites, including UkraineDate, Christian Cupid, and International Cupid. In several instances, the women contacted men directly through Instagram or X. Some cases could not be verified because the available information, such as photos or contact details, was insufficient.
Using facial recognition tools and open-source research, the Kyiv Independent matched 22 profile photos to real women. Two more profiles appeared to rely on AI-generated identities. The remaining cases could not be verified, as they did not include any photos of the women they believed to be communicating with.
Out of the 22 profiles that used real photos, only seven used names that matched the women pictured. In some cases, the women even joined video calls to confirm their identity. But they lied about their whereabouts: the women identified were either living in Ukrainian-controlled territory or had moved abroad. None were in the Russian-occupied territories.
Not all accounts that used real women's photos actually belonged to them. In the remaining 15 cases, the names and surnames did not match the women whose photos appeared on the profiles. Ten of the 15 women were popular Instagram bloggers from Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, Germany, Denmark, and Latvia.
Dozens of women's photos were repeatedly reused across several dating profiles under different identities, often with the accounts presenting themselves as Russian women, the Kyiv Independent found.
This was the case with the images used by "Alona" and "Viktoriia," which were found across multiple profiles. The Kyiv Independent traced the photos used by "Alona" to Natalia Cernisova, a woman from Chisinau, Moldova, and those used by "Viktoriia" to Anna Kolesnyak from Russia. Both women run popular Instagram blogs.
In addition to stolen photos, the accounts used by both "Alona" and "Viktoriia" also sent images and videos that appeared to be AI-manipulated.
The profiles used by "Alona" and "Viktoriia," along with several others reviewed by the Kyiv Independent, are listed in the Ukrainian Dating Scammer Blacklist maintained by Ukrainian Passport, a platform that helps foreigners verify women from Ukraine and Russia.
An investigator with Ukrainian Passport, who asked to not be identified for safety reasons, said some scammers use content from popular Instagram influencers to create fake profiles, and in some cases may even be working with the influencers.
"If necessary, the influencer will even record a video to make the profile seem authentic, while being careful not to reveal too much. Later, she can always say it was for an audition or so. We've seen that happen before," he told the Kyiv Independent.
Anna Bauer, founder of the Kyiv-based Grace Family dating agency, described another way real women's identities can unintentionally enter the online dating ecosystem.
She said scouts sometimes recruit women for professional photo shoots, after which their photographs may be sold between dating agencies. This creates a risk that legitimate images can later be misused by fraudulent operators.
The Kyiv Independent received a response from one Ukrainian Instagram blogger, Anastasiia Mazur-Palamarchuk, whose photos were used in one of the scam profiles. She said her images were used without her consent.
"I'm not registered on any online dating website," she said.
Fact sheet: Top lies scammers use about occupied territories
The Kyiv Independent is listing several common lies used by scammers, based on the conversation with Nataliia from Helping to Leave and its own expertise.
- Claiming it is possible to escape directly across the front line
Scammers often invent stories about crossing directly from occupied territories into Ukrainian-controlled areas through the front line, sometimes fabricating tales of "special drivers" or secret humanitarian corridors.
Civilians cannot cross active front lines because of ongoing fighting and the constant air attacks in front-line areas.
There is currently only one existing humanitarian corridor, located in Ukraine's northwestern Volyn Oblast. The crossing point, which is located on the Ukraine-Belarus border, is used almost exclusively by people fleeing the occupied territories.
People leaving occupied territories have to first go to Russia, then to Belarus, before reaching Ukraine or neighboring EU countries. The journey is usually made by bus or train, while specialized transportation is needed only in specific cases, such as for people with disabilities. Some also leave Russia by air, for example by flying to Georgia, though this route is less common.
- Dramatizing their own situation
While living under Russian occupation is indeed dangerous and harrowing, scammers often exaggerate the severity of their own living conditions to explain why they cannot communicate frequently, and to build sympathy with the men.
Helping to Leave gave an example of a woman who said she lived in Donetsk. She claimed she was living in her basement because of constant shelling, had almost no internet connection, and thus couldn't do a video call.
But the city of Donetsk isn't being shelled. Although Ukraine conducts drone strikes on occupied territories, it says they target military facilities. While this can't be independently verified, the reported death toll from such strikes is typically much lower than that of Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian areas. There is no evidence that Donetsk is under such threat that residents would live in basements.
- Claiming bribes are mandatory at checkpoints and filtration points
Scammers use these claims to extort more money from victims, saying the women cannot pass security checks unless bribes are paid to border guards and officials.
While before the full-scale war, bribes might have been an option for some to travel between the occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and Ukraine-held territories, this practice doesn't exist anymore as there are no checkpoints between these territories.
People who fled occupation with the help from Helping to Leave have not reported being asked to pay bribes along the way, the organization told the Kyiv Independent.
- All messaging apps are blocked under occupation
Some scammers claim they can't use phones or messaging apps or make video calls because everything is blocked under occupation.
Many popular messaging apps continue to work in occupied territories, often with the help of VPN services. Limiting communication to email allows scammers to hide their identity and manage multiple victims simultaneously without having to do voice or video calls.
- Absence of a Russian passport as an excuse and proof of loyalty
Scammers claim they can't travel through Russia because they only hold Ukrainian documents. They also use this to appeal to the victim's political sympathies.
In reality, taking a Russian passport in the occupied territories is not a political choice but a matter of survival: It is nearly impossible to access healthcare without Russian documents. This is part of Russia’s policy of forced passportization in occupied Ukraine, which means many people living under occupation have likely been forced to obtain Russian documents.
- Demanding highly inflated evacuation costs
Scammers also request exorbitant travel expenses, far exceeding the actual cost of public or private transportation.
According to Helping to Leave, women in these cases typically ask for around 800 euros or $800 — roughly twice the actual cost of the journey from the Russia-occupied territories to the government-controlled part of Ukraine through Belarus.
Compiled by Yuliia Taradiuk.
A recurring playbook across 58 cases
A review of emails and messages shared with Helping to Leave and the Kyiv Independent revealed recurring elements in how women claiming to be trapped in Russian-occupied territories describe their situations.
The women presented themselves as trapped and abandoned, with no help available from Ukrainian authorities or humanitarian organizations. In some cases, they suggested that evacuation assistance did not exist, leaving the men to believe they were the only ones who could help.
"Natalia (from Helping to Leave) won't help me get out of here. How can you not understand that?" "Alona" wrote to Stefan.
In reality, when women from the cases reviewed by the Kyiv Independent were referred to the non-profit, they either never contacted it or did not cooperate when coordinators tried to understand what assistance they needed.
When it came to appearing live on a video call with the men, the women similarly said it was impossible, claiming unstable internet in occupied territories, outdated devices, or blocked messaging services.
None of them shared personal social media accounts, either. But in many cases, the Kyiv Independent found that the women whose photos were used in the dating profiles were active on Instagram, where their lives looked nothing like the stories the men were being told. It is unclear whether the real women knew their images were being used.
After matching on dating websites, conversations usually moved to email, Telegram, or WhatsApp. Telegram accounts often hid phone numbers, while WhatsApp accounts were typically registered with Ukrainian numbers.
Some women also sent WhatsApp live locations that appeared to show them in occupied territories. But such data can be manipulated using GPS spoofing tools, making it unreliable as proof of someone's whereabouts. This can be done using specialized apps. The Kyiv Independent was able to share a live location in Paris while physically in Ukraine in just 10 minutes.
When the Kyiv Independent contacted the phone numbers and Telegram accounts provided by the women to the men who believed they were dating, none answered. Most phone numbers were invalid or no longer active, suggesting they may have been temporary numbers used only as burner numbers for the scam and later discarded.
When text messages and excuses failed to persuade men to send money, the people behind the profiles turned to documents to try and back up their claims.
Many women sent what they claimed were Ukrainian passports, but all except one contained signs of digital manipulation, including altered personal details, edited photographs, or invalid passport numbers, the Kyiv Independent found.
Some also sent fake travel tickets or documents that appeared to show fines or penalties allegedly preventing them from crossing the border. They claimed these payments were necessary before they could continue their journey.
Once trust had been established, requests for money followed.
Most of the women suggested cash pickup services such as Western Union, RIA, or MoneyGram. Some also requested PayPal transfers. These methods allowed money to be collected without directly revealing bank account details.
Karsten, who believed he was helping "Viktoriia" escape the city of Donetsk, received a copy of what she said was her ticket for a direct taxi ride from Russian-occupied Donetsk to Kyiv. But the route itself should have been a warning sign: That journey is impossible as it would require crossing an active front line.
He covered the 280-euro "ride." The document he was sent was a crudely photoshopped Ukrainian railway ticket.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion, civilians leaving occupied Donetsk for Ukrainian-controlled territory have generally had to travel through Russia before entering Ukraine through a third country.
Who benefits from the scheme?
Determining who was behind the scheme was one of the most difficult parts of the investigation.
In some cases, the women whose images were used in the profiles took part in the conversations themselves. The Kyiv Independent found four cases in which the women agreed to video calls with the men, confirming that the person in the photos matched the person on the call.
Many profiles never moved beyond text messages. It was much harder to determine who was actually operating the account when the photos had been taken from unrelated women and there was no live contact.
But money transfers provided some clues.
Some women asking for cash pickup through Western Union, RIA, or MoneyGram instructed the men to use the names listed on their dating profiles and to select Ukraine as the recipient's country of residence. Because cash-pickup services require recipients to show identification matching the transfer details, whoever collected the money was likely using the same identity the victim had been shown.
The instructions also contradicted their stories: Despite claiming to live under Russian occupation, the women asked men to list Ukraine as their place of residence when sending money.
While Ukraine and most of the international community recognize the occupied territories as part of Ukraine, in practice they are controlled by Russian authorities and cut off from Ukraine's financial system.
Western Union does not operate in Russian-occupied areas, a customer service representative told the Kyiv Independent. This means any money sent to Ukraine could only have been collected in Ukrainian-controlled territory, not in the occupied areas where the women claimed to live.
The Kyiv Independent also identified at least two cases with apparent links to Russia. In one, the "woman" asked the victim to pay a travel agency she said was helping her leave the country. The bank details she sent named the recipient as Vladislav Gafarov, a Russian national, with an account at a Russian bank.
The phone number the "woman" used to message the victim belongs to Gafarov, according to a leaked 2023 database of clients of Russian microfinance organizations. The same database lists him as an employee of the S.M. Budyonny Military Academy of Communications in St. Petersburg.
Another possibility is that some accounts may be managed by multiple people.
Karsten, who believed he was in a relationship with "Viktoriia," also came to suspect he had not been talking to just one person. Looking back, he noticed that the writing style would sometimes change dramatically — with some messages feeling as though they had been written by a woman, while others seemed to come from a man.
By the time he stopped sending money, Karsten had transferred 2,500 euros. Some victims sent even more: One man who contacted Helping to Leave had transferred around 9,000 euros.
From dating agencies to fake profiles: How the scam works
The use of Ukrainian women's identities in online romance scams is nothing new.
Over the years, Ukrainian and international media have documented cases in which foreign men were persuaded to send money or travel to Ukraine to meet women they believed they had formed relationships with, only to discover the relationships were not genuine.
Some traveled across the world only to be stood up, while others realized the dates were part of a business model designed to keep them paying for restaurants, messages, translators, and other services.
Similar scams have also been reported in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ghana, and Nigeria, among other countries.
While there are legitimate matchmaking services, past investigations have found cases in which agencies relied on fictitious profiles or paid chat operators to prolong conversations and keep foreign clients spending money.
In 2023, Ukraine's largest job-search platform Work.ua listed matchmaking agencies among common fraud operations that it blocks from its platform.
A video call should be one of the first steps when building a relationship with someone met online, according to Anna Bauer-Zuieva, owner of Grace Family, a long-running Ukrainian dating agency.
"It’s not about sending videos back and forth — it's about a real face-to-face (call)," Bauer-Zuieva told the Kyiv Independent. She said asking a person to show their surroundings during a live call can verify their story.
Scammers often rely on emotional pressure, presenting themselves as vulnerable and in urgent need of help. People looking for a genuine relationship, she said, usually do not begin by presenting themselves as someone who needs to be rescued.
For those who have already fallen victim, recovering money can be much harder. Once money has been collected by a scammer, it is generally not possible to recover it through services such as Western Union and Ria. The companies encourage customers to report suspected fraud, while PayPal advises users to contact customer support if they believe they have been targeted.
Victims can also report suspected fraud to Ukrainian police. According to Ukrainian Passport, people who are outside Ukraine can submit an application, appoint a lawyer in Ukraine to represent their interests, and provide testimony via video call.
For those who want to help people living in occupied territories, Nataliia from Helping to Leave said the safest way is to support verified humanitarian organizations rather than send money directly to someone they have only met online.
Yuliia Taradiuk and Natálie Zehnalová have contributed to this piece.