Hello all,
I have been on LoveMe for about two weeks now. Clearly, most of the girls are a scam - I would say 75%. But it also proves that the site itself is a 75% scam. Why do I know this?

First warning: A womans profile has only studio photos. Why is that? You have posted some good selfie shots yourself in two minutes. No make up or studio photos needed, right? An ordinary woman would of course present herself from her best side, but that only takes one, maybe two studio photos. The rest should be selfies she has taken herself. Compare it with Travelgirls.com. (however, most of the women there are prostitutes, but it´s still good selfies). We all understand eastern woman on dating sites are poor. But, come on, not owning a mobile with a camera (a computer however is not a common item in the east, could be borrowed to communicate)? Surely, "designed" profiles are a scam! The best example is Single-Baltic-Ladies, The worst criminal network ever.

Second warning: If she starts to send you letters with a lot of pictures attached. Why do you need more pictures of her, if you haven´t asked for it? An honest woman just writes you. Photos cost per picture to open. Now, you don´t have to buy them, but it´s still a trick to rip you off. Scam!

Third warning: On the profiles, you can see if the women have an e-mail address for sale. They don´t work! I have written to LoveMe and pointed out that a woman didn´t receive my mails and they did not respond. Scam!

Follow these steps:
1. Read the profile carefully and check the needed language skills. Search for a woman who speaks a language you both have in common. And watch out: A lot of women lie about their language skills. Love and understanding does NOT come out of long silences, translation computers or any interpreter. If you can´t communicate with her over the dinner table - forget the woman! This surely rules out 50% of all the eastern women on all of the dating sites. But it doesn´t cost you emotional heartache, money or energy. Besides, what kind of man are you to bring home a perfect stranger with HIV? You clearly don´t know who or what you are dealing with!

2. Ask the woman to verify her photos! But do it politely. This means, she has to take a selfie holding up a sign saying "Hi, I´m XX" and attach it in the next mail (of course you have to do that yourself, to show her respect). It costs you to open that one photo, but it´s a low cost. Also, it shows you that:
- The woman seem to understand your instructions as well as your intentions, so she understands your language.
- It may also prove that she is independant and is in no need of an interpreter.
- She probably owns a mobile phone and hopefully has easy access to a computer.

The scammers have clearly difficulties with arranging a verification of this kind, because it costs them time and effort. If the photos are delayed, the woman playes offended or stops to write you, you know. Scam!

Good luck. You´ll need it.

Good Guy

Cartagena, Columbia Tour

Well guys, Im sitting at Gate H5 in Ft. Lauderdale waiting for my flight on Spirit. Its always interesting trying to identify the clients on the tour as I am not the leader on this one. I know I will be joined by Ken, who has done this many times, so I am in good hands.

Im spending my time working on my Spanish and temporarily trying to forget my Russian. Im sure I will slip up more than once. We will arrive in Cartagena at 12:30 so plenty of time to get familiar with our surroundings. Today is Thursday and the socials will be held on Friday and Saturday nights. It is interesting as the ladies are only permitted to attend one or the other, so there will be a new group to meet on Saturday.

Also, I understand from the agenda that a strict protocol is followed. The ladies are seated at tables and the guys are required to move to a different table every twelve minutes! Since the office explains this to the ladies, the guys do not have to feel they are being rude. I am curious to see how this works.

Also, I understand dancing is very big here. Fortunately I worked on my Salsa and Meringue in the Dominican Republic in September, but Im sure they are very advanced.

Well, at last we are here. What a beautiful city as you can see from the photos. Everyone is so friendly. As we walk down the street, we are often greeted. I assume they realize that we are not native to their country and want us to feel welcome.

The office is great. Of course, there is a manager and several girls who work there. Everyone speaks English, so there is no problem communicating. What I notice is that they really want to get to know me and what I am looking for. As I speak, I see them taking notes. What I learned is that they are attempting to identify ladies I might be interested in.

Even though there will be two socials with as many as 100 girls in each, I am free to select from other dates that may not be in attendance. Since Cartagena has about 1,000 available AFA profiles, this is a big benefit.

The food, music, and other cultural aspects are a real treat. After leaving the office I spend my time traveling around this beautiful seaside city and enjoying all that it has to offer.

I realize that all this activity plus the flight has worn me out, so I head back to my comfortable room and quickly fall asleep. The next day after a Columbian breakfast, I decide to travel to the old city. Cartagena has both the old and the new, which is where the office is located. The old city is very interesting. I saw ancient cannons and old buildings and churches. I cut my travels short to shower and prepare for my first social that night.

As I expected the beautiful girls were seated at numbered tables. We all were assigned a translator and went from table to table in an organized fashion. This activity was very pleasant. At the end of an hour or so, we all had met each of the ladies present. If one of the clients was interested in a lady, it was a simple matter to let your translator know and a date could be arranged.

Once this activity was complete, the music pumped up and everyone began to dance. What a great time! When the social concluded, many of the clients went out afterwards with a lady that interested them. However, on this occasion, I simply went out for a drink with a few of the guys as I was not especially interested in any of the ladies I met.

The next day, the office manager had several girls who were not at the social that she suggested I have a date with. I agreed and had a great time the rest of the day with several beautiful girls who were eager to show me their city.

Now it was Saturday and time for the second social. Remember, this was a completely new set of girls to meet. The process was the same and I circulated from table to table. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that I had not met a girl that especially interested me. However, while I was sitting at the very last table. A girl and her friend arrived late. She sat next to me and I was delighted. We began to chat with the help of my translator and danced the rest of the evening. I asked her if she would like to meet the next day and she said yes.

Well, when we met the next day it was clear to me and my translator that we felt the same about each other. It was great. Although the manager had several dates lined up for me, I had to decline as I wanted to spend my time with Lina. Her picture is included.

Although this was a seven day tour, I spent the rest of the time with her. Normal AFA wisdom would say that I should have dated as many girls as possible, but we really enjoyed each others company. I wanted to know as much as possible about her and life in Columbia. She felt the same about myself and life in America.

However, all good things must come to an end. She accompanied me to the airport. It was sad to depart and she cried.

We are still friends on Skype and Facebook and communicate often. I must admit that there is a difference in our ages. For this reason it probably would not work, although this did not concern her.

Perhaps, I will have the opportunity to visit her again. We both would enjoy that.
What is the lesson for you? Nothing will happen unless you travel to the country of your choice. Letters are fine, but they will never take the place of meeting face to face as I learned. I have many friends who did this and met their one and only and are happily married.

On June 11,2014 to June 18,2014, I was in San Jose, Costa Rica trying to meet a young lady with whom I had been writing since March 2014 through a dating agency called, A Foreign Affair via their "Express Mail" service. The following is (or was) a description of it from their website:
Express Mail:
The Express Mail system allows you to quickly send your letter (with a full translation) via our network of foreign offices, even though she may not have her own personal E-mail account. (Many of the women do not have their own E-mail address, thus by using the Mail Forwarding service your letter will reach the woman in just a matter of a day or two.) The cost to send an Express Mail letter is $9.99 per page. You may wish to send a photo along with your letter for an additional $3.50.
As a Platinum Member you will also receive Express Mail discounts. When using the Express Mail service, Platinum members pay only $7.49 per letter (including translations) as opposed to $9.99 for non-Platinum members.

After spending almost $400.00 on Express Mail messages, we seemed to have some common interests and we were developing a good friendship. She wanted to meet me or continue our relationship (16 May 2014, 03:45 "Hola Robert! …. En las ultimas cartas he sentido una linda amistad y ya me hace falta conversar contigo! Espero que estes pasando un hermoso dia y que Dios te bendiga! Abrazos") and I wanted to meet her. I can speak, read, write, and understand Spanish just fine. Linda amistad means, good friendship.

I found a good airfare and flew to Costa Rica to meet her on June 11,2014; taking a red eye flight. Before going, I wrote her with my hotel name and the number. I wanted her to call me to arrange a place and time to meet. Unknown to me, the agency was blocking any contact information like phone numbers, meeting places, etcetera until the lady would sign off on an Imbar form, releasing the agency of any liability. The above Express Mail description did not say anything about blocking information. I was under the impression that the lady was receiving all my information and was going to call me.
Message received 06 Jun 2014, 22:1
Re: Re: Re: Re: Cambio de Hotel Hola Robert!
"., mira, espero que cuando vengas a Costa Rica, te comuniques con la agencia,…" I thought, Why did I have to communicate with AFA office in SJ when the young lady already had my contact information?
The key item here is that the agency in Costa Rica knew I was coming to see the young lady. The agency wanted me to contact them, but I didn't know why and nobody bothered to give the lady their telephone number to pass on to me. It appears that the agency did not emphasize that she needed to sign the Imbra form before she could contact me or I could contact her. They didn't necessarily bend over backwards to let her know about it. Looking back on the situation, AFA had a fiduciary duty to do it since they are a dating agency. I was paying them to communicate, met, and get to know the young lady through the agency's Express Mails.
While in San Jose, I spent most of the time waiting around the hotel, walking down to a shopping center close by to eat meals, watching the World Cup, using the fitness center, and bothering the hotel staff. I was thinking that the young lady might try to call there at any time since I had given her the hotel number (which the translator was blocking unbeknown to me).
On the third day, I checked my email messages on the hotel computer and there was an Express Mail from her. My bank would not let me charge it at first with my Credit Card. She wrote me asking why I hadn't contacted her. I wrote to say that I was at the hotel and gave her the number again, but of course, the translator blocked it. Another set of Express Mails were exchanged between her and I, basically saying the same thing. You might think that the agency personnel in SJ would have shown some professionalism and told the young lady to go to their office ASAP and sign off on the Imbra so we could meet quickly. It appears to me from what happened next, that they were telling the young lady to wait to sign the Imbra until I went to their office. They wanted me to pay $200.00 for a membership.
Towards the end of my week in Costa Rica I became desperate. I called the AFA headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona long distance from my hotel in Costa Rica. They said that they would contact their guy in San Jose, Costa Rica and tell him what to do. The guy called me at my hotel. I could hear a lot of loud music playing in the background. He said that I had to pay a $200.00 membership fee and send another Express Mail ($10.00) to the young lady to tell her to go to the agency to sign the Imbra and I had to go there also. I asked the guy why I had to pay $200.00 for a membership and why couldn't the young lady just sign the form and we could meet? The guy said it was too late for her to sign the Imbra without me paying the $200.00. He said that the AFA Office in Phoenix, AZ gave him this directive.
To make a long story short, I did not meet the young lady. You make the judgment, was the agency personal making it easy for us to meet? After paying the airfare, hotel, food, and rental car, and all the Express Mails since March 2014, the last thing I wanted to do was pay for a membership fee, especially since I didn't know about it. The guy at the SJ agency said that I could have access to 200 additional women's profiles. Pretty stupid since I only wanted to meet the one lady in San Jose.
After I came back from Costa Rica, I called the agency several times, but the front office personnel were critical of me for flying down to meet the young lady; using the logic that I should have contacted their office first (nothing to the effect was mentioned about it in their Express Mail description). They gave me some reasoning that 97% of men who say they are going to fly off to a different country to meet a woman, never do. Finally, I talked with the owner and we negotiated for a month about what was going to happen.
He refunded me the charges for the Express Mails that I sent while in SJ and my long distance call (He offered to refund all my Express Mail to her, but my goal was to communicate with the young lady not get back monies). He had the guy in San Jose contact the lady and arrange for a three way phone call for 5 minutes. We talked, but the lady was still wondering why I had not contacted her. She thought that I was meeting and going out with other women.
About one week later she was able to go to the AFA agency (no easy task for her by city bus) and she signed the Imbra. I received her number and I withdrew my previous commentary that I had written and a complaint to the BBB. I made several attempts to contact the lady by phone, but I always receive a message, "déjà su mensaje." (leave your message). I have not been able to reach her even though I have called numerous times around the times the agency told me to call her. AFA did arrange for another 3-way conversation (without letting me know ahead of time) for 5 minutes. The young lady seemed to be very ambivalent. She said that I could call her that Sunday between 4:00 pm. and 4:30 pm. The same thing happened when I called her number at that time.
The owner tried to tell me that it appears that she only was going to meet with me for one day when I was in SJ; trying to deemphasize not being able to see her. I tried to explain that we had written about meeting for dinner or breakfast too. I had rented a car and could have picked her up from work and conveniently gone out to dinner and passed more time together. We were developing a good friendship and I wanted to continue it. After I arrived back in California, she had written me that she had adjusted her only day off, making sacrifices to be able to spend time with me and was disappointed for not being able to meet.
It was as if I was passing through some surreal, twilight zone experience. For one week I was in limbo waiting and hoping to hear from her. I thought maybe she had stood me up. After returning home, I was pretty depressed and annoyed for a month. The closest thing to an apology that I received from AFA was when the owner told me that "the last thing you wanted to do was pay for a membership fee after traveling all the way to Costa Rica." I seriously doubt the agency personnel in San Jose and Phoenix have offered the young lady an apology. I would like to see a personal one written to her. Even if I never have a chance to see or speak to her again, they really need to write her an apology in my opinion.

Now, I am reposting my review because I want other men to be aware of what could happen and I am less emotional about what transpired. AFA emphasizes their memberships and tours. Emails and Express Mails are a small percentage of their business. Also, the translator reads all words, checking for contact information in the Express Mail until the lady signs off on the Imbra. If you have any questions and if can contact me, feel free.

Express Mail Blues

I think my experience with AFA is a little different than most others in that I actually moved to the lady's country, lived there and married her there and continued to live there for several years. My name is Joe and I attended AFA's tour to Lima Peru several years ago. It was my first trip to South America and I expected a unique experience and was not disappointed.

After arriving at Lima's very modern airport, I was driven to my hotel which was a 21 story luxury hotel in the middle of the tourist district. My hotel was very safe, comfortable, and convenient. On this tour, you didn't have to worry about anything but meeting the ladies and going on dates. Everything else was taken care of. Supermarkets, drug stores, restaurants, and entertainment venues were everywhere.

The next morning I went to the office which was only a 5 minute walk from the hotel and met several of the other guys on the tour and the office manager. The guys were all very excited to be here and asking questions.

Later that evening we (the guys and translators) met on the fifth floor of the hotel and had a quick orientation, then took the elevator up to the 21st floor. We stepped out of the elevator and suddenly we were face to face with dozens of beautiful Peruvian ladies. All of them were dressed very well. You could tell by the way they were dressed that they took this event seriously.

As the ladies were getting signed in and directed to their tables in the ballroom, we stayed in the hall and talked to our translators. I talked to one lady for a few minutes and asked her to translate for me.

Finally we were let in. You sit down at a specific table for 15-20 minutes, then a bell rings and you and the translator get up and go to the next table. I found it to be an effective system. This way you are not allowed to hang back against a wall trying to gather your courage to approach a woman at a table. Here you have the excuse to meet her along with the other ladies at the table. The AFA staff did an excellent job with keeping the guys moving from table to table.

My own general style when I sat down at the table was not to quiz the girls but introduce myself and let them ask me questions and have a discussion and then see which ladies were most appealing. However, you will notice that some ladies will try to monopolize the conversation and keep your attention on her. So be aware of that and try to talk to the more shy ladies as well. During the socials the purpose is generally to get to know which ladies you would like to take out later. I collected phone numbers, emails, and photos so I could identify them later if I forgot who it was I wanted a date with. You are meeting so many ladies at one time; it is easy to forget who is who!

The rest of the tour I went on several dates and saw parts of the city. The AFA office staff was very professional and assisted with which restaurants to eat at, places to go, and helped coordinate my dates by calling the ladies and arranging times for us to meet.

On the last few days of the tour I had a great time but hadn't met that special lady yet. But I was very satisfied with the experience and had 20 or more emails and phone number of ladies I planned to follow up on after I returned home.

During this time another translator from the tour was taking me around the city and asked me to visit her language school since her students had never meet an American. So we went there on the last day of the tour and there I met my future wife Angelica. Ironically she was at the 2nd social but I did not make it to her table so I didn't meet her that night. However, at the school she had my full attention and we hit it off quickly and started corresponding after I returned to the US. A year later, after several other trips to Peru to visit her, an opportunity arose for me to live in Peru.

Our relationship was very strong so I moved there and we were engaged several months later.

Living in Peru wasn't as different as one might imagine. Along with my future wife I had other people assisting me in finding an apartment, learning the culture, and keeping up to date with travel visa requirements. If you have a good grasp of Spanish, you will find that life is generally 80% the same as in the US. People get up, go to work, come home to their families at night and do recreational things during the weekend. People make less there, but many things are much cheaper and the expense of one of more cars is not necessary since public transportation is cheap and widespread.

We now live in the states, although we would not mind moving back to Peru at some point. It was a great experience for me, it obviously changed my life, and I would recommend the tour to anyone.

Doesn't get any worse than this. Stay away!

I nevered used them because of the costs and the many complaints i found about them on the internet