Dating Site's Founder Warns About Internet Troll Factory Targeting Millions of Americans

HONG KONG, April 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- An Internet troll factory targeting millions of single Americans has been flying under the radar of federal agencies and watchdogs for over 10 years, warns Elena Petrova, founder of Elenasmodels.com, in her 3-year anniversary post following the first investigation into predatory practices of pay-per-letter (PPL) dating sites, released on 16 April 2015.

View the complete report on Internet troll farms flying under the radar of the USA federal authorities here: http://blogs.elenasmodels.com/en/elena-petrova-about-ppl-sites/

"Hundreds of thousands of people within the USA, Australia, UK, and the European Union have been affected by the scams that originated from pay-per-letter websites targeting singles seeking love online," Petrova warned.

"However, until now there had been no serious investigation by the government into these Eastern-Europe-based multi-layered troll farms scamming Americans every day. As in the case with Russian troll factories accused in attempted meddling into 2016 American elections, these structures are flying under the radar of federal agencies, even though there is enough information online about the nature of this systemic commercial fraud."

The trolls based in Ukraine are employed through online recruitment portals and then trained to defraud Americans. According to Petrova, over 30,000 people are involved in the scheme in Ukraine.

The largest website that operates a PPL (pay-per-letter) system claimed having over 1.3 million male users and 500 agents working within the scheme in Eastern Europe.

The multi-layered scheme of 'love trolls' is constantly targeting new victims via sponsored ads in search and content networks. Major players of the scheme keep multiplying their online 'skins' by designing new covers on fresh URLs and plugging them into the existing system. As the market of PPL (pay per letter) scheme is lucrative and highly profitable, new players continually enter the market, broadening the reach, Petrova explained.

The scheme itself is not novel, with American author O. Henry exposing this type of love scams in his short story 'The Exact Science of Matrimony' published over 100 years ago (1908). On today's Internet, this 110-year-old idea is bringing giant profits to operators of the scheme, who "put it on steroids," according to Petrova.

• The difference between "pay per letter" websites and regular dating sites and apps for singles is in the way how they charge clients.
• Regular dating sites and apps charge for access for a period of time, while PPL sites charge for each message or minute of chat.
• This allows PPL sites to pay a share of their income to providers of content (letters, messages, chats), who in their turn are able to employ "love trolls" to spam Americans with affectionate confessions.
• The majority of websites that advertise opportunities to date Eastern European women work in PPL (pay per letter) mode, which leads to exploitation and fraud via "love trolls".

As opposed to that, ElenasModels.com works as a regular membership dating site and doesn't charge for communication.

ABOUT ELENA'S MODELS        
Elenasmodels.com is a global dating site for people seeking love, romance, and serious relationships. It has been established in 1999 and listed over 2 million user profiles from 170 countries of the world.

Contact:
Darrin Field
Manager, Public Relations
Great Media Limited (trading as Elena's Models)
+ 61 404 656 847
[email protected]

SOURCE Elena's Models