Conned Australian fights back, with a president's help

Conned Australian fights back, with a president's help

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the arrest of two alleged marriage agency fraudsters after a Sydney man wrote to him, saying he had been conned by a sexy young Russian brunette offering marriage over the internet.

Terry McCarthy, from Epping, was so outraged after allegedly being ripped off that he wrote directly to Mr Putin, declaring it was a matter of "Russian honour" that she be brought to justice.

So touched was the Kremlin leader by the carefully crafted letter, he ordered police to track down the criminals, regardless of time or cost.


Investigations later revealed that the woman, part of a gang run by her Russian husband, had allegedly extracted $US1.5 million ($2 million) from as many as 1500 foreign men.

Not only have the couple since been caught, they face between five and 10 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Moscow police sources have confirmed that, on the basis of Mr McCarthy's letter, Mr Putin personally ordered them to find the woman and her associates.

A spokesman said: "Had it not been for Mr McCarthy contacting the President, there is no doubt they would have ripped off many more foreign lonely heart men who are blinded by sexy internet pictures."

When Mr McCarthy, 48, learned of his letter's impact, he said: "I can't believe it. When I wrote that letter, there was no way I ever imagined it would actually arrive on the President's desk . . . or that he would see it.

"I didn't do what I did for any glory. I wrote a lot of letters to a lot of people . . . it was a way of getting what had happened off my chest."

In 2000, Mr McCarthy searched internet photos and profiles for a possible Russian love match. A young, seductive brunette responded. They exchanged letters and, at her request, he sent cash so she could book a romantic trip to Australia to meet him.

But she allegedly kept the money and he never heard from her again.

The brains behind the apparent scam was identified as Yuri Lazarev, 34, a photographer who took pictures of his wife, Anna, and other local women and posted them on the internet. Anna went by the fake name of Alfia Magdeeva, and she was the one Mr McCarthy fell for.

A police officer close to the investigation revealed that in most cases "Alfia" allegedly snared victims by posing as a virgin, who wanted to wait until she had met the right man.

The other women Lazarev had taken pictures of "had no idea they were being offered around the world as marriage partners on the internet", he said.

"Nor did they know Lazarev and his wife were writing back to love-struck foreigners asking for money, in their names."

But what the alleged scam artists failed to account for was Mr McCarthy's determination to pursue the matter as far up the Russian hierarchy as he could.

In his letter, he told Mr Putin: "I recently had $US650 stolen from me by an immoral cunning Russian woman, Alfia Magdeeva, who misrepresented herself on the internet.

"I don't ever expect to see my money again, but I would be grateful if you could make sure she declared this money as income (which I doubt) and so paid tax on it.

"I would much rather see my money going to the Russian Government to help the Russian people, than to criminals on the internet who would happily bring discredit on their country for personal gain.

"I have always admired the Russian people but this incident sours that feeling," the Australian's letter added.

The only indication something was being done at an official level came in 2002 when Australian Federal Police contacted Mr McCarthy and interviewed him on behalf of Moscow investigators.

In September, Yuri and Anna Lazarev were finally captured in Chelyabinsk, a bleak city in the Russian Ural Mountains.

Olga Pfefer, of Chelyabinsk police, said that of the 1500 foreign men allegedly cheated out of money by the gang between 2000 and 2002 they had found detailed biographical information on about 70.

But she added: "Mr McCarthy was one of only 10 who provided police with full details so we could conduct the case against the couple."

A spokesman for Mr Putin's office said: "The complaint from Australia to the President was regarded as serious. It was passed on to the Russian Interior Ministry for the police to follow up in the correct way."

Mr McCarthy said he did not want to be perceived as "the wronged naive loser who struck back" and neither did he want to see all Russian women on the internet "unfairly stereotyped".

He said: "There are hundreds of Russian scammers on the internet but there are hundreds of thousands of Russian women, along with millions of women from other countries, with honest intentions and the usual dreams."

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