Customer Care Department: Internal Staff Training Series

Anastasia Family

Training Manual
Customer Care
Anti-Scam Policy
Gregory Vasquez
February 2014
For internal use only.
Not intended for
external use. Do not
copy or distribute
without prior written
consent and approval.

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Customer Care Department: Internal Staff Training Series

Table of Contents
1

Foreword................................................................................................................... 3

Location on site........................................................................................................3

Tips to be safe.......................................................................................................... 4

Scam and reimbursements......................................................................................5

Not scam................................................................................................................... 3

Podio claim form link on website............................................................................3

Claim form link in messages...................................................................................3

Closing...................................................................................................................... 3

Test............................................................................................................................ 3

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Foreword
The Anastasia Family of international online dating sites has taken the lead position in the industry by developing and implementing key
processes that make online dating safer for everyone. International online dating is no different than local online dating. As such, it is
important that our clients understand that if they use our site and follow our rules to reduce the probability of scammers abusing other
members, they can apply those same rules to any other site.
Over time we have been able to evaluate our competitors online dating safety tips and policies. It is our belief that we offer the most
straight forward anti-scam policy that, if followed, will prevent all members from ever falling victim. The key, as you can imagine, is
compliance.
Not all our members follow the simple rules you will read about in this training module. Though we have made our policy easy to
understand and easy to find and read on our site, it does not necessarily mean that all clients follow the guidelines. It is very important,
however, for you to know that, as a rule, we dont take our polices and procedures lightly. They were created with scam prevention in
mind. When a member violates these rules and becomes a victim, it is only because the member simply did not follow the practices
outlined in the policy. Simply stated, if one chooses not to follow the rules, there is not much more than empathy we can offer.
Thus, it is always a good idea to refer future clients that you may encounter while working in the customer care department to our antiscam policy. It was created to help fight against and prevent scam for their benefit. No other company has gone to the extent of clearly
stating what a form of scam is and what isnt so everyone can be on the same page.
From time to time, refer to the anti-scam policy to help remind yourself and re-focus your attention to the core policy of our company which
you will find yourself often having to reinforce, defend, restate and refer clients to.

1 Location on site
The anti-scam policy is conveniently located on our home page, as you can see in the illustration below:

As you can see we clearly state there is a 100% anti-scam guarantee. This essentially means that so long as our clients follow the policy
guidelines, we guarantee they will not be victims of scam by another member of the site, or if a behavior falls into one of our scam
categories, the member will be reimbursed for their expenditures. One important note to make is that scam is an act that occurs between
members. Scammers are found in just about every dating website throughout the world. There is no way of knowing in advance if any
member of our site or to be member of our site has bad intentions. As such, there is no way to screen or verify against that. It is
impossible, and unfortunately, a reality within the world we live in. Scammers are online just as they are in real life and in the public eye.
Case in point: Bernard Madoff and his infamous Ponzi scheme.

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2 Tips to be safe
The single most important section of the anti-scam policy is the first part, Tips to be safe. Familiarizing yourself with these tips will help
you support the vast majority of clients that simply have not followed these guidelines and thus exposed themselves to a possible
scammer.
One important aspect of being a customer service representative is being able to fully assess the problem and get the facts of the story
from both sides, at times with the help of your colleagues working in other partner departments such as PAM (partner account
management), RISK (payment issues), IT (technical problems). Bear in mind that, at times, the client who is claiming to be the victim may
in fact be the offender.

Never send any money to a lady.

As simple and logical as this may seem, this golden rule is broken time and time again. Would you send money to anyone you havent
already met before, much less seen on a webcam? Clients will send money to ladies that they have not met before and many times not
even over a webcam or live phone call.
As you can see this is a recipe for disaster, as it only takes one member to exploit the weakness or vulnerabilities of another and result in
a case of scam. Thus, we highly recommend avoiding sending money to anyone online that you have not met and established a good,
trusting relationship with.
Arrange dates through our Date me service.

It is natural for people who meet online to at some point want to go offline. However, this creates risk on either side if someone is less
than genuine. We are not opposed to people communicating offline and there are services which they can purchase to facilitate this,
including our Call Me or Flowers and Gifts service, whereby they can pass contact details to the other.
However, arranging a date outside our service leaves the member without any AnastasiaDate organization, monitoring, or support. This
means that if the lady does not show up or the client has an unpleasant experience, we can do little to help the client. Life is what it is
and at times clients confuse that what happens off our system is our responsibility. We dont force any members to behave in any way
other than them being themselves. Thus, clients should avoid this by arranging everything through us as we can best manage
expectations on both sides to avoid no-show and other disappointments.
Travel to your lady destination with our group tours.

Travelling alone to a new country that you have never been to or getting around on your own when you are a foreigner that does not speak
the local language can be difficult and intimidating for some. Not to mention, if nobody knows where you are or how to reach you, this can
also be very dangerous and risky in many ways.
To prevent this we encourage all our clients to travel to the destination of their lady via the various romance tours that we offer throughout
the year. They will not only be in a safer environment, but we are able to better ensure everyone has a fun and enjoyable time meeting
more ladies in a few days than most likely all year.
Exchange contact information with the lady through our Call me service.

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We gladly allow members to share contact info. However we require that it be done through our Call Me, Flowers and Gifts, or, in the case
of AnastasiaDate, Video Date services. This is done for several reasons, including ensuring contacts are passed directly by the individuals
themselves and not electronically. It is also a great way to strengthen relations that have, up until the call, been mostly virtual. As such,
the lady becomes more real and understands the male client is more serious that the others that havent even bothered to call her.
In addition, the call is provided via the assistance of a qualified interpreter. This ensures that no miscommunication occurs though the
call is also recorded for quality and verification purposes.
Once in a while conduct video chat with your lady.

Another great way for clients to ensure that the lady they are communicating with is who she says she is is to conduct a video chat
session. This not only ensures she is real, but gives the male client the opportunity to see if there is continued interest in pursuing the
relationship further. After all, people cant realistically fall in love with just a photograph and words on the screen. Though it is possible, it
is highly unlikely.
The other advantage to conducting a video chat session is that it also signals to the lady member that the male member is interested
enough about her to want to get to know her better via real-time visual contact.

3 Scam and reimbursements

As no other online dating site has made a concrete effort to define exactly what constitutes online dating scam, we have decided to take
the lead and have published it on our website to make it clear to our members.
In these cases, we have also implemented procedures to remedy the issue, which may include a complete refund of the credits a male
member has spent on a particular female member. Additionally there are penalties, including the deletion and ban of members who violate
these policies, aimed to best ensure only sincere members are actively using our communication platform. Simply put, if any member is
indeed scammed, we will handle it, professionally and seeks ways to prevent a reoccurrence going forward.

A lady misidentifies herself. (For example, an agency uses her profile without her permission to communicate with you). We reimburse
the costs you incurred in the communication with this lady.
There have been cases of 3rd parties using the profile of a member to communicate with another. This is not acceptable as no member should share or
have their accounts compromised by another party.
A lady requests money or expensive gifts from you. We reimburse the service costs you incurred with this lady and ban her forever.
Lady members are to make absolutely no requests for money through the system or via any means including phone, email, online messengers such as
Skype, etc.

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A lady deliberately misrepresents her details in her profile: age, kids, gender, marital status or language level. We reimburse the
service costs you incurred with this lady and ban her forever.
Though it is entirely possible that a typo was made when the profile was created, it is assumed that a lady who deliberately lied about her background or
physical characteristics was insincere about her intentions. This lack of honesty hurts all parties involved.
A client is robbed during our group tour. We reimburse the value of the theft.
This is another great reason why it is preferred to travel to the location of the ladys country via our Romance Tours, as we can better ensure against theft,
assuming both the crime and items and their value are substantiated.
Gifts of flowers that were ordered through the system werent delivered. We reimburse the costs you incurred for flower delivery
order.
If a client has placed and paid for any gift or flower delivery service for which he does not receive evidence that the order was fulfilled, such as
photographs of the delivery with the lady in reference, the honorable thing is to obviously refund the client for the incomplete failed order.

A lady refuses to meet a client through Date me service after corresponding with him for more than 5 letters. We reimburse the
service costs you incurred with this lady.

If a lady member fails to show up for a date that has been confirmed based on the request and advance payment of the service fee
associated with coordinating the date me service the client is refunded for the inconvenience of the no-show regardless of the ladys
excuse.

3.1 Additional Note

Per AnastasiaDate Terms and Conditions, we never reimburse money back to credit cards, even in successful scam complaints.

4 Not Scam

The agency makes a mistake in the translation of the letter.

Nobody is perfect and this does happen. However a mistake in a translation simply does not constitute scam.

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If a lady corresponds with you for a long time and then refuses to meet without our Date me service.
We cannot guarantee love, as no dating site in the world can. As in real life, relationships may not work out for a variety of reasons. This
is reality.
If a lady doesnt answer all questions in an email.
There are many reasons why this could happen, including not understanding the question or simple oversight. In some cases, she may
just not want to answer. We cannot dictate to members how to go about carrying on about their relationships. As such, this is hardly a
case of scam.
If after meeting with customer she says she is not interested.
Rejection can be hard to deal with for some members. Though it is unfortunate when there is no love connection, it too is a reality of life
that we have to learn to accept.
If a lady has photos of her relatives, male friends, ex-boyfriend, ex-husband and other personal info posted on any social
network.
At times these photos may include someone standing close to another person, hugging or even kissing. However this is not a scam, as
these are prior life experiences that any member can post as they likeit is their freedom to do so.
If a lady wears rings on fingers. Wearing rings in Slavic countries does not mean a woman is married, regardless
of which finger it is on.
It is a fact that in most European countries, wearing a wedding ring on the left hand is common practice, unlike Western culture. As such,
the lady may be wearing a ring to ward off other suitors, or this may even be a photo from when she was dating or married to someone
else. These are not, however, scams.

5 Podio claim form link on website

A link is included within the anti-scam pop-up window. This link directs male clients to the following page:

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Here male members can fill out an online anti-scam claim. Instructions are provided for how to fill in the claim form and what items
required as verification documentation (for example, screenshots) can be attached when submitted. The exact instructions are included
below for your reference so that you may familiarize yourself with what is expected of members that exercise to use this option as a
remedy against what they believe to be an act of scam committed against them. The responses are checked by the customer service
department throughout the week.
(Online) Anti-Scam Claim Form
Our online dating service does not tolerate any scam activity by our members. As such we have created a straight
forward anti-scam policy and process for any member to file a complaint.
Please note: All claimants must complete this form online to file a claim. Our customer service staff cannot file a claim
for you on your behalf. If you have a question about filing a claim please do not hesitate to contact us.
Pending the claim is completed and submitted to us; we will investigate the matter and take all necessary precautions
that it will not happen again. In most cases this means deleting the member from our site that has been determined to
have broken the rules of our terms and conditions.
In addition to the removal of a member, we may fine and/or terminate any affiliate or agency and refund the
complainant of all credits used in communicating with the alleged party.
Instructions:
1. Please thoroughly complete this form.
2. Do not forget to attach all the supporting documents you have. Screen shots of emails, chat dialogs, chat invites,
photos, etc., will help support your claim. Especially in cases of he said, she said, where incriminating evidence is
helpful.

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Do not file a claim against someone that has not scammed you. Your claim will be processed as soon as possible. It is
unfortunate that you have had a bad experience with a member of our site. We hope you will continue to use our service
in finding the right mate. If you have any questions or would like an update on your claim, please feel free to contact us.
We will however contact you with any final outcome stemming from your claim.
Thanks for your patience,
Customer Service Department

6 Claim form link in messages

In some cases, our members may write directly to our Customer Service Department with a detailed report of what they believe to be a
scam. In this case, we do not ask them to fill in our Anti-Scam form, as they have just provided all of the information in their letter. In cases
where a member makes a vague complaint with no evidence, we reaffirm our companys Anti-Scam policy and may direct them to the AntiScam claim form with a text similar to this:
Dear (Member),
Thank you for contacting us. At AnastasiaDate, we closely monitor for any inappropriate behavior to ensure nobody is using

our international dating platform to make a profit. As such we intend that every member using our services does so
having a genuine and sincere interest in finding their match. AnastasiaDate does everything to protect our clients
and we value our reputation so your assistance in our Anti-Scam campaign is much appreciated. If you have a
complaint against any member of our site, would you please fill out our official Anti-Scam claim form here:
https://podio.com/webforms/4032510/312891

This is our companys official platform for processing complaints. Once you have finished, I can assure you we will
be in contact with you about updates pertaining to your case.

7 Review
As you can see the company does make a good effort to level the playing field for all members to have a fun, safe, and enjoyable time on
our site without the risk of scammers taking advantage of anybody.
The important thing to note is that preventing scam or falling victim begins with each and every member knowing both what it is and how
to avoid it. Since we have made a great effort to be transparent with our clients to this point we do not accept the excuse, well I didnt
know, well I didnt think she was going to scam me, etc., as justification for non-compliance.
Fighting scam begins with everybody following the rules and using common sense.

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8 Test
Q1:

What is referred to as the golden rule of protecting oneself from scam?

Q2:

How many forms of scam are listed on our Anti-Scam policy?

Q3:

Is it ok to send money to any lady you have not met before but is in financial trouble for any reason, including possible health
problems?

Q4:

What is the limit for the dollar amount we can refund a client after a successful scam complaint?

Q5:

How often are the anti-scam claims reviewed by the customer service department?

Q6:

Is it considered a scam if a ladys family does not approve of her dating or marrying a male member of our site?

Q7:

Is it considered scam if a female member has pictures of her ex-boyfriend or family relatives on her social media accounts?

Q8:

What are some other tips you would offer members to protect themselves against online dating scammers that we could consider?

Q9:

What are the 6 categories of scam on our Anti-Scam policy?

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