Some time ago, I met an attractive blonde on a dating site, Polina. She was intelligent, confident and passionate to leave Ukraine. She was also a victim of sexual assault on a regular basis. She told me about situations with her boss, with neighbours, with her landlord, taxi drivers and with strangers. She told me of evenings with friends, where they had strangers pay for their drinks and meals. The girls would then try to leave when the men were occupied, or left the table for a reason, often resulting in these men racing after the women and attacking them in the street. Her fear to take taxi's due to continued attacks and even avoiding the food store when possible.

As I listened to this, I questioned if this was possible, but the detail she provided and the look on her face as she explained, made me believe this was all happening.

I quickly felt that I needed to protect Polina and fortunately, having spare property, I offered to bring her to England. She seemed pleased, but quickly, I was faced with an increasing number of excuses why we were unable to meet, or she was unable to travel.

Initially, she explained that she was afraid to travel alone and asked if I could also find a place for her friend, Alla. I explained this would be fine...and even agreed to meet them in Poland first, so they could get to know me before arriving in England. 

We then got the following series of excuses for her inability to travel:

1 - Kidnapped by her boss, a female, who used her to attract men for group sex. She was locked in a room for 8 days, having to provide sex to large numbers of men each day

2 - Kidnapped by her landlord, along with a second girl for 5 days. Both tied to the bed and assaulted regularly

3 - Money stolen by boss, so unable to pay for train to Poland

4 - At the border, she was robbed and sexually assaulted by 4 men. Her passport was stolen and the border guards refused to allow her to leave Ukraine...but not before also attacking her

5 - When attempting to get a passport, for almost 6 months, this was refused to her. She finally went to the passport office to try to get the passport in person. Although not attacked, she explained that she was told she would need to provide sex for a group of 8 men to get her passport.

With each excuse and increased attacks, I felt that Polina was a cheat and liar, although she never initially asked for money. I guess this is why I still felt that maybe she was being honest.

After a number of arguments, I decided that I couldn't trust her and despite her insistence that she was being truthful, we stopped our communication. 

The question now is, was I unfair? Is the situation Polina experienced actually how certain women have to live in Ukraine? Or was this a fake and cheat, who was trying to get my sympathy, before pushing me for financial gain?

I would be interested to know your thoughts?