the requirement to provide criminal background information on would-be grooms may give foreign women drawn to Steckel’s sites “a false sense of security
The federal statute also requires international marriage brokers to search national and state sex offender registries for the names of the men they may enlist and provide that information to the foreign women seeking either romance or marriage.
Steckel said that although he does not object to individual background checks, “We are not in the security business,” and he has no way of policing compliance.
Steckel's Web sites operate as introduction and matchmaking services for American men seeking foreign women, primarily from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Men pay a membership fee to join, which varies based on the nature of the services. Women, who are often located through European Connections' Russian counterpart agencies, pay nothing except for e-mail and translation services.
“We're caught between a rock and a hard place,” Steckel said. “We have no way of verifying information that a person puts down.”
Steckel explained that applicants who do not have any criminal problems “will be honest.” But applicants “who actually have a problem, who are abusers—they will lie.”
Meanwhile, the requirement to provide criminal background information on would-be grooms may give foreign women drawn to Steckel's sites “a false sense of security.” If male customers with violent histories lie with impunity, “You have a lady who has got her guard down,” he explained.
Steckel also expressed concern for male customers who might reveal a violent criminal history. “I don't know about ladies in other countries,” he said, “but the Russians are very, very devious. … If we have to get together all this information, they could download all this information and come back and blackmail people who filled out the form 1 ---3
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