The shady business of selling virginity online to wealthy businessmen is gaining momentum in Russia and many girls in the country are opting surgeries to restore their hymen so that they can put their maidenhood on sale multiple times and earn even more, a report said.
In Russia, young women are recruited by networks of dealers and scouts and each scout sells around 10 virgins a month. In most cases, a team of scouts helps recruit suitable girls into the seedy network. In other cases, females place their own advertisement on dating websites and other forums. A Russian social media forum called Desperate Virgins' Club is hugely popular and recruits young women. The payment is exceptionally high as well, reports said.
Shatuniha, a 17-year-old from Krasnoyarsk, reportedly sold her virginity in an online auction for £20,000 or $28,056, according to a report on Bumaga lifestyle website.
Those who claim to be a virgin are expected to show a medical certificate confirming that they have had no sexual intimacy with anyone. For more money, women are undergoing surgeries to restore their hymen so that they can sell their virginity multiple times. They "swindle men" into believing that they are still virgins, Bumaga reported.
"Many have this surgery done several times. I know there were cases when girl had this surgery done 15 times," said Sergey Chumakov, general director of Lancet Surgery Centre.
22-year-old Elena from Moscow told Bumaga that she sold her virginity twice and is not planning to stop it. For her, this is her "new job."
Some of the girls, however, have taken a step forward and defended their decision.
"Instead of just losing my virginity, it's better if I make some money from it," an 18-year-old from Moscow was quoted as saying by the Metro.
Anastasia, 20, from Rust Belt industrial city Magnitogorsk, told Bumaga that she is selling her virginity to help pay the fees for her mother's cancer treatment. She is waiting for an offer of 300,000 roubles ($5260), reports the Mail Online.
One 18-year-old said that instead of just losing the virginity, it is better to "make some money from it."
According to 19-year-old Dasha, it is not prostitution. She desires to "meet a wealthy man and try to get into a relationship with him."
"To start a business, you need capital," 18-year-old Rita from Rostov defends. "You can't make a lot having a regular job, but here you don't even need to do anything."
In 2016, model Anna Feschenko, 17, went to Dubai to sell her virginity for £9,600 ($13,466) to a wealthy Arab man. Her mother got in touch with the police and took her back home.
Her friend Ekaterina said that in the UAE, "it is a privilege to be a virgin."
"I think Anna was just impressed with the amount of money she could get," she added.
In a recent case, a mother was detained for trying to sell her 13-year-old daughter to a businessman.
