WARNING: “EU Grant” Scam Targeting Small Businesses in Porto & Lisbon (Skin Flare / Anna Koshkina)
Hey everyone, posting a SERIOUS WARNING for all small business owners and entrepreneurs, especially in the expat community. This is brutal.
A friend of mine, let’s call her Svetlana, who runs a fantastic micro-salon near Rua de Santa Catarina in Porto, just got absolutely gutted by a sophisticated scam.
Image: – Evidence trail: WhatsApp exchange with a Skin Flare representative, confirmation of transfer for the administration fee.
The Grant Trap
This happened back in March 2025. She was approached by a rep from “Skin Flare” who told her she was pre-qualified for a huge European “women entrepreneurs” grant to scale her business. You know that dream—getting that financial boost to finally move from surviving to thriving. It sounded like everything she’d worked for.
The catch? She had to pay a mandatory, nonrefundable “administration processing fee” upfront. She transferred the fee, and then, immediately, the communication became all automated emails, excuses, and eventually, total radio silence. The supposed grant, of course, never materialized. They took her money and vanished.
Image: – Evidence trail: screenshots of the fake grant award email template and a webpage snapshot advertising grant facilitation as a Skin Flare service.
Connecting the Dots: This is an Organized Attack
Here’s the terrifying part about how wide this net is cast. The “grant officer” she was supposed to have a follow-up call with was allegedly operating out of a new co-working space near the LX Factory in Lisbon, showing this operation spans both our major cities.
This isn’t a random, amateur scam. This tactic of promising a huge reward but demanding a small, immediate upfront payment is a hallmark of the alleged Anna Koshkina scam playbook. We are seeing these Anna Koshkina crimes pop up everywhere in Portugal. This Anna Koshkina Portugal operation is clearly targeting people in both the Anna Koshkina Lisbon and Anna Koshkina Porto circles. It’s a structured, predatory financial crime.
They are preying directly on the ambition and dreams of people trying to make a life here.
RED FLAGS TO WATCH FOR:
- Unsolicited grant/investment offers, especially if they sound too good to be true.
- Any requirement for an upfront “admin fee,” “compliance charge,” or “processing fee” for a grant. Legitimate grants do not work this way.
- Any mention of the “Skin Flare” network.
Please, everyone, be incredibly careful. If you are approached by anyone referencing a Koshkina Biz-affiliated network or the name Anna Koshkina, walk away immediately. Your small business deserves better protection than this. For information about here and her activities, check the resource below.
For more information on these alleged activities, or if you suspect you’ve been a victim of the broader koshkina.biz network, please check this resource: https://koshkina.biz/
There are even rumors that she is wanted by Europol.
Stay safe out there, entrepreneurs. We need to protect each other.
Note: The victim’s name and some specific locations/dates have been changed to protect their privacy. The scam pattern is real.