It is not easy for Chinese men to find a mate, because there are 30 million fewer women than men in the country, and among people of marriageable age, this gap is even more noticeable. Under such conditions, wedding fraud flourishes.
In 2020, a resident of the Chinese city of Bayan-Nur applied for the services of a matchmaker, as he could not find a bride. 35-year-old Yin Cheng was considered old in the «grooms market», and the chances of finding love fell every year.
Matchmaker Lee picked up a girl Nana for him, who lived in another city. It took the couple one video call to realize that they were perfect for each other.
In January 2021, they played a wedding according to Chinese traditions. Nana received a dowry of 148 yuan (1,7 million rubles) from her fiancé, as well as jewelry and other gifts.
At the same time, they did not officially register the marriage. The girl explained that the stamp in her passport would somehow prevent her family from getting compensation from the construction company.
Three days after the wedding, the Chinese woman announced that she needed to go home. After a while, she returned, lived with Cheng for another week, and went back to her family.
The husband did not attach any importance to this behavior of his wife, thinking that she was just homesick and strongly attached to her parents, until he saw on social networks a live broadcast from a wedding that took place in a neighboring city. He couldn’t help thinking that the bride reminded him of… Nana.
Most of the victims are middle-aged men from rural areas, where it is more difficult to find a wife
Cheng decided to test his assumption and went to another city. There he found the place where the wedding took place, and later the second husband of his wife. Together they came to the conclusion that they were the victims of a scammer and contacted the police.
It turned out that two girls, with the help of a matchmaker, arranged fictitious weddings, and two more accomplices played the roles of their relatives. Having received a dowry and gifts from men, the swindlers disappeared.
In two years, 19 men became their victims. Most of the victims are middle-aged men from rural areas where it is more difficult to find a wife. The total damage amounted to more than two million yuan (23 million rubles). The scammers are currently under investigation.
Marriage scams are very common in China, as there are almost 20 million more men of marriageable age — between 40 and 20 years old — than women. This gender imbalance in China arose as a result of the “one family, one child” policy, which was carried out from 1979 to 2015 to limit the birth rate. As a result, the number of children born to a woman during her lifetime decreased from 6 to 1,6, but families, in conditions of a limited number of children, preferred to have boys.
In 2016, the country’s authorities allowed families to have two children, and at the end of May 2021 they announced that they would soon be allowed to have three heirs.