The lonely Chinese men being conned by fake brides

ByLaura Bicker

China analogous , Reporting fromBeijing and Guiyang

At 37, Wang Zhuang had astir fixed up anticipation of uncovering a wife, until helium saw the glossy matchmaking adverts.

They promised helium wouldn't person to discarded years connected gathering a narration that had nary future. They offered to present him to a demure, devoted woman.

"The matchmakers said that girls from Guizhou are frugal," Wang says. "They told maine they are bully astatine moving a household, capable to bash housework, and their families are precise poor, truthful aft marrying into your family, they would settee down and unrecorded a beingness with you."

So Wang travelled to Guiyang, a metropolis successful the southwestern state of Guizhou, successful the anticipation of uncovering his soulmate.

He thought helium had, erstwhile helium was matched with a pistillate who seemed to tick each box. They had lone met a fewer times earlier they married.

Then, astir arsenic rapidly arsenic his caller beingness had begun, it was over.

"My full household has been thrown into chaos," helium says, shaking his head.

He is inactive picking up the pieces much than a twelvemonth aft helium discovered that everything helium had been told by his woman was a lie.

She was a erstwhile karaoke hostess who'd been joined 3 times, had 3 children, a superior sexually transmitted illness and was profoundly successful debt. She had adjacent lied astir her age.

He is warring for a divorcement and cannot instrumentality location to his aged beingness - astatine slightest until helium tin recoup immoderate of his beingness savings, which helium says helium paid to the bureau wrong hours of being introduced to respective imaginable matches.

"My parents blasted me. I person insomnia and anxiety. I can't absorption connected work."

Wang's communicative is an utmost grounds of a demographic situation that has agelong been successful the making successful China.

For decades, China's Communist Party decreed that couples could person lone 1 child. They reversed people successful January 2016 but by past the "one-child" policy, coupled with a penchant for boys, had produced a shrinking excavation of women and a stark sex imbalance.

There are present 30 cardinal much men than women successful China – that's much than the antheral colonisation of the UK, oregon the full colonisation of Australia.

This has near men similar Wang, who are successful their precocious 30s and who unrecorded successful smaller cities oregon far- flung, agrarian areas, with fewer options. Women successful these places tin spend to beryllium choosy arsenic they cognize they are successful demand.

"The requirements for men are precise precocious successful my city. You request to person a car, a location and your household should preferably tally a business," helium says.

Many families besides request a precocious "bride price", a longstanding Chinese customized wherever the groom's household gives wealth to the bride. In parts of China, wherever men acold outnumber women, this has go a important fiscal burden.

Hence the entreaty of matchmaking agencies similar the ones successful Guizhou, which are proposing a one-stop, speedy solution - oregon "flash marriages".

Matchmaking agencies are hardly caller successful China, but galore look to beryllium uncovering susceptible targets successful men who are struggling to find partners arsenic they turn older.

So overmuch truthful that authorities media precocious reported that the manufacture had seen "rapid growth" which had "bred amerciable practices and chaos".

It's hard to find the standard of specified fraud crossed China but it has grown capable to gully the attraction of Chinese officials. Between January 2024 and March 2025, prosecutors handled cases involving 1,546 individuals for crimes related to the matchmaking industry.

This month, 5 abstracted authorities jointly launched a nationwide crackdown connected the matchmaking manufacture aft the contented generated "widespread nationalist concern".

In 1 case, a matchmaking bureau reportedly utilized karaoke waitresses arsenic bait to defraud 128 victims of much than 2.5 cardinal yuan (£274,000, $371,000).

"I deliberation the authorities could present industry-specific regulations targeting flash matrimony scams," Fan Binghe from the Nanjing Office of the Beijing Jingshi instrumentality firm, told the BBC.

Although Guiyang has go synonymous with this booming "flash marriage" market, determination is small to suggest it is simply a romanticist hub.

The bureau offices beryllium successful a dense warren of buildings supra a buying precinct, wherever vendors merchantability section effect and workers queue for takeaway sour crockery atom noodles.

Wang, however, was convinced helium could spot them aft the institution told him they would bash a afloat inheritance cheque and that helium would beryllium entitled to compensation if helium was the unfortunate of fraud.

So helium paid up and the introductions began.

He met 7 women successful assorted "blind date" rooms implicit a fewer days portion being cautiously supervised by bureau staff. He asked questions astir wherever they came from, if they'd been joined earlier and if they had immoderate kids.

He acceptable his bosom connected the eighth pistillate helium met. He was hoping to conscionable idiosyncratic who hadn't been joined before, with nary children and who was conscionable a small younger than him.

"She besides dressed precise simply," helium recalls. "She looked introverted and honest."

They met 4 oregon 5 times for conscionable 8 to 10 minutes each time. He says they had been nether strict instructions not to speech telephone numbers oregon immoderate details connected backstage messages, oregon they would beryllium fined.

After 2 oregon 3 days helium decided she was the 1 and helium agreed to wage her a important bride price. "I spent much than 300,000 yuan ($44,000)," helium says, with a heap of well-thumbed ineligible papers successful manus to beryllium it.

"If you see the wedding banquet and everything else, I spent astir 400,000 to 500,00 yuan."

The full process was documented by the matchmaking bureau successful a bid of glossy photos, which they besides usage to advertise their services connected Chinese societal media.

In the video the mates are holding hands connected a reddish carpet and smiling portion romanticist euphony plays successful the background.

Just months into the marriage, indebtedness collectors started calling, alleging she owed them money.

Wang grew suspicious and wanted to cognize what other she had kept hidden. He checked her telephone and recovered details of her erstwhile life, her commencement certificate and erstwhile matrimony documents.

When helium confronted her, she offered him a divorce, but refused to instrumentality a azygous penny of the bride price.

He says helium tried to hunt down the bureau liable for his marriage, but erstwhile helium returned to their offices, they had packed up and disappeared.

From his rented level successful Guiyang, conscionable crossed from the main territory which houses astir of these agencies, Wang present spends his clip making societal media videos trying to pass different men astir what tin spell wrong.

In Guiyang, it is hard to find an bureau wherever the unit is consenting to talk. One bureau brag agreed to speech to america successful their offices – though his concern spouse aboriginal asked america to leave.

Inside determination was a reddish carpet littered with fake petals acceptable for a proposal. He told america a mates had pledged to wed conscionable hours earlier we arrived.

"There's a immense marketplace for flash marriages successful China. It lone truly emerged implicit the past 2 oregon 3 years," helium told us.

The agencies assertion families present did not strictly adhere to the one-child policy, which means the country has a larger excavation of women. "Even if a household had 2 oregon 3 daughters, they would support trying for a son," 1 of them told the BBC.

They accidental they are present trying to lucifer these women with men from cardinal provinces – similar Wang who lives successful Hebei – who are comparatively affluent but person fewer women astir them.

"Our clients are escaped to take whoever they like. The intent of our concern is to assistance radical find idiosyncratic they genuinely privation to beryllium with."

One of the advertisements assures their prospective clients that "Three days with the close instauration tin bushed 3 years of dating".

Wang present spends his clip trying to assistance different victims of akin spiels.

His rented level is afloat of men who are either searching for the owners of the bureau who scammed them, oregon are trying to recoup their losses from their wives who ran disconnected aft lone a fewer weeks of marriage.

On a fold-up furniture by the window, 59-year-old Xu Rulin from Jiangxi state pulls his cautiously collated grounds retired of a reddish integrative buying bag.

He spent astir 500,000 yuan trying to find his lad a woman done a "flash marriage" agency.

Together they travelled to Guiyang - implicit 1000km distant - and his lad wed conscionable 7 days aft helium archetypal met his bride successful a "blind date" room.

Xu says aft the matrimony was registered, she demanded they bargain her an iPhone and transportation astir 20,000 yuan to assistance her with her business. She besides asked for 120,000 yuan for a wedding formal and jewellery, helium claims.

"All I wanted was for her to genuinely settee down and unrecorded with us," helium told us. "She said she wanted a location and I agreed to bargain 1 for them. It was each agreed.

But helium says she ran distant aft surviving with them for little than 2 weeks. She has been detained by the police, and the mates person been capable to get divorced.

He says the owners of the matchmaking institution were besides arrested successful January this year, but helium is inactive successful Guiyang trying to retrieve immoderate of the losses.

The bureau manager the BBC spoke to admitted determination are nary ceremonial inheritance checks connected their clients.

"The women are introduced by section matchmakers who already cognize them precise well. They cognize their household inheritance due to the fact that they're often from the aforesaid village. The male's matchmaker besides usually knows the antheral precise well."

They would not accidental however overmuch their services outgo due to the fact that that accusation was "confidential".

He did accidental that if the accusation provided by either broadside is not truthful, past the lawsuit is entitled to get their wealth back.

"I'd accidental much than 90% of what our clients archer america present is true," helium claimed.

"We person a saying present successful China. One rotten rodent dropping spoils the full cookware of soup. That's precisely what it's like. We regularly be meetings with the section police. If a matchmaking bureau is recovered to beryllium progressive successful matrimony fraud, it volition beryllium held legally responsible."

This brings small comfortableness for those who person mislaid immoderate wealth they had saved.

"I ne'er imagined that with the bureau charging specified a precocious work fee, a section matchmaker successful her hometown checking her inheritance and the institution offering truthful galore guarantees, that the women's accusation would crook retired to beryllium wholly fake," Wang says.

He is astir resigned present to his losses. And helium blames himself for falling for the scam: "Only women with problems would hold to these benignant of flash marriages."

He has kneeled astatine the constabulary offices successful Guiyang pleading for them to assistance him get his wealth backmost and helium has adjacent travelled to Beijing to impulse the authorities to bash much to combat this benignant of crime.

These cases are hard to prosecute, says Fan Binghe, the lawyer who has handled many.

For one, Chinese instrumentality has nary circumstantial transgression offence which covers this benignant of matrimony fraud, and truthful to bring transgression charges, a unfortunate has to found that the purpose of their spouse was ever to instrumentality their money.

"In cases I've handled, suspects often reason that they genuinely intended to wed and unrecorded a bully beingness but realised they were incompatible, had conflicts, and decided to extremity the relationship," helium says.

"In situations similar that, the enactment becomes blurred. Relationship issues are hard to disprove."

Even harder is getting wealth backmost from sham matchmaking agencies which often unopen up store arsenic soon arsenic they person made capable cash.

Wang has managed to get immoderate wealth back, but not all.

"After going done thing similar this, I don't adjacent cognize if I tin inactive get married. It was already hard for maine to find someone. And present I've spent truthful overmuch money. I won't see it now."

Wang's life, and the beingness of the men successful the apartment, each look to beryllium successful limbo.

"It has taken astir 2 years, and adjacent present I inactive don't cognize erstwhile I tin divorcement her," helium says, surrounded by his ineligible paperwork.

"I don't cognize erstwhile this volition beryllium resolved, truthful I tin restart a mean life. It feels endless."