Online Romance: Finding Love or Finding Trouble?

A Saudi father from a wealthy and respected family saw a photograph of an Egyptian woman online, fell in love with her and decided she should become his wife. The woman appeared to return his feelings, and he informed his parents of his plans.

After the two agreed to marry, the suitor paid a bride price of $700,000. But when he traveled to Egypt for the marriage, he discovered that the family had arranged for him to marry another sister, who looked different from the woman in the photograph. He rejected the arrangement and demanded his money back. The dispute grew serious enough for Saudi Arabia to intervene, and the family eventually had to bring the woman whose photograph he had seen.

The article presents the case as one example of the dangers surrounding online matchmaking. It also describes an Australian older man who traveled to Nigeria after falling for a woman’s photograph online. The people who met him at the airport were allegedly fraudsters who kidnapped him and pressured him to send them money. Authorities intervened after he lost substantial sums and suffered mistreatment.

The article says online romance scams have also affected many older or wealthy women and widows in North America. Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police anti-fraud unit reported 1,249 complaints from 925 victims in 2021, who together lost more than C$50 million. In the United States, authorities reported losses of about $547 million that year. The article also warns that photo filters can create misleading images, leaving relationships to collapse when people finally meet.