China’s embassy in Bangladesh has warned its citizens to avoid the “misguided notion” of “buying a foreign wife” through online matchmaking scams.
In a post on the embassy’s social media account on Sunday, the embassy urged Chinese nationals to stay away from illegal agencies that promoted cross-border blind dates and marriages “to avoid losing both money and person”.
It said that individuals involved in illegal marriages in the South Asian country risked being arrested for human trafficking, a charge that often triggers lengthy judicial proceedings.
Cross-border marriage agencies are illegal under Chinese law, but online advertisements promoting foreign brides have begun to appear more frequently as China faces falling marriage rates and a sex imbalance.
Last year, China saw its lowest number of marriage registrations since 1980, with just 6.1 million marriage certificates issued, a decline of more than 20 per cent from 2023.
