The man and woman were living in Melbourne, Australia, when they started dating in September 2023. A few months later, the man proposed to the woman, who said yes.
What she didn’t know was that her new fiancé was a fraud.
So she was tricked into marriage
BBC reports on the case gaining attention in Australia.
Shortly after the man and woman became engaged, he invited her to a “white party – a party where the guests would be dressed in white. Dressed in a white dress, the woman turned up at the party, only to find that very few people were there. Only her partner, a photographer and two more people she didn’t know.
– I asked him: ‘What is happening?’. And he pulled me aside and told me that he is organizing a bus wedding for his social media. Instagram, to be precise, because he wanted to boost his content and wanted to start making money on his Instagram, the woman says according to the BBC.
As the man, with his 17,000 followers, wanted to become bigger as an influencer, the woman trusted him in the end. She thought that the marriage could still only be valid if it was submitted to the court with her signature.
Played along – then came the marriage certificate
Believing that the “fake wedding” would be a sketch for Instagram, the woman played along – said yes, made a promise of marriage and kissed the man in front of the camera.
Weeks later, the man asked for a favor. That she would sign as a relative when he applied for a residence permit in Australia. When the woman said that it is not possible, because they are not married, the man said that they are indeed married. The woman then got to see the marriage certificate, with her fake signature.
– I am furious about the fact that I did not know it was a real marriage and the fact that he lied from the beginning, the woman says in court documents.
The court annulled the marriage
After the woman went to court, she has now been vindicated. The marriage has been annulled, despite the man trying to claim that both agreed to marry.
– She thought she was acting, and that the event was a prank, states the judge in the case, writes the BBC.