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A bride scam is a form of romance scam – a confidence trick that aims to defraud potential grooms with the offer of a foreign bride. This phenomenon increased in number with the rise of the internet with its online dating sites and online chats. The general term “bride scam” can also encompass other scams such as dating scams, sex scams, and bride order scams over the internet. Many men are victims of a bride scam before they even realize it.

Many men are looking for cheap sex but end up falling in love with the women involved. Most of these women think marrying a tourist can be seen as hitting the jackpot. Many men turn to mail-order bride services. Before the internet, men traveled overseas to meet woman in the sex trade. State Department often refers to bride scams as “Boris and Natasha” scams, when a lonely American man believes he has found a beautiful woman to marry except Natasha ends up being a Boris.