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What is marriage fraud？ How to handle cases of marriage fraud
Time:2025-08-28 Views:565
Introduction: Marriage fraud, also known as "marriage fraud", refers to the practice of scammers who can use the legal marriage registration procedures of the country or use marriage as bait to defraud others of their property. This article introduces what marriage fraud is and how to handle cases of marriage fraud by the marriage law editor of Fanneng Law Firm.
What is marriage fraud?
Marriage fraud, abbreviated as marriage fraud, is the most common form of marriage fraud that uses marriage as bait to defraud money, commonly known as "pigeon laying". Marriage fraud has evolved into a new type of fraud that uses real identities and documents to legally register marriages, which is also the most difficult to crack down on.
The suspect uses the legal marriage as a cover to cheat the legal marriage registration, which is a special case in the crime of fraud. Currently, the targets of fraudsters are mainly focused on marriage fraud among the elderly and impoverished, and fraud cases are on the rise.
The provisions of China's Marriage Law on fraudulent marriage
According to the Marriage Law of our country, obtaining property through marriage goes beyond the scope of obtaining property through marriage, and can be punished according to the specific circumstances as a fraudulent act under criminal law.
At present, there is no clear legal provision in China's Marriage Law regarding the illegal act of defrauding others' property through legal marriage, which allows many criminals to take advantage of legal loopholes and use legal marriage to defraud others' property.
Characteristics and characterization of marriage fraud
According to Article 10 of the Marriage Law of our country, bigamy, marriages with relatives who are prohibited from getting married, marriages with diseases that are medically deemed unfit for marriage before marriage, and marriages that have not yet reached the legal age of marriage are considered invalid. In the current Marriage Law and its judicial interpretations, the marriage relationship between the fraudster and the deceived person is not an invalid marriage.
Article 11 of the Marriage Law and Article 10 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China (I) provide for the revocable system of forced marriages. The so-called coercive marriage refers to the situation where the perpetrator uses the threat of causing damage to the life, physical health, reputation, property, and other aspects of the other party or their close relatives to force the other party to marry against their true will. The party who is coerced into a marriage relationship may request the cancellation of the marriage to the marriage registration authority or the people's court within one year from the date of marriage registration. Obviously, fraudulent marriage is not considered a revocable marriage under the Marriage Law.
It can be seen that according to the current Marriage Law and relevant judicial interpretations, fraudulent marriage is neither an invalid marriage under the Marriage Law nor a revocable marriage under the Marriage Law. Therefore, it can only be classified as a legal marriage under the Marriage Law. However, this characterization goes against common sense.
The Handling of Fraudulent Marriage in Marriage Law
The current Marriage Law and its judicial interpretations provide different handling systems for disputes arising from different forms of marriage, namely the declaration system for invalid marriages, the revocable system for coerced marriages, and the divorce system for legal marriages.
Based on the classification of fraudulent marriage as a legal marriage, it can only be handled through divorce within the framework of the current Marriage Law and its judicial interpretations.
Article 32 of the Marriage Law stipulates the conditions for the people's court to grant divorce to the parties, that is, if the marital relationship has indeed broken down and mediation is ineffective, divorce shall be granted. From Article 32 of the Marriage Law, it can be seen that the standard of emotional breakdown is the only criterion for granting divorce. In marriage fraud cases, the fraudster aims to obtain money and has no emotional connection with the deceived person, nor can it be said that their relationship has broken down.
How to apply the law to the lawsuit request of being deceived and demanding the return of property. According to Article 3 of the Marriage Law, it is prohibited to solicit property through marriage. Article 10 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China (II) stipulates the system of returning dowries paid according to customs in the following circumstances: 1. If both parties have not completed the marriage registration procedures; 2. Both parties have completed the marriage procedures but have not yet lived together; 3. Pre marital payment that causes financial difficulties for the payer. But fraudulent marriage, the first two items are already facts, and if the deceived person cannot provide evidence of "difficulties in their own life due to payment", the lawsuit request for returning property will not be supported. This is clearly unfair.
In summary, within the framework of the current Marriage Law and its judicial interpretations, the characterization of the fraudulent marriage in this case is contrary to common sense; It is difficult to apply the most appropriate regulations when dealing with disputes caused by marriage fraud, and the handling results will also be unfair.
The rationality of using civil law provisions to handle fraudulent marriage disputes
So what kind of legal system can be used to fairly handle marriage fraud disputes? Law has the function of evaluation, and at the same time, it is also the standard for evaluation. This means that when laws with different evaluation criteria are used to evaluate the same behavior, different conclusions are often drawn.
The rights related to marriage are a part of natural civil rights, and civil activities must comply with the law. Article 58 of the General Principles of the Civil Law of our country stipulates that civil acts that violate the law or public interest, or conceal illegal purposes in a legal form, are invalid civil acts. In marriage fraud cases, the behavior of the fraudster is to conceal the illegal purpose of defrauding the property of the victim by marrying them in a legal form. According to Article 58 of the General Principles of Civil Law, this act is an invalid civil act, and therefore the marriage concluded should be an invalid marriage. Making such a conclusion is not contradictory to the current provisions of the Marriage Law regarding invalid marriages. The reason why the invalid marriages stipulated in Article 10 of the Marriage Law become invalid marriages is that these marriages violate the mandatory legal provisions in Articles 3, 6, and 7 of the Marriage Law regarding the prohibition of bigamy, statutory age of marriage, prohibited family relationships, and diseases that should not be married. These provisions of the Marriage Law are the concretization of Article 58 of the General Principles of Civil Law, which states that civil acts that violate the law or public interest are invalid civil acts. At the same time, these provisions of the Marriage Law do not exclude the application of Article 58 of the General Principles of Civil Law, which stipulates that civil acts that conceal illegal purposes in a legal form are invalid civil acts in the Marriage Law.
In cases of marriage fraud, if the provisions of Article 58 of the General Principles of Civil Law regarding civil acts that conceal illegal purposes in a legal form as invalid civil acts are applied, declaring the marriage invalid, the application of law is more appropriate, and the protection of the rights of the parties is more sufficient. The deceived person can request the return of property on the grounds that the civil act is invalid.
Therefore, based on the above analysis, a system of invalidation for fraudulent marriages should be established within the framework of the General Principles of Civil Law; This is the only way to fairly handle disputes caused by marriage fraud, and at the same time, declaring the marriage fraud invalid is also conducive to holding relevant personnel criminally responsible. If divorce is ruled, the fraudster's act of defrauding the victim of their property should not be subject to criminal punishment, as divorce is a legal way of terminating a marital relationship due to the breakdown of the marital relationship. Sichuan Faneng Law Firm is dedicated to serving you.