China's embassy in Bangladesh has cautioned Chinese nationals against using illegal matchmaking services to find brides, joining several other Chinese diplomatic missions that have issued similar warnings.
In a social media post on Tuesday, the embassy said Chinese citizens travelling to Bangladesh to find wives through brokers or agencies could be arrested on suspicion of involvement in human trafficking, according to a South China Morning Post report.
The embassy noted that under Bangladeshi law, those convicted of human trafficking face a minimum of seven years' imprisonment and a fine of at least Tk 500,000 (about US$4,100). Depending on the severity of the offence, the punishment can extend to life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
Lesser offences linked to human trafficking, such as instigating the crime, are punishable by three to seven years in prison and fines of up to Tk 20,000.
According to the embassy, cases of cross-border marriage scams involving Chinese nationals have increased. It stressed that international marriages should be based on mutual consent and genuine affection, warning that bride-buying often leads to financial extortion and physical danger.
China has been stepping up efforts to curb the illegal international matchmaking industry, which is banned under its laws. The underground market has expanded partly due to the country's longstanding gender imbalance, with the 2020 national census showing about 17.5 million more marriage-age men than women.
The report says that Beijing has intensified its crackdown on illegal matchmaking and human trafficking networks.
According to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, authorities arrested 1,546 people between January 2024 and March 2025 for offences linked to human trafficking and fraudulent matchmaking operations.
In some cases, Chinese men who paid tens of thousands of yuan to arrange marriages discovered that their foreign brides had vanished without a trace. In other cases, women were abducted and forced into marriages with Chinese men.
