What seemed like a fun, engaging social media stunt for an influencer turned into a very real nightmare for his girlfriend after she discovered the “prank wedding” he had staged for content was real all along.

“He used me for his own gain, and I want others to be aware of how dangerous this can be,” the bride said, explaining how the ceremony was legally binding and part of an elaborate scam.

An Australian court has now annulled the marriage, concluding that the ceremony was not valid and the bride had been taken advantage of.

The groom, a non-resident, met his now ex-wife online in September 2023 and saw in her the chance to gain Australian citizenship. By December, the man proposed, and they were married shortly after in an alleged fake ceremony in Sydney.

An Australian bride was duped into marrying her influencer boyfriend in a fake ceremony, only to find out it was part of an immigration scam

Image credits: stock.adobe

The groom initially told his girlfriend to attend an “all-white party” however, once she arrived at the ceremony, she realized that no one else was wearing the color but them.

“When I got there and didn’t see anyone in white, I asked him, ‘What’s happening?’” she recounted in court. 

“We have to make it look real,” the groom replied, explaining how it was all part of a “prank wedding” he had organized to create content for his 17,000 followers on Instagram.

Image credits: Emma Bauso/Pexels (not the actual photo)

“He told me he was organizing a prank wedding for his social media,” the bride explained to the judge. “To be precise, for Instagram, because he wants to boost his content and start monetizing his page.”

Image credits: RDNE Stock project/Pexels (not the actual photo)

The bride also explained how the idea seemed plausible, considering similar pranks had been staged by influencers on social media platforms. The stunts are created to generate engagement and money, particularly for channels looking to go viral.

The bride then went along with the “fake ceremony,” including signing papers that she later realized were legally binding all along.

The groom intended to gain permanent residency by exploiting the bride’s status as a health professional, which allowed her to fast-track her application

Image credits: Karolina Grabowska/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

It wasn’t until February 2024 that she realized the marriage was real when the man asked her to include him as a dependent on her application for permanent residency.

Thanks to her job as a health professional, she had access to a much easier application process—a fact the groom, who was allegedly in the country under a temporary student visa, tried to exploit.

“He organized the marriage to help him,” she said, explaining how she felt “lied to from the beginning” and “furious” for being used as part of a visa scheme.

Image credits: stock.adobe (not the actual photo)

The bride then separated and started a long legal process that culminated in her favor this month.

The groom, on the other hand, denied that the wedding was a stunt, claiming that the two had lived together before getting engaged and that the bride had known from the beginning that the ceremony was official.

He also claimed that a notice of intention was signed on November 20, 2023, weeks before the proposal. The bride, however, denied ever having signed or seen the papers.

Under Australian law, marriage fraud is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, along with visa cancellation and deportation

Image credits: Kübra Kuzu/Pexels (not the actual photo)

“It beggars belief that a couple would become engaged in late December and married two days later,” Justice Joshua Wilson, who presided over the case, said, finding the groom’s story difficult to believe.

The judge also pointed out the fact that the wedding celebrant had been hired a month before the proposal, lending credence to the fake ceremony being part of an elaborate scheme.

A review of Australian immigration law allows people to infer what will happen to the groom and his accomplice now that his marriage has been annulled.

Image credits: Freepik (not the actual photo)

According to the Migration Act 1958 section 240, using marriage to gain residency or a visa is considered fraud.

“A person must not arrange a marriage between other persons with the intention of assisting one of those other persons to get a stay visa by satisfying a criterion for the visa because of the marriage,” the document states.

The consequences of such an act are severe and range from imprisonment for 10 years to visa cancellation and deportation, as well as a possible ban for the accused from re-entering the country for a specific period of time.

Netizens lamented the extent to which some people are willing to go to gain residency and expressed sympathy toward the bride

Image credits: Gantas Vaičiulėnas/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

“That’s absolutely wild—imagine thinking it’s a joke and ending up married! The things people do for social media these days never cease to amaze me,” one user wrote.

“Wow. This is a galaxy-brain-level fraud scheme,” a reader stated. “Clearly not, when it fell apart the moment he tried to put the endgame into action,” another replied.

“This should get him deported and barred from entering the country,” a user stated.

“Australia’s immigration service is really good about deportation. Kick his ass back to wherever he came from!”

“She deserves so much better.” Netizens expressed their sympathy for what the bride had to endure and their wish for justice to be served

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