A TOP police official in Malaysia has reportedly said his country's women topped the list of all the women in the world who fell victim to online cheating in the name of love and marriage promises. He said more than 15,000 Malaysian women have lost more than $17 million in one year in the cases of the Internet fraud. According to him, the loss of women in the world in this particular area was more than $270 million. It is noteworthy that most of the men cheaters were Africans. It seems that the story of African women looking for men in the Arab World to help them regain their wealth legacies left by their rich and high-positioned fathers was no longer a feasible trick. African men cheaters have shifted their gear toward romance, love and marriage with promises to bring more desperate women to their love nets. The only positive aspect in the entire issue, if it has one at all, is that it has restored dignity to the Arab men who used to fall an easy prey to the fake online love stories. However, the men of the East are still easily attracted by the sight of a woman, beautiful or not. I do not know the share of the Saudi women in the sum of the $270 million but local newspapers carried several reports about fraud love stories and marriage promises which went into millions of riyals. This may just be the tip of an iceberg in a conservative society which is afraid of scandals. The government should draft laws and establish special departments to help women report their emotional fraudulent love cases on the Internet. If the Malaysian women were on the top of the women victims of the love fraud, I think we can all imagine who are the men who are on the top of the list of those cheated in the name of love.
