There are scams in lots of places around the world, and while there are some common ones in Ethiopia, I haven’t heard of a marriage scam. That said, does your friend really seriously think he has met someone worth marrying that he has never met in person? Sure, he should take a trip to Ethiopia because it is an amazing country. He should plan on seeing a few areas and if there is a nice lady in Addis waiting for him, she should join him for the trip.

In many places in Africa, people (most often men) use cyber cafés or telecentres to go fishing for prospective mates on the Internet. Marrying a westerner can be viewed as a ticket out of poverty and is essentially the equivalent of winning the state lottery. The up side is that Ethiopian women are quite friendly and amongst the most beautiful in the world.

Ethiopia is a great country full amazing people and sites but like “rescommunae” said, to some marrying a westerner in a ticket out of poverty. it is the one possibility of making something out of them selves and if it means a fake marriage, there are somethat are willing to risk it. but please understand that this only a minimal part of the population and that most of ethiopia is filled with honest, kind hearted, and beautiful people. my advice to u’r freind is that he REALLY gets to know the person before he makes anytype of commitment. but i hope he enjoys ethiopia because it truly is an amazing country.