The Home Affairs Department has launched an online service for women to check whether they have fallen victim to marriage fraud.
Around 200 women have discovered in recent weeks that they were fraudulently married to husbands they did not know, says the department. The scam involves illegal immigrants securing work permits or citizenship by fraudulently 'marrying` single South African women without their knowledge.
Home Affairs launched a 'Check Your Marital Status Campaign` at the beginning of this month, and has so far found at least 27 fraudulent marriages in the Eastern Cape, 20 in the Free State, 17 in the North West, 15 in Mpumalanga, 12 in KwaZulu-Natal and nine in Limpopo. Northern Cape has only one unknown marriage and Gauteng has not yet reported any. Around 5 000 women have checked their marital status so far.
The department says it has made arrangements with the Department of Justice to deregister or expunge these fraudulent marriages without the victims having to go to court.
The department has urged single women to check their marital status by verifying it on the Web site or visiting a Home Affairs office.
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