Bride duped into marrying influencer in fake ceremony for followers but it was actually an elaborate scam

Here comes the bride — but the groom lied.Most newlyweds get a shiny toaster or a few fat checks in celebration of their holy matrimony.

However, this troubled twosome just got an annulment by request of the “furious” bride, who claims she thought that her wedding ceremony was a social media prank and not a legally binding union.“He told me that he’s organizing a prank wedding for his social media,” the unnamed woman, a twenty-something from Melbourne, Australia, recently explained to a family court judge, per The Guardian.  “To be precise, Instagram,” continued the bamboozled bride, saying the fella had 17,000 followers.“He wants to boost his content and wants to start monetizing his Instagram page.”Neither she nor the groom, a Melbourne-based, bisexual man in his 30s, can be named for legal purposes, according to reports. But Justice Joshua Wilson agreed that the gal had been gulled into marrying the man during a December 2023 “sham” wedding in Sydney as part of a visa scam.

He granted the bride an annulment.The ill-fated couple initially connected on a dating app in September 2023.

They reportedly had their first date at a church the following day. After three months of dating, the man proposed in December, and she accepted, according to CNN.Two days later, she claimed her new fiancé invited her to a “white party” in Sydney.However, upon arriving at the venue in a white dress — a number she insisted was not a bridal gown — the woman was “shocked” to learn the man had “organized a wedding.”“When I got there, and I didn’t see anybody in white, I asked him, ‘What’s happening?’” she told the court, adding that her new beau assured it was nothing more than “a simple prank.”After agreeing to participate in the supposed stunt, the bride appeared to “enthusiastically” participate in the ceremony, per footage of their nuptials, so says The Guardian. She insisted, however, that her exuberance was “all ...