The Standard: 

I am a woman aged 28. I met this man from another country, on the Internet. We chat, send pictures and talk on the phone; I even talked to his parents. We have many things in common. He says he has fallen in love with me and wants to meet and marry me.

He has even sent me plane tickets but I cannot go. He now wants to talk to my parents but my mother will hear nothing of it. She does not understand how I can marry a man whom I have never seen and whose background I do not know. I want to send my cousin to check him out.

Is it normal for people to fall in love on the Internet and marry?

It’s getting more normal. What is not normal is talk of marriage before, um… you know an actual face to face meeting. 

Talking to the parents ain’t going to cut it. It’s not hard to put a couple of people on the phone that can say they are the parents.  It’s definitely a smart idea to have her cousin check things out.

But that talk of love should have the red flags going up.  I wrote this in an article called “Online Dating Scam – They Love You “

Wonderful chats and common connections aside, you do not know this person. Anyone who starts talking about love after a relatively short period of time should raise alarm bells.

In some ways it’s the equivalent of going out on a blind date and after one hour the other person declares their undying love for you. Needless to say you would want to end that date as soon as possible and cut off all future contact. You should carry that same attitude online.

Unfortunately some people don’t.

I used the phrase “a relatively short period of time” and to be fair she does not indicate the exact time frame that the two of them have been corresponding.  But that’s not the issue. It’s someone who for all intent and purposes is STILL a stranger who now is proposing marriage.

Imo she should decline the offer and then wait to see how her cyberdate reacts.