A woman named Luo (pseudonym) from Wenshan, Yunnan, recently discovered that she was ‘married’ eight years ago in Ma'anshan, Anhui, while processing her tax refund. She has no recognition of the ‘husband’ listed on the marriage certificate and has never visited Anhui.

While filing her personal income tax refund in April this year, she declared herself as single, but her application was returned by staff who informed her that she was recorded as having a spouse. After that, she visited the local civil affairs bureau, where she found out that she had registered for marriage in 2017 in Ma'anshan. She reported the case to the police on July 10.

The Ma'anshan civil affairs bureau confirmed that the ID card and household registration used during the marriage registration were authentic. The registration procedure only involves a formal review when both parties are present, which means identity theft can lead to unauthorized marriage registrations.

On July 12, the police in Hanshan County reported that they had identified a suspect named Li (37) who allegedly fraudulently registered her marriage using another person’s identity. Luo expressed appreciation for the police's efficient handling of the case through social media and stated that she would patiently await the investigation results.