Matchmakers may get licenses in Saudi Arabia

Ministry of Social Affairs is considering officially licensing the matchmaking profession, after giving them special training, according to a statement issued by the ministry.
The ministry said that this will protect people from being duped. A recent study showed that the number of spinsters in the Kingdom has reached around 257,000, scotching previous estimates of 500,000.
A committee that had been formed in coordination between the Ministries of Justice, Interior and Social Affairs has assigned the Ministry of Social Affairs with the task of studying the matchmaker issue and come up with necessary procedures to streamline this profession.
The committee said that issuing licenses to matchmakers was suggested after it was found that some matchmakers are manipulating the public, citing cases where a woman was found to be married twice to two different husbands by a matchmaker.
In another case, a matchmaker used multiple SIM cards to make a man believe that a woman had agreed to marry him and make him transfer money into her account. Another matchmaker blackmailed girls by threatening to post their photos on the Internet.
Some other matchmakers were found to be holding forged licenses with fake stamps of the Justice Ministry although the ministry does not issue this kind of licenses, sources said, adding that such cases triggered the authorities to move and take measures to protect the public from such actions.

Source: Arab News