Online romance leads to death

According to the Chinese Xinhua News Agency the youth had spent days talking to a woman who called herself "Qunjiaofeiyang" or "flying skirt," who had told him she was a beautiful 19-year-old.

Authorities said that he became addicted to chatting to the woman and wouldn't leave the café. Finally the pair arranged a meeting in Mudanjiang, a town in Heilongjiang province, on the day after Christmas.

Xinhua said that to the teen's disappointment, his dream girl turned out to be a plain lady who was more than 10 years older than him. The meeting went so badly he went home and hung himself.

The case is being used by the Chinese authorities as a cautionary tale about the dangers of the Internet. We would have thought it makes a better cautionary tale about the need to get a good recent photograph of an online love before wasting money on the bus fare to meet up.

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