The investigation Probing social media, tracking financial transactions and testing the "narratives" that each couple spun allowed investigators to blow open the syndicate, Australian Border Force’s Regional Investigations Superintendent Garry Low told The Sun-Herald and The Age. "There is a requirement for these people to substantiate their relationships. That's where they fall short," he said. "It's a matter of also seeing what evidence there is [of the relationship], and what other people around them – family members, friends, associates and colleagues – say." Court documents show that Ms Mousner and her husband were instructed by the syndicate to meet every three months for coffee and "take photos". "Some people go so far as to go overseas and take photos together like any normal couple," Superintendent Low said.

The Australian Border Force investigation into the syndicate allegedly helmed by Mr Singh also led to 164 marriage visas being cancelled. In response to the investigation, The Australian high commission in New Delhi urged people to not fall victim to the scam – none of the applicants were granted permanent residency despite some paying significant sums of money. "The non-citizens, attempting to enter or stay in Australia, generally pay a significant sum of money to the facilitator," the statement from the high commission read. The recruiters Another alleged scam marriage

Superintendent Low said that local women in difficult positions were often approached by those coordinating the multimillion-dollar visa scams. "They can be single mothers, women on Centrelink or women who are in other ways vulnerable", he said. "People to whom $20,000-$25,000 is a life-changing amount of money." At least four Australian women worked with the syndicate – Jordan-Lee Evans, her sister Brooke Evans, western Sydney woman Nicole Flower and Casula woman Suzanne Akari. Court documents show that Jordan-Lee Evans sent Ms Mousner a Facebook message assuring her that a scam marriage was just "seriously easy money" for her. "I have been organising these weddings for years now and I can assure you that you will not get in trouble at all. I have done it and several of my friends and people I know that [have] done it or still doing it also it's seriously just easy money, it's a contract for 18 months and they just pay you monthly so they work here for longer," she wrote.

Court documents show the syndicate also worked like a pyramid scheme – brides were asked to sign up their friends and family and were to be paid $500 for each new recruit. The alleged kingpin Indian national Jagjit Singh will face a District Court trial in November this year, charged with arranging a marriage between Zayna Youssef and Karmjeit Singh in 2013, Benjamin Prothero and Gurpreet Kaur and April Wheeler and Mani Karan Singh in 2014 and Chaloey Mousner and Siddartha Sharma in 2015. Mr Singh, 32, allegedly signed the marriage certificate for at least one couple. He also allegedly took couples to the bank and helped open joint accounts, drove women to and from the train station and allegedly gave a recruiter and a bride each a cash envelope. Mr Singh has entered a plea of not guilty to four counts of arranging a marriage to obtain permanent residence and will proceed to trial in the District Court later this year.

The maximum penalty for arranging a marriage is a decade behind bars. The purchasers Most of the syndicate's customers – and most marriage scam beneficiaries more generally – are men, Superintendent Low said. "Some of them are wealthy, certainly, but some use up their life savings on these visa scams. They are typically a last resort for people desperate to stay in Australia," he said. "It's attractive for people - there is Medicare, housing in some cases and a high salary." Others, who do not have savings or family wealth to pay for a scam visa, are forced to labor for the syndicate to repay their considerable debts.