Shanghai's marriage administration office said yesterday it is investigating a matchmaking agency in Zhabei District that is allegedly offering to help women on the Chinese mainland find an American husband.

Kemao Co Ltd posted a message this week on Koubei.com, a well-known Chinese Web portal, guaranteeing it could find a husband in the United States for any woman willing to pay 40,000 yuan (US$5,174).

"We have many US men of all classes registered at our agency," said Chen Lin, director of the company. "And we can post local women's information in US newspapers."

Chinese matchmaking companies are banned from helping mainland residents find partners abroad or in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, a law Chen said she is unaware of.

Chen told Shanghai Daily her company has yet to find a husband for a local resident, but wouldn't say how long the firm has been in operation. She said she was unaware of the investigation, and refused to discuss it.

The marriage administration office - a department of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau - said yesterday it will force the company to stop offering the service if the investigation proves it is helping Chinese find foreign spouses.

"Local law bans such business, as it puts people at a high risk of being cheated,' said Zhou Jixiang, director of the office. "If they are cheating people, we'll turn the case over to public security authorities."

The marriage office said a heavily publicized group tour to the Silicon Valley for women looking to meet a Chinese student living in the US doesn't break the law, because the potential mates are Chinese.