The ruling on marrying a girl met through the internet

Question:
This questioner says: I am an Arab Muslim with a wife from my country, but I got to know an American girl who recently converted to Islam. This happened through my supervision of some lessons over the computer network, and we agreed to marry. Please note that she was living in an Islamic country and is a chaste woman, not like the women of the West, but her parents are Christians. What do you advise me to do, O Shaykh, given that I see in her a desire to learn Islam?

Answer:
Marrying through the internet; this is not something one should do, and I do not advise it, because it involves lying, it involves pretense, it is not built upon, and it cannot be described. It involves coldness, and it cannot be described. If you know the woman well without needing a medium, there is no harm. But if it is through the internet and you do not know her except by this means, it is not to be relied upon.