Type "Czech brides" into Google, and you get more than 27,000 Web sites promising romantic life partners, subservient women "unspoiled by feminism," and everything in between.

What you rarely see are the people who stand behind those promises, and the industry is rife with sites aimed at bilking people out of their money, watchdogs say.

Nearly half of all marriage agencies are scams, says Jim Moore, founder and manager of AgencyScams.com.

"I could count on my hands the number of agencies that conduct business 100 percent truthfully," he says.

Moore says the nature of the business makes it attractive to scammers. "Sell something that doesn't exist. That is a huge profit. And what is the guy who was scammed going to do? Go knock on your door?"

But Gabriela Justinová hopes to inject reality into the market.

The former model and runner-up in the 1997 Miss Czech contest opened her own marriage agency, Flying Hearts, three years ago in Prague.

Justinová says she wants to put a face on her company so that clients know it is legitimate.

"That's why I used my name. Because when clients see a person who is in the public sphere, they will have a better feeling approaching the company."

Her business plan has worked so far. Justinová expanded to have representatives in the United States, Italy and most recently Germany. She is currently looking to expand to the United Kingdom.

Justinová has thousands of women on her site who are looking for a Western husband. A client will contact her through her Internet site and fill out a profile of who he is and who he's looking for.

Both the man and the woman have to express an interest in meeting each other before Justinová arranges an introduction.

The client will eventually come to Prague for a date.

Despite the large number of women to choose from, Justinová says it's still hard to make clients happy because they often come to her with unrealistic expectations about a bride-to-be.

One wrote a four-page description of his ideal. " 'She shouldn't have any tattoos, she should speak this and this and this language ... She should not want children.' It's almost impossible to satisfy these people. They are looking for some ideal person who doesn't exist."

Justinová says she has made some lasting connections. But even after spending as much as 1,100 euros ($1,320/31,350 Kč) for four dates, some clients have found that money can't buy them love.