Something that men are finally learning is that times have changed, and the concept of “consent” (in legal terms) is conditional. If a girl consents to have sex with you for money and you don’t pay her, then she didn’t consent because you didn’t meet the conditions of that consent. And if a girl didn’t consent, that means you raped her.

This is a lesson a man in Belgium learned the hard way.

As he has been convicted of rape after repeatedly deceiving a sex worker by presenting fake proof of payment, a decision the Antwerp court of appeal described as unprecedented.

The ruling was issued last Thursday by the court in Antwerp, a city that has long positioned itself as a leader in regulating and safeguarding sex work. Belgium is among several European countries where sex work is legal and regulated.

According to the court, the defendant deliberately misled the victim by pretending to transfer funds via his banking app after she requested payment in advance. Judges found that this deception occurred on six separate occasions involving the same woman. Each time, the man showed her either an unsigned bank transfer or a screenshot of a previously completed payment that did not correspond to the services provided.

While Belgian sex workers have previously taken clients to court for nonpayment, a spokeswoman for the Antwerp court of appeal said this case marked the first time that refusal to pay, or the falsification of payment receipts, had been legally interpreted as the absence of consent for sexual activity. Under Belgian criminal law, rape is defined as sexual penetration without consent, and consent is considered invalid if obtained through a ruse or another punishable act.

The court determined that the sexual acts in this case resulted directly from deception, thereby nullifying consent and meeting the legal definition of rape.

The defendant, a Bulgarian national in his 30s, told the court he was under the influence of cocaine at the time of the offenses, according to the court spokeswoman.

He received a three-year suspended prison sentence. The ruling also requires him to undergo psychotherapy and submit to regular drug testing to demonstrate that he is no longer using narcotics.

But this isn’t just about a man in another country. This also applies to the United States.

In U.S. law, consent can be invalidated by fraud — but only certain kinds of fraud. Courts generally distinguish between:

• Fraud in the factum (deception about the nature of the act itself → can invalidate consent)

• Fraud in the inducement (lying about circumstances, payment, identity, intentions → usually does not invalidate consent)

So even if you don’t get charged with rape, failure to pay after sex can still find you charged with theft, or even fraud.