DIVERSITY VISA FRAUD - OPERATION GHOST MARRIAGE

UNCLAS NAIROBI 002509

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/CA
DEPT FOR CA/FPP, CA/VO, CA/P
DEPT FOR DS/IP/AF
DEPT FOR DS/CR/VF
PASS TO KCC
PASS TO INL/HSTC
POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS

THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KFRD ASEC CVIS CPAS CMGT KCRM KE
SUBJECT: DIVERSITY VISA FRAUD - OPERATION GHOST MARRIAGE

REF: ADDIS ABABA 1476


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On June 2 Post culminated over six months
of investigations into a marriage fraud ring with the arrest
by Kenyan authorities of over 70 Diversity Visa applicants.
Simultaneous arrests and searches in other locations
revealed a criminal ring was involved in matching Kenyan
applicants in fraudulent relationships for the sole purpose
of immigration. With the assistance of Post's A/RSO-I,
Kenyan authorities have begun to develop a case against the
brokers for arranging sham marriages supported by genuine
marriage certificates. Post continues to monitor the Kenyan
Police's investigation. END SUMMARY.

POST DEVELOPS A PROFILE
--------------


2. (SBU) Post had for several years suspected that
Diversity Visa (DV) applicants from the Kisii tribe of
Western Kenya had been entering into fraudulent
relationships for the purpose of immigration. The profile
usually involved a principal applicant who made his original
electronic submission for the Diversity Visa as a single
person, and shortly after receiving word of winning that
season's "lottery," became married in what other posts have
described as "pop-up marriages" (reftel). In previous
years, Post investigated these cases on an individual basis
usually verifying documents and sometimes even sending our
Investigations Assistant to do site visits. Site visits
revealed no relationship, but document verification showed
that the marriage documents were genuine.


3. (SBU) However, for the 2006 Diversity Visa season,
adjudicating officers and locally engaged staff began to
notice similarities between cases, which suggested a
criminal ring was behind the applications. In years past,
these cases had been difficult to prove, because the
criminal ring or rings involved procured genuine documents
to support fraudulent marriages and Post's resources were
not sufficient to verify each case physically. When post
began to look at these "Kisii fraud" cases in general, we
noticed the following patterns at the time of interview:

-- The principal applicant was often quiet, allowing the
spouse to dominate the interview.
-- The contact address in the U.S. was often a friend or
relative of the spouse, not the principal applicant.
-- The principal applicant and the spouse often appeared to
be of different social and economic backgrounds, with the
principal applicant often being the poorer of the two.
-- The couple could not provide any significant proof of a
relationship before the date of marriage.
-- Across applications, applicants responded to Stokes
interview questions in exactly the same way and describing
the same type of items, suggesting significant coaching.
-- Across applications, applicants wore the same style of
wedding rings.
-- Applicants appeared physically uncomfortable with each
other at the interview window, with no physical displays of
affection.

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANTS HELP A/RSO-I MAKE HIS CASE

SIPDIS
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) Post's A/RSO-I began to collect cases that fit the
"Kisii fraud" profile. At the same time, several
confidential informants (CI's) began to walk-in and assist

SIPDIS
in the development of our case. One informant described the
operation from soup to nuts, mistakenly believing that the
criminal ring had a contact at KCC that was diverting Kisii
applications. Further information from other informants
revealed that, similar to DV scams in other countries, the
criminal ring had an insider in the Kisii post office who
was diverting letters issued by KCC to DV winners. His
accomplices would then visit the DV winners and convince

them to enter into a sham or ghost marriage with someone
they did not know.


5. (SBU) Of all the persons approached by this criminal
ring, only one principal applicant came forward as a CI to
assist with our investigation, the rest agreed to be
complicit in the fraud. Information from our CI's indicated
that the ring was very careful in matching principal
applicants with sham spouses to the extent that they
required HIV tests of applicants and spouses to ensure that
they would not be found 212(a)(1)(A)(i) at the time of
interview. Our information suggests that spouses involved
in this fraud paid between $4,000 and $5,000 to be paired
with DV winners by the criminal ring.

OPERATION GHOST MARRIAGE
--------------


6. (SBU) After building evidence, A/RSO-I received approval
from Diplomatic Security to initiate Operation Ghost
Marriage in which brokers from the criminal ring were caught
on tape agreeing to and accepting money to set-up sham
marriages with DV winners. A/RSO-I also worked with Kenyan
Authorities to arrest over seventy Kisii applicants and
spouses involved in these sham marriages who were
simultaneous requested to return to the consular section for
their "final interview." Kenyan Police continue to hold in
custody two ringleaders of the operation who have both been
charged with mail theft, a felony punishable by 10 years
imprisonment. The 77 applicants were released on bond
pending further investigations and will likely be charged
with procuring false certificates of marriage, a felony
offense punishable by seven years imprisonment.

MEDIA REACTION
--------------


7. (SBU) Initial media reaction to the arrest was factual
and based on information obtained from Embassy's Public
Affairs Section. In subsequent days, media reaction became
more inflammatory, erroneously stating that the arrested
applicants had been released days later without charge,
suggesting human rights violations. The People, a paper of
questionable journalistic credibility, stated that some
applicants had been tortured in the Embassy's basement for
four hours preceding the 9:30am arrest. This story was
particularly surprising since the Embassy does not have a
basement.

COMMENT
--------------


8. (SBU) Post is pleased that this criminal ring has been
identified and is particularly pleased with the cooperation
received by Kenyan Police. Post also points out that
operations such as these provide clear evidence of the
benefits inherent in having an A/RSO-I attached to the
consular section. Post will continue to closely monitor the
progress made by Kenyan authorities with this case.


9. (SBU) Post also concurs with Reftel that CA should
consider working on an overall solution to DV "pop-up
marriages," as they are particularly prone to fraud.
BELLAMY