How Kenyans got caught in $130m US ghost student scam

A Kenyan man, Francis Mogambi, has been indicted in the US over an alleged scheme to steal Americans’ identities and use them to enrol fictitious students at colleges to claim federal student aid. His case is part of a wider investigation into suspected fraud that has put public funds and the identities and credit records of people who never attended college at risk.

Prosecutors allege Mogambi worked with associates in Kenya from November 2025 to May 2026, keeping 30% of diverted aid and sending the rest overseas; the intended loss in his case was $20,000. The wider investigation has produced five indictments, with 40 more investigations open. Authorities identified 830,840 potentially fraudulent aid identification numbers linked to nearly $130m in September and October 2026, but that figure is associated aid, not confirmed losses.