VZCZCXYZ0055
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNR #2509/01 1581348
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071348Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2291
INFO RUEHPNH/NVC PORTSMOUTH 0262
RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA 4804
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 8575
RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI 4240
RUEHLGB/AMEMBASSY KIGALI 4415
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 1733
RUEHPC/AMEMBASSY LOME 0561
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 4687

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