DHS Discovers College Admissions Fraud Ring

The Department of Homeland Security is investigating an alleged identity-theft ring that granted Chinese students admission into California universities, NBC San Diego reports.

According to a search warrant obtained by NBC, a Chinese national living in Rancho Penasquitos was paid as much as $25,000 to have an impostor take the necessary entrance exams and fill out college applications using false Chinese passports. The man used the company names Mayen International and Mayen Global Services to enroll students at the University of California campuses at Irvine, Los Angeles and Riverside.

Once enrolled, the students were able to transfer to other schools participating in the Students and Exchange Visitor program and allowed to stay in the country as long as they kept their grades up and stayed in school. It is unknown how many students were admitted through the business or how much money the man made.