Mercy Ojedeji, from Nigeria, started one scheme with one lie and was able to pull off not only academic fraud, but financial and U.S. identification fraud as well. The concept of intelligence is indeed debatable. But Ojedeji claimed he was smart. And using counterfeit academic transcripts, recommendations, a resume and a report about his English language proficiency, he was able to obtain a student visa from the University of Missouri and admission to the chemistry PhD program which included a stipend and tuition waiver for the fall of 2023 academic semester. However, Ojedeji wasn’t in the United States to study.
Upon his arrival to the United States, Ojedeji presented his student visa along with falsified supporting documentation to the Social Security Administration and was able to obtain a Social Security card. He then used the fraudulently issued Social Security number along with falsified supporting documentation to open a bank account. He also used the Social Security number along with falsified supporting documentation to rent an apartment. Ojedefi was so busy advancing his, he failed to attend classes, his assistantship or join a research group. The university terminated him from the graduate program in January 2024, which also resulted in the termination of his student visa. But that didn’t stop Ojedefi on February 26, 2024, from using the fraudulently obtained and now invalid visa to obtain a Missouri driver license.
In the meantime, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service began receiving complaints that romance fraud victims were mailing packages containing love letters, cash, and gift cards to the home of Ojedeji’s paramour. The paramour who created the falsified supporting documentation in all Ojedeji’s schemes. A search found that almost 200 packages had been sent because of the romance fraud scheme that Ojedeji started shortly after arriving to the United States as a “student.”
On April 11, 2025, Ojedeji pled guilty to fraudulent immigration documentation fraud.
Great job by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “St. Louis County man pleads guilty in visa and fraud investigations” published by State News on April 11, 2025.
A St. Louis County man pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges related to using fraudulent immigration documents to obtain a student visa and admission to the University of Missouri. Mercy Ojedeji, 24, admitted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of unlawful use of fraudulent immigration documents and one count of wire fraud.
According to court documents, Ojedeji used counterfeit academic transcripts, letters of recommendation, a résumé, and an English proficiency report to secure a student visa and gain admission to the University of Missouri’s chemistry Ph.D. program for the fall 2023 semester.
