Immigrant students paid to have false enrollment in order to have visa extensions granted for schools and classes they never attended.

(Via LA Times) Authorities arrested the operators of four Los Angeles-area trade schools for allegedly running an elaborate “pay-to-stay” scam in which foreign nationals used student visas to stay in the United States without actually going to school..

The schools appear to have tapped the booming Asian immigration population in Koreatown and the San Gabriel Valley. Authorities say the suspects took in $6 million a year in tuition payments.

[…] The arrests were the culmination of a four-year probe by Homeland Security Investigations.

The men’s scam was discovered when agents with Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program made a surprise visit to Prodee University’s main campus on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown. The school had more than 900 students enrolled on its books, but officials say they found only three students in a single English-language class.

[…] A surprise check at American College of Forensic Studies had a similar result, authorities said. Investigators found one student in one religion class though 300 foreign students were considered “active” at the school. (read full article)