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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMassive nursing degree scheme leads to hunt for 2,800 fraudulent nurses
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/2800-fake-nurses-lurk-in-the-us-states-are-working-to-track-them-down/Massive nursing degree scheme leads to hunt for 2,800 fraudulent nurses
Delaware annulled 26 licenses. Georgia asked 22 to surrender theirs.
BETH MOLE - 2/1/2023, 6:30 PM
More than 2,800 people may be working as nurses under false pretenses after allegedly buying a fake diploma for between $10,000 and $15,000 from a massive Florida-based scheme recently busted by federal investigators. State and federal authorities are now working to track down the alleged fraudulent nurses, and in some cases, immediately annulling their licenses.
Last week, the Department of Justice announced charges against 25 people in five states connected to the alleged scheme. The investigation, code-named Operation Nightingale, found evidence that the 25 defendants worked to sell more than 7,600 fake diplomas, along with transcripts, between 2016 and 2021, making over $100 million in the process. The fraudulent diplomas and transcripts were allegedly issued from three accredited Florida-based nursing schools: Siena College and Sacred Heart International Institute in Broward County and Palm Beach School of Nursing in Palm Beach County.
The three schools are now closed and the 25 defendants each face up to 20 years in prison.
"Health care fraud is nothing new to South Florida, as many scammers see this as a way to earn easy, though illegal, money," acting Special Agent in Charge Chad Yarbrough, FBI Miami, said in a statement. "What is disturbing about this investigation is that there are over 7,600 people around the country with fraudulent nursing credentials who are potentially in critical health care roles treating patients."
[...]
Delaware annulled 26 licenses. Georgia asked 22 to surrender theirs.
BETH MOLE - 2/1/2023, 6:30 PM
More than 2,800 people may be working as nurses under false pretenses after allegedly buying a fake diploma for between $10,000 and $15,000 from a massive Florida-based scheme recently busted by federal investigators. State and federal authorities are now working to track down the alleged fraudulent nurses, and in some cases, immediately annulling their licenses.
Last week, the Department of Justice announced charges against 25 people in five states connected to the alleged scheme. The investigation, code-named Operation Nightingale, found evidence that the 25 defendants worked to sell more than 7,600 fake diplomas, along with transcripts, between 2016 and 2021, making over $100 million in the process. The fraudulent diplomas and transcripts were allegedly issued from three accredited Florida-based nursing schools: Siena College and Sacred Heart International Institute in Broward County and Palm Beach School of Nursing in Palm Beach County.
The three schools are now closed and the 25 defendants each face up to 20 years in prison.
"Health care fraud is nothing new to South Florida, as many scammers see this as a way to earn easy, though illegal, money," acting Special Agent in Charge Chad Yarbrough, FBI Miami, said in a statement. "What is disturbing about this investigation is that there are over 7,600 people around the country with fraudulent nursing credentials who are potentially in critical health care roles treating patients."
[...]
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Massive nursing degree scheme leads to hunt for 2,800 fraudulent nurses (Original Post)
sl8
Feb 2023
OP
machoneman
(4,014 posts)1. Hey, Senator Rick Scott did it so why couldn't these clowns?
imanamerican63
(13,823 posts)2. Is George Santos one of them?
dutch777
(3,050 posts)6. I thought he was an MD...or was it just a PHD? So hard to keep up!
Scrivener7
(51,044 posts)3. This is terrifying, and coming at a time when there is a shortage of nurses
because so many burned out over Covid.
I am retired from a healthcare field where schools in another country were handing out fake degrees and the degree holders were coming to the US and getting jobs. Problem was the same country had some of the best schools for my field, along with these sham schools.
The ones with the great training were stigmatized, and the ones with the sham degrees hurt a lot of people.
AND it took years to unravel.
dutch777
(3,050 posts)7. Yes, scary stuff. Hard to believe this was not caught sooner. Should be hard to fake accredited
school.
Timeflyer
(2,016 posts)4. "Florida-based scheme", because fraud and grift are embedded in FL DNA.
2naSalit
(86,840 posts)5. It's becoming ...
"Crime central" down there.
Thunderbeast
(3,424 posts)8. Said another way:
They got gummint off their backs.
They got more "nurses".
They added a cool nundred mill to the economy!
See...The free market provides "the best Healthcare in the world"!
How many died? Who knows? Who cares?