Another 43 Nigerian nurses face certificate forgery charges in US

According to a report from the Texas Board of Nursing in the United States, no fewer than 75 nurses have been charged with certificate fraud.

43 of the individuals on the list were recognized as nurses with Nigerian ancestry on the board’s website.

The people who obtained the fake nursing credentials utilized them to be eligible to take the national nursing board exam, according to information on the Board’s website regarding the investigation dubbed “Operation Nightingale”.

The nursing applicants apparently qualified for licensing in several states to work as a Registered Nurse (RN) or a Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurse (LPN/VN) after passing the board exam.

The Board said that it had brought “Formal Charges” against the nurses for gaining qualifications through fraud.

Please be aware that formal charges are not the end of a nurse’s disciplinary process; a nurse may continue to practice as a nurse while formal charges are pending.

The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and law enforcement partners launched a multistate coordinated law enforcement action on January 25 to apprehend people involved in a scheme to sell false and fraudulent nursing degree diplomas and transcripts, according to a statement on the website.

Registered Nurses (RN) and Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses (LPN/VN) were allegedly sold false and counterfeit nursing degree diplomas and transcripts from authorized Florida-based nursing institutions.

The Board stated that it is diligently collaborating with all relevant nursing regulatory bodies, nursing education program providers, accreditation bodies, and authorities to identify, look into, and resolve these issues as soon as possible. This includes looking into the possibility of revoking any licenses that were obtained fraudulently.