Kenyan woman based in the United States, Nafula Sharleen, has issued a fresh warning to Kenyans who have helped people back home open online accounts in America, cautioning that they could find themselves under scrutiny as US authorities intensify investigations into financial fraud schemes linked to the country.
In a Facebook post published on October 31, 2026, Sharleen revisited an earlier warning she said she had issued about Kenyans allowing others to use accounts opened in their names in the US. She specifically mentioned online writing and platforms such as Handshake, Outlier and Prolific, arguing that some people had dismissed her concerns when she first raised them.
She warned that living in the US or holding a Green Card would not necessarily protect someone if investigators established that their accounts had been used to facilitate fraud.
“Kama uko USA na uliwahi fungulia mtu Kenya hizo ma online accounts! FBI wakibisha mlango jua hawajapotea! Ni wewe unatafutwa, ngori ya fraud! Ukiwa na Green Card, kwisha wewe!” she wrote.
Sharleen also recalled facing criticism after previously cautioning Kenyans against opening online accounts for people who intended to operate them from Kenya while appearing to be based in the US.
“Niliwawarn mkanitusi. Two months ago niliwaambia mkanitusi. Leo si mumeona wenyewe kwa news. Story zangu mob huwanga Intel si jaba,” she added.
She went on to name several online platforms and questioned whether some people were using them as channels for money laundering, maintaining that her earlier concerns had been dismissed as hostility towards those involved.
“Ati sijui ma online writing, Handshake, Outlier, Prolific etc money laundering avenues na nyinyi hamskii ati mimi ni hater, wueh!” she wrote.
The Kenyan woman further directed her followers to an earlier video pinned to her Facebook Reels, saying she had explained her concerns at length before disabling comments after receiving insults from viewers.
“Check pinned video kwa reels zangu. Nilifanya video mzima na nilifunga comments juu ya kutusiwa. Sahii ndio wanaona kwa news, leo wanajua ilikuwa intel legit. Acha uone the gang battalion wakileta mafeelings kwa hii post,” Sharleen added.
Student-aid fraud investigation
Her warning comes as the US Department of Justice intensifies a nationwide investigation into a multimillion-dollar student financial-aid fraud scheme with links to Kenya.
According to the department, the scheme involved criminals using stolen identities belonging to American citizens to create fraudulent applications for federal student financial aid. The applications were then used to enrol fictitious students, commonly referred to as ghost students, in colleges and universities.
After the institutions processed the applications and the financial aid was disbursed, the refunds were allegedly channelled into bank accounts controlled by individuals involved in the schemes. Some of the money was subsequently transferred to associates outside the US, including people in Kenya.
The Justice Department said investigators had identified 830,840 potentially fraudulent Federal Student Aid identification numbers associated with nearly US$130 million. Authorities recommended that the Department of Education disable the IDs.
The department also announced the seizure of more than US$750,000 in cryptocurrency from an account belonging to a Kenyan national linked to the investigation. It described the recovery as the first international seizure of its kind in the history of its National Fraud Enforcement Division.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald issued a warning that investigators would pursue suspects regardless of where they were based, explicitly mentioning Nairobi.
“Whether you are in Nebraska, New Jersey, Virginia, or Nairobi, we will pursue you,” McDonald said during the announcement.
The investigation involves the FBI and several US law-enforcement agencies working alongside Kenyan partners, including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Asset Recovery Agency and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The Justice Department said the broader ghost-student fraud schemes could have resulted in losses exceeding US$200 million, although that estimate relates to the wider investigation and is not the amount attributed to the five individuals charged in the first cases.