📰 From the news · Impersonating a real college/agent
A law degree from BUAP, an 'Oslo' credential on her website: Puebla's false psychiatrist, jailed since November 2024 and charged again in February 2026
In Mexico the right to practise medicine rests on a cédula profesional issued by the federal education ministry, the SEP, and searchable in its public register. The case of a woman who ran a psychiatric practice in Puebla without one became, in late 2024, a widely reported example of what happens when nobody checks that register, and it was still producing new charges in 2026.
According to the broadcaster adn40, the Puebla state prosecutor's office (FGE) confirmed on the night of 21 November 2024 that it had detained Marilyn 'N', known as Marilyn Cote, in the neighbouring state of Tlaxcala on a warrant for usurpación de profesión, the unlawful practice of a profession, executed with Tlaxcala's prosecutors. adn40 noted that under article 258 of Puebla's penal code the offence carries two months to two years in prison plus a fine, and that she was held at the Ciudad Serdán prison. La Razón reported on 23 November 2024 that a control judge had bound her over for trial, imposed justified pre-trial detention and allowed two months for the investigation. Her website, the paper said, had presented her as a graduate of a 'Centre for Mental Disorders at the University of Oslo' with a doctorate in psychology and international prizes, while SEP records showed a law degree from the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. Her adverts promised to cure depression and she prescribed controlled medicines, La Razón said; the authorities closed her consulting room.
The case did not end there. N+ reported on 6 February 2026 that a control judge in Puebla had again bound her over, this time for usurpación de funciones, after the FGE presented evidence on two further complaints. One patient said she had attended a consulting room in the Azcárate district on 11 March 2019, been diagnosed with a mental disorder and given controlled medication; another said that on 29 August 2024, at consulting room 1706 of the Torres Médicas II building in San Andrés Cholula, she was diagnosed with anxiety and depression and put on a five-month course of treatment. She remains in preventive detention.
What failed was simple. Patients trusted a website, a title and a confident diagnosis, and nobody looked up the cédula. Controlled medicines were prescribed and taken on the strength of a qualification that, according to the public record, consisted of a law degree.
For a student or family the Mexican register of professionals is public and free. Before paying any 'specialist', ask for the cédula number and check it on the SEP site; a foreign degree should also appear there as revalidated. A practitioner who cannot or will not show a cédula is not one to consult, however impressive the website.
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This is a news-sourced case summary written by the TrustMBBS team, not a first-person account; see the sources above. They reflect one person's experience and are not a verdict on any institution. Report your own: Report a scam or tell your story.