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A "scholarship" to study medicine, then a uniform: the fake-scholarship scams African governments are warning about in Russia
The most dangerous version of a study-abroad scam does not end with an empty bank account. In August 2025, Africa Defense Forum reported on warnings from several African governments about fraudulent "scholarship" offers to study in Russia — offers on which students obtained genuine study visas at Russian embassies, only to be pushed towards military service after arrival.
According to the report, Togo's foreign ministry issued a public caution on 2 May 2025 after Togolese nationals were captured by Ukraine while serving with Russian forces, urging citizens to "exercise utmost vigilance" and verify the authenticity of any scholarship before committing. One of the people quoted, a 27-year-old Togolese teacher and farmer, had travelled in August 2024 to study medicine; he attended classes for about a month before, in his account, being drawn into the army. "We entered the army by mistake. They betrayed us," he said. He was wounded several times and expected an amputation. A Ghanaian journalist described corresponding with 14 compatriots who said they had been recruited under similar pretences. The report cited documented cases involving nationals of Benin, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo, against a backdrop of about 32,000 African students enrolled in Russian universities.
It is important to be precise about what this case is and is not. Russia has many legitimate medical universities that graduate thousands of international doctors every year, and most foreign students there are studying normally. The fraud is in the offer: a "scholarship" arranged by an intermediary, often with a job or stipend attached, that does not come from the university's own admissions office or from the official Russian government scholarship system.
How to tell the difference: a genuine Russian government scholarship is applied for through the official portal and confirmed by the Russian embassy or Rossotrudnichestvo office in your country, and it names the university and the programme. A genuine university admission produces an invitation letter that the university itself will confirm by email. An offer that arrives through a middleman, requires you to sign documents you cannot read, or bundles "work opportunities" with study should be taken to your own foreign ministry before you accept it.
If you are already abroad and being pressured into anything outside your studies: contact your embassy immediately, and keep copies of your passport and admission documents somewhere the pressuring party cannot reach.
Were you affected by this case, or something like it? Report it with your own evidence, or tell your story — first-person accounts are what stop the next family.
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.