Fake Baby, Fake Life: Sri Lankan Woman’s 33-Year Citizenship Scam Exposed

TDT | Manama

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

A Sri Lankan woman at the center of a decades-long deception has had her Kuwaiti citizenship revoked after authorities uncovered a 33-year fraud involving identity theft, a fake pregnancy, and forged family ties.

The woman, known as Costa, first entered Kuwait in 1992 as a domestic worker. Just two years later, she was deported after an absconding case. But in 1996, she returned to Kuwait under a new name and passport—at a time when there were no biometric systems in place—allowing her to slip through immigration unnoticed.

Once back in the country, she married a Kuwaiti taxi driver. Under Kuwaiti law, a foreign woman can apply for citizenship if she is married to a Kuwaiti man and has a child with him. Costa took advantage of this, but in a highly deceptive way.

She convinced her husband she was pregnant, but secretly arranged with another Sri Lankan woman—who was genuinely expecting—to deliver the baby under Costa’s identity at a local hospital. The newborn girl was then falsely registered as Costa’s and her husband's daughter, though neither had any biological connection to the child. The husband was unaware of the truth.

In 2000, based on this marriage and fake motherhood, Costa applied for Kuwaiti citizenship. Her request was approved, and she officially became a Kuwaiti citizen.

After years of marital problems, Costa divorced her husband in 2008 and eventually admitted the child wasn’t his. Though the ex-husband reported this at the time, no serious action was taken until 2021, when he filed an official complaint. This led to an investigation by the Criminal Investigations Department.

DNA testing confirmed that the child was not related to either Costa or the man. In 2024, Kuwait’s Supreme Committee for Citizenship Affairs ruled that Costa had committed fraud and obtained citizenship through deceit. Her Kuwaiti nationality was revoked, along with that of her daughter, who is now an adult.

Investigators later traced the girl's biological mother, a Sri Lankan woman who had been in Kuwait during the time of the birth but was later deported. The daughter is now in the process of being issued Sri Lankan identity papers.

The case has sparked nationwide discussion about identity and nationality procedures in Kuwait, with calls for stricter verification systems to prevent similar incidents in the future.