A fake U.S. embassy in Ghana was shut down after operating and issuing visas for about a decade, the U.S. State Department announced.

"Signs indicated that you were in the U.S. embassy in Ghana. However, you were not," the U.S. State Department said on its website last month.

"It was not operated by the United States government, but by figures from both Ghanaian and Turkish organized crime rings and a Ghanaian attorney practicing immigration and criminal law."

The building flew the American flag, had a picture of U.S. President Barack Obama hanging inside, and issued both counterfeit and legitimate U.S. visas.

The State Department didn't say if anyone entered the United States with the visas, or how they were obtained by criminals.

The regional security office at the actual U.S. embassy in Accra shut down the fake embassy over the summer, according to the State Department.

Xinhua