A tip from a Virginia county court clerk has led to the breakup of one of the Washington area's biggest immigration scams involving fake marriages.

Authorities credit David A. Bell, the longtime clerk of Arlington County Circuit Court, with alerting them to what appeared to be a revolving door of marriages and divorces with court papers always containing the same mistakes, The Washington Post reported Monday.

They misspelled 'circuit,' Bell told the newspaper. It was obvious something was going on.

Bell's tip resulted in a 4-year investigation and charges against 22 people, 19 of whom have pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court.

Authorities said the scheme centered on the Washington area's little-noticed but rapidly growing community of immigrants from Ghana.

Word spread rapidly along the East Coast and to West Africa, authorities say, that if you are in the United States illegally Arlington, Virginia, is the place to go because it's easy to get married there, the Post report stated.