When carrying out your immigration procedures to legalize yourself, there is a risk of falling into different types of fraud. We want to help you identify them and what you should do about each possible scam.
If you have been a victim of immigration fraud, you can report it by calling the Attorney General’s Office: 1 (800) 771-7755.
Most common scams when doing your immigration procedures
Before entrusting your papers to a ‘specialist’, it is better that you verify that it is not a processor or a notary. In the United States, notaries public are not lawyers, so they cannot help you with your immigration matters. Some will say they can do it and ask you to pay them.
If you are currently pursuing an immigration case with an attorney, there are ways to check if the person is registered to operate in the states of New York and New Jersey.
In the case of New York, in this link You can check if your lawyer appears on the list of people suspended from practicing the profession.
While in this site You can check if your lawyer is licensed to operate in New York.
- Fake immigration officers
During an immigration process, there is also the possibility that you receive a phone call, email or regular mail from an immigration ‘official’ or ‘office’ that seems legitimate.
However, they could ask you for sensitive information such as your passport number, credit cards or banking information, to ‘help’ you with your immigration process.
This information is then used to steal the identities, establish new credit cards and access the victims’ bank accounts. Never give that kind of information over the phone.
- Visa lottery scams
One way to get a Green Card is through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, popularly known as the “visa lottery.” Registration is free and winners are selected at random.
Unfortunately, scammers try to trick people by charging them money to register for the visa lottery, promising them special access or more chances to win the lottery.
- Fake government subsidies
Although refugees have a different legal status than immigrants, they are often victims of scams. For example, scammers say they are eligible for a special government subsidy.
But, to access this benefit, they first tell you that you must pay a fee. Another way these scammers operate is by saying that they work at the IRS and request your bank account number to deposit the subsidy money, which does not exist.
Some people offer to marry immigrants in exchange for a certain amount of money and thus ‘fix their papers’, in exchange for money. But after collecting the scheduled amount, they do not fix anything.
You should also know that fraudulent marriages are a serious crime that entails criminal consequences and sanctions for both parties involved in the marriage.
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2024-01-23 00:12:00
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