Immigrants targeted by fraudsters

Immigrants targeted by fraudstersA warning has been issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services about a phone scam that is being carried out at the moment in the United States.  The targets have been people who are in the middle of awaiting a response from USCIS and they have been warned that they should never make any payments to anyone who claims to be from that organization over the telephone.

The scammers have somehow been able to get hold of the names of immigrants that are awaiting a response from USCIS, which makes them particularly vulnerable to clever con artists.  The scammers telephone their victim and pretend to be a member of USCIS.  They then request personal information such as a passport number or Alien registration number, and a social security number.

The scammer then goes on to claim that they have identified a number of irregularities in the submitted application or petition, and asks for a fee in order to correct them.  USCIS says that the scammers may be using a technique referred to as “Caller ID spoofing,” which enables false information to appear on the recipient’s phone in the Caller ID area.  Anyone who gets such a call should refuse to give payment.

“If you receive a call like that, USCIS urges you to hang up immediately,” says the The Beacon, the blog of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.  “USCIS never asks for any form of payment or personal information over the phone.”