Recently, the United States Embassy in Cuba has released a warning issued by the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) regarding the increase in cases of fraud associated with immigration procedures.
Scammers take advantage of applicants for such procedures by claiming to offer certain immigration services, but in reality what they do is deliberately complicate the procedure in question by using different mechanisms to perpetrate their attacks.
The modus operandi of these scammers includes presenting false identification documents in order to make people believe that they are government officials and thus be able to manipulate them more easily, the use of social networks and emails, as well as making phone calls, also with the purpose of deceiving them. These criminals operate with great caution to gain the trust of their victims and gain access to their personal information in order to use it for dangerous purposes that threaten their security.
The agency advises those who need legal advice on immigration matters or who wish to file a form to make sure they have hired a lawyer or accredited representative who is linked to an entity recognized by the Department of Justice. It also urged users to pay special attention to the emails they receive, as they may have suspicious characteristics such as spelling or typographical errors or may not end in .gov, but in .net, .org, .com or .info.
If a person receives an email with this type of characteristics, they should forward it to webmaster@uscis.dhs.gov so that the appropriate staff can determine whether it is authentic or whether it could actually be related to an attempted fraud. In addition, USCIS insists that applicants should refrain from making fee payments that are not contemplated through the official channels established for immigration processes.
It is worth clarifying that if a person reports a possible fraud, his or her application will not be affected, unless he or she is involved in this criminal act. The agency recommends that petitioners report potential scams to the Federal Trade Commission or to the relevant local institutions in order to guarantee the transparency and integrity of immigration procedures.
Users interested in obtaining more information about fraud protection measures can visit the official USCIS website.
