{"id":726,"date":"2025-04-17T15:45:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T19:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/?p=726"},"modified":"2025-04-21T15:49:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T19:49:36","slug":"fake-courts-fake-judges-asylum-seekers-tell-of-scams-meant-to-prey-on-immigrant-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/2025\/04\/17\/fake-courts-fake-judges-asylum-seekers-tell-of-scams-meant-to-prey-on-immigrant-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake Courts, Fake Judges: Asylum Seekers Tell of Scams Meant to Prey on Immigrant Fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

City Limits<\/a> \u2013 By Daniel Parra<\/a> | April 17, 2025<\/p>\n

During a city council hearing, immigrants and their advocates shared stories of fraud, much of which is conducted over social media.<\/em><\/p>\n

During a New York City Council hearing about immigration services fraud on Tuesday, one asylum seeker testified about how he had been tricked by someone who claimed to be his attorney. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was desperate to find someone to help me file for asylum,\u201d said Christian through an English interpreter during a joint hearing of the council\u2019s immigration and consumer and worker protection committees. (Christian, along with other immigrants who testified, provided only his first name to the council for fear of retaliation from federal government agencies.)<\/p>\n

The person who had posed as his lawyer, he said, not only charged him money \u2014 a common practice among people who defraud immigrants \u2014 but also forged paperwork, like notices to appear, and even set up a fake court hearing through Google Meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy attorney told me to dress formally for the virtual court hearing,\u201d Christian said.<\/p>\n

On the day of the virtual hearing, he said, a fake judge appeared, wearing a black robe. Fortunately for Christian, he did not log on alone: A law student who had previously been helping Christian with other matters accompanied him during the virtual hearing.<\/p>\n

Christian said that by the end of the fake court hearing, the judge told him in Spanish that he\u2019d have to pay just over $5,000 in the next eight days \u2014 or else the required payment would rise to $25,000. The law student flagged the scam to Legal Aid Society lawyers, who intervened and stopped it.<\/p>\n

Christian was one of several migrants who testified about times they said they\u2019d been victimized by immigration fraud. This can include legal services-related scams by attorneys and non-attorneys, as well as translators or providers of other services like public notaries posing as legal experts, who exploit the fact that lawyers often run notary services in many Spanish-speaking countries. <\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past year, complaints of immigration services fraud in New York have increased, and advocates have consistently been ringing the alarm on these growing threats,\u201d said Councilmember Alexa Avil\u00e9s, chair of the council\u2019s Committee on Immigration. \u201cOftentimes, immigration services fraud becomes more rampant in periods where demand for legal services increases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmembers Shahana Hanif and Julie Won have each introduced legislation to address immigration fraud. Hanif\u2019s bill, Intro 205<\/a>, would educate the public about fraudulent schemes perpetrated by providers of immigration legal services; Won\u2019s, Intro 980<\/a>, would increase penalties for first and subsequent violations. <\/p>\n

The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), which handles civil fraud cases in the city, said complaints submitted about immigration service providers have increased over the past three years, with 23 complaints in 2022, 36 in 2023, and 46 in 2024.<\/p>\n

During the council hearing, DCWP Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga said the department has \u201cstepped up\u201d investigations against employment agencies<\/a> and immigration service providers.<\/p>\n

DCWP said it recently completed a sweep of nearly 500 businesses advertising immigration or related services and issued more than 60 summonses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look at what\u2019s happening right now, and we know that ever since the change in administration in Washington, this is an area where we should focus on,\u201d Mayuga said. <\/p>\n

Since January, the department explained, DCWP has received eight complaints, with most cases involving unauthorized practitioners.<\/p>\n

DCWP conducts field inspections in response to complaints, and investigations can lead to summonses before the city\u2019s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. Officials at DCWP acknowledge that prosecuting fraudulent immigration service providers and employment agencies remains an ongoing challenge. <\/p>\n

\u201cDue to their fly-by-night nature, many operate out of temporary storefronts, residences, instant messaging apps or online platforms, only to disappear after being paid by a consumer,\u201d Mayuga explained.<\/p>\n

In Christian\u2019s case, he found someone posing as a lawyer on Facebook. She told him through WhatsApp messages that she could help with his case for $1,750, which he paid.<\/p>\n

Later on, he received what he later determined was a fake receipt notice, with an official-looking seal. <\/p>\n

The fake receipt had \u201csome grammatical errors,\u201d explained Deborah Lee, attorney-in-charge at the Legal Aid Society\u2019s immigration law unit. Moreover, she said, \u201cthey had forgotten to translate parts into English.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, it looked official enough to fool many asylum seekers, said Lee, who has been handling the case since the law student flagged it. \u201cAt first blush, especially if you\u2019re not a native English speaker or reader, you wouldn\u2019t necessarily be able to pick it up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Lee said this was the first time they\u2019d seen these types of fabricated court hearings, while DCWP acknowledged they haven\u2019t received complaints that detail fake immigration hearings in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen something to this extent before,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

During the oversight hearing, advocates noted that because many of these scams are taking place on social networks, they\u2019re more difficult for city officials to punish, because there are no brick-and-mortar locations to inspect.<\/p>\n

Lee and other advocates warned that scammers are also creating what appear to be either fraudulent or alternative immigration-related sites. Some, Lee explained, look like an immigration court site, while others look similar to a USCIS application tracker, \u201cbut it\u2019s just a private site.\u201d <\/p>\n

Asked by Avil\u00e9s about its investigation of scams conducted over social media, Mayuga responded that DCWP relies on complainants to confirm the information they provide and help identify the person behind the account.<\/p>\n

Other DCWP officials acknowledged that social media only exacerbates the fly-by-night aspect of this problem and stressed the importance of preventative measures such as education. Mayuga said the department is running a digital education campaign across social media platforms to educate New Yorkers about protections related to immigration service providers. Over the past three years, DCWP has coordinated a citywide day of action and has held 600 immigrant-focused outreach events.<\/p>\n

Advocates and city officials each recognized immigrant communities\u2019 hesitancy to file complaints due to fear of government interaction and reminded people that third parties, such as family members, friends, people from community organizations can submit them, anonymously if they prefer. Complaints can be filed by calling 311, at nyc.gov\/Consumers<\/a> or with the New York Attorney General\u2019s Office at ag.ny.gov\/file-complaint<\/a> or by calling 1-800-771-7755. (A spokesperson for the attorney general\u2019s office explained that it can take civil action against individuals or businesses who commit large-scale fraud on immigrant communities.)<\/p>\n

Won\u2019s chief of staff, Nick Gulotta, testifying in his personal capacity as someone who\u2019s worked on this issue for years, recommended a sort of \u201cworst landlords watch list\u201d approach to this issue, or the creation of a fraud database.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a great idea,\u201d Avil\u00e9s seconded. \u201cI\u2019d like to call it the \u2018shame list.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

[Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City Limits<\/a> \u2013 By Daniel Parra<\/a> | April 17, 2025<\/p>\n

During a city council hearing, immigrants and their advocates shared stories of fraud, much of which is conducted over social media.<\/em><\/p>\n

During a New York City Council hearing about immigration services fraud on Tuesday, one asylum seeker testified about how he had been tricked by someone who claimed to be his attorney. <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/a><\/small><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":323,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-immigration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}