TAMPA, Fla. — It’s a situation that’s often under-reported. Scammers posing as immigration experts and offering their services to help immigrants get a visa only to take their money and never be heard from again.
Manuel is from Ecuador but imagined a better life for himself here in the United States. He even took out a loan to fund his move to New York City and make something out of himself. He said one day, he saw an advertisement on social media offering help to obtain a visa.
“It said ‘lawyers with 20 years of experience. Call for information,’” said Manuel in Spanish.
So, he called, provided his information, and paid $7,500 with the promise that he’d obtain a visa in only four months.
“With that, supposedly, I could obtain a social security number and permission to work,” said Manuel.
The only problem is the person he spoke with said they were with the American Dream Law Firm in New Jersey, but there’s only one American Dream Law Firm in the country, and it’s right here in Tampa.
“I probably get a phone call every two to three months from someone who’s been scammed by one of those notarios,” said Ahmad Yakzan, who owns the real American Dream Law Firm.
Yakzan said these types of immigration scams are common, and they prey on immigrants. They know many immigrants won’t report their illegal activity.
“Most of those people are undocumented. So, where are they going to go if they got scammed? If they go to the police, they might get in trouble. If they go to immigration, they might get placed in removal proceedings,” explained Yakzan.
Yakzan said one of the tell-tale signs that you’re not talking with a legitimate company is if they ask you to send money via Western Union, Cash App or PayPal.
“The scams are just ever-changing, right? There are these new ways of figuring out how to scam immigrants out of their money,” said Indera DeMine with DeMine Immigration Law Firm in Fort Myers. “I don’t think there’s enough being done. I think that you know, you drive down some immigrant areas, you’ll see ‘document preparers’, ‘notaries.’ They’re advertising these services, right, and with little oversight. As an immigration attorney, I am subject to the Florida Bar; my license is at stake.”
“Please, please, please, hire an attorney. Even if you don’t hire an attorney, there are a lot of organizations that are in the Tampa Bay area, like Catholic Charities, that will be able to help you,” suggested Yakzan.
As for Manuel, he was never able to get his money back nor track down the people involved, but thankfully, his wife’s immigration lawyer took on his case.
“I would say to my compatriots and the rest of people who are immigrants, like myself – don’t be fooled by everything you see on social media,” said Manuel.
