The Protecting Immigrant New Yorkers (PINY) Task Force and the New York Immigration Coalition launched in February a resource guide for New York State’s government, law enforcement, and advocates to help crack down immigrant assistance fraud.
The guide describes the common ways consumers fall victim to this type of fraud, highlights the laws under which a case are commonly brought, details considerations for law enforcement when working with immigrant victims, provides contact information for relevant agencies engaged in helping to build enforcement cases and educate the public, and lifts up best practices from recently enforced fraud cases.
Immigrant assistance services fraud, also known as Notario Fraud, are individuals pretending to be immigration attorneys or authorized immigration representatives, who often victimize thousands of New Yorkers each year by charging fees for immigration assistance services that are never provided. In 2013, more than 890 complaints of immigration services fraud were made in the United States according to the Federal Trade Commission. Immigration assistance fraud is an under-reported crime in the United States
This comprehensive guide is issued on the second anniversary of the creation of the PINY Task Force, which consists of community-based organizations, not-for-profit legal service providers, and government and law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, and local levels.
CLICK the photo to download the resource guide:
You can also find it in the Long Island Wins website under our Tools or Reports sections.
