{"id":1913814,"date":"2026-05-01T17:45:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T14:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1913814"},"modified":"2026-05-01T17:45:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T14:45:01","slug":"con-artists-posing-as-ice-agents-are-using-whatsapp-to-bilk-vulnerable-people-out-of-their-savings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1913814","title":{"rendered":"Con Artists Posing as Ice Agents Are Using WhatsApp to Bilk Vulnerable People Out of Their Savings"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ice-on-phones-1200×675.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\n

This story was originally published by ProPublica.<\/em><\/p>\n

As an asylum-seeker living in the U.S., Jasmir Urbina worried as she watched violence break out amid the military-style immigration sweeps across the country. Then she read about legal residents being arrested at immigration court and wondered when federal agents would set their sights on her city.<\/p>\n

Urbina had fled Nicaragua in 2022 and legally resided with her husband, a fellow asylum-seeker, in New Orleans while reporting to immigration agents for check-ins as she awaited her day in court. Finally, the date was approaching in late November 2025. Days later, the Trump administration would flood the region with federal officers in \u201cOperation Swamp Sweep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urbina, 35, began searching for a Spanish speaker who could help her, and said she stumbled on a Facebook post advertising the services of Catholic Charities, a prominent aid organization whose services include assisting immigrants. After a few clicks, she connected via WhatsApp with \u201cSusan Millan,\u201d who claimed to have a law degree. The woman\u2019s photo looked professional, showing a small library in the blurry background, according to a screenshot Urbina shared with ProPublica. The asylum-seeker said she discussed her predicament with the woman she thought was an attorney.<\/p>\n

Millan told Urbina the ordeal could be settled over a virtual hearing with U.S. immigration authorities. Millan sprinkled in details about her own life \u2014 a sick husband, two kids, a supportive church \u2014 so Urbina felt comfortable. In an interview, Urbina said she completed paperwork to be sent to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, for a fee. Millan\u2019s organization asked her for documentation, including five character references; for another fee, it would submit these up the line. Through the payment app Zelle, Urbina and her husband paid nearly $10,000, according to her financial records, money they had set aside to buy their first home.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 21, Urbina made the case that a \u201ccredible fear\u201d was keeping her from going home. In the virtual hearing, which lasted five minutes, she said she spoke to a man dressed in a green uniform, stitched with what looked like government insignia, seated in front of an American flag. A day later, via WhatsApp, Millan told her she \u201cwon residency.\u201d Her documents would be in the mail.<\/p>\n

In an instant, Urbina\u2019s fears had been assuaged. She asked if she should still attend her court date, Nov. 24. \u201cNo, don\u2019t worry,\u201d she remembers the woman replying. \u201cThere\u2019s no need.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when Urbina asked to speak with someone in a message to Millan\u2019s phone number the next day, according to screenshots she shared with ProPublica, the WhatsApp chat fell silent. After two days, she suspected she\u2019d been duped and wrote in anger: \u201cGod is with us and He fights for His children; today you messed with the wrong person and you will get your payment from the Most High, you cowards.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no attorney named Susan Millan associated with Catholic Charities, and the deceit was just one example of hundreds that the group has become aware of when desperate immigrants eventually reach the real organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason why we have a good reputation,\u201d said Chris Ross, vice president of migration and refugee resettlement services at Catholic Charities. \u201cAnd so for someone to be trading on that goodwill with nefarious intent is very frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urbina had fallen prey to \u201cnotario fraud,\u201d in which scammers provide legal advice, often by saying they\u2019re public notaries or other legal professionals. In many Latin American countries, a public notary is the equivalent of a lawyer, and notario fraudsters rely on this mistranslation to fake credentials.<\/p>\n

Urbina shared documents that detail how she was lured into the scam, and ProPublica corroborated her story with her husband and Catholic Charities. After Urbina told local and federal authorities she had been tricked out of her day in court, Immigration and Customs Enforcement switched her scheduled December virtual check-in to an in-person meeting. When she showed up, agents arrested her. In January, she said, officers shackled her hands and feet and loaded her on a plane to Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d been scammed, then deported.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to questions about Urbina\u2019s case but said, \u201cAnyone caught impersonating a federal immigration agent will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.\u201d New Orleans police did not answer ProPublica\u2019s questions about a complaint she filed.<\/p>\n

Scams like those that destroyed Urbina\u2019s dreams are on the rise, federal data analyzed by ProPublica shows, as profiteers seize on the fear and confusion wrought by President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n

Complaints of immigration scams have doubled since Trump was elected, ProPublica found in analyzing more than 6,200 complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission by victims and advocates over the last five years.<\/p>\n

From the start of 2021 through the election in fall of 2024, the FTC \u2014 the nation\u2019s top consumer protection agency \u2014 fielded about 960 immigration complaints per year, such as reports of fake attorneys offering services or people impersonating federal officers. In 2025, the commission received nearly 2,000 complaints.<\/p>\n

In all, at least $94.4 million was reported stolen in complaints to the FTC over five years. That number is certainly an undercount, as not all immigrants report wrongdoing for fear of deportation, and not every report included dollar amounts.<\/p>\n

The spike in complaints is so severe that many states and legal organizations have alerted the public about them. California\u2019s and North Carolina\u2019s attorneys general released statements in late 2025, as did the American Bar Association and AARP. In June 2025, the New York City Council passed legislation increasing notario fraud penalties, and a similar law passed in Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigration scammers contribute to a lawless environment, undermining our immigration system,\u201d said Zach Kahler, a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency Urbina falsely thought had awarded her residency. Online, the agency provides guides on how to spot immigration fraud and warns consumers that it does not use WhatsApp. The agency tells people who think they\u2019ve been scammed to complain to the FTC.<\/p>\n

Old Problem, New Sophistication<\/h3>\n

Scams targeting those mired in the U.S. immigration system are not new, but advocates say predators have become more sophisticated, using technologies like artificial intelligence and targeted ads. At the same time, immigrants have become increasingly anxious about speedy mass deportations, creating a bonanza for those looking to cash in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe AI is being utilized in these scams pretty effectively. People think they\u2019re talking to a real person, or the logos and stuff look pretty professional to the untrained eye,\u201d said Ross, of Catholic Charities.<\/p>\n

Many victims say they were duped by scammers who had professional-looking photos, wore immigration uniforms and staged realistic virtual hearings.<\/p>\n

A review of the image of the person named Millan who was supposedly helping Urbina suggests that it was AI-generated.<\/p>\n

Ross added: \u201cThe biggest thing is the desperation \u2014 that\u2019s really what\u2019s driving this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In San Diego, attorneys working for the city have been impersonated by scammers. City Attorney Heather Ferbert told ProPublica her office has forwarded these cases to the FBI and warned residents to be on the lookout for advertisements that promise a government official or lawyer can help with immigration proceedings. The FBI declined to comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you add the title and you add the government weight behind it \u2014 the city attorney\u2019s office, the district attorney\u2019s office, for example \u2014 the targets are sort of lulled,\u201d Ferbert said. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard stories where they promise that they can solve their immigration problems for them. No real lawyer is ever going to promise an outcome to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other scams extend beyond impersonating lawyers. The FTC complaints include a case in which people posing as Department of Homeland Security immigration officers received more than $600,000 from a family by claiming one of the relatives\u2019 identities had been stolen and they needed to pay to protect it. In West Virginia, a \u201cfederal agent\u201d threatened to deport a college student who was close to graduating unless they paid nearly $4,000 in gift cards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey claimed that if I did not comply immediately, I would be arrested, detained or deported,\u201d wrote the student, who was legally residing in the U.S. on a student visa. The student, whose name was not disclosed in federal data, used prepaid Dollar General gift cards and then went broke and turned to family for help.<\/p>\n

Immigrants from India and Bangladesh were told they had failed to update a necessary form and would be arrested and deported immediately unless they shared their Social Security numbers. Other scammers claimed the government had intercepted packages full of money and drugs addressed to immigrants, who were told to make a payment or face arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell-Oiled Machine\u201d<\/h3>\n

Most victims find the fake attorneys advertising on Facebook or TikTok. Facebook\u2019s parent company, Meta, has pledged to delete scam accounts and announced new tools to track them.<\/p>\n

Charity Anastasio, practice and ethics counsel for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the ads are often pay-per-click and targeted at Spanish-speaking users.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve designed such a well-oiled machine,\u201d Anastasio said.<\/p>\n

The ads appealed to those in deportation proceedings, clinging to any means to stay in the U.S., but also those who may have wanted to get their paperwork in order ahead of Trump\u2019s crackdown, said Adonia Simpson, an attorney with the American Bar Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are trying to preemptively get representation to see what their options are,\u201d Simpson told ProPublica. \u201cThe enforcement has been a big driver. It\u2019s caused a lot of people to be very fearful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House declined to comment.<\/p>\n

In October 2024, 56-year-old Jos\u00e9 Aguilar, who had been granted temporary protected status under George W. Bush\u2019s administration, was in just that position when he came upon a Facebook ad. The advertiser claimed to work for Jorge Rivera, a well-known Miami immigration attorney, and promised Aguilar they could get him permanent residency. It would take $15,000. ProPublica sought comment from the real Rivera, who is not accused of wrongdoing; he did not respond.<\/p>\n

A leather factory worker in Minnesota who had fled El Salvador, Aguilar cobbled together the money in installments through loans from friends and that year\u2019s tax refund. Over several months, he had four video calls with the fake attorney and two calls with immigration agent impersonators. He was initially skeptical but became convinced when they sent him videos of residency cards with the Citizenship and Immigration Services logo.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t try to deceive me, because I\u2019m borrowing money, I\u2019m a man of faith, and I\u2019m a person who has had a heart transplant, so I can\u2019t get angry because it hurts me,\u201d Aguilar remembered saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, don\u2019t worry, sir,\u201d Aguilar said the scammer responded. \u201cThis is real. It\u2019s super real.\u201d<\/p>\n

During one of their last conversations, Aguilar says the scammer appealed to their shared Christian faith, thanking God for approving the paperwork and earning him residency.<\/p>\n

By February 2025, the scammers had stopped responding. A month later, Aguilar realized he was probably never going to get the residency cards and contacted an attorney who confirmed he had been duped. Aguilar, who has two young daughters, says his family is subsisting on food banks and relies on donations for rent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unforgivable,\u201d Aguilar said. \u201cEven bringing God into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mother and Daughter Torn Apart<\/h3>\n

For Mariela, an undocumented Honduran mother of three, financial stress began long ago. In 2021, the father of her children headed for the U.S. along with one of their daughters, seeking construction work. Two years later, when she traveled 2,000 miles in blistering heat to join them, she broke her arm in three places after falling into the Rio Grande while crossing the border. ProPublica is withholding her last name because she fears being deported.<\/p>\n

And then, in October 2025, immigration agents detained her 20-year-old daughter. Desperate, the mother reached out to what she thought was a Catholic Charities Facebook page.<\/p>\n

She was pulled into a scheme involving a man who posed as a priest, another posing as an immigration judge, and another posing as Oscar Carrillo, an attorney licensed in Texas who practices tax law.<\/p>\n

The real Carrillo told ProPublica he began getting calls from frustrated immigrants last spring, all of them Spanish speakers who claimed they had been referred by Catholic Charities. When he realized his name and photo were being misused, he alerted the FBI and FTC. The State Bar of Texas has posted a public warning on its webpage about Carrillo impersonators.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of these clients, because of their immigration status, are afraid to report this to the police,\u201d Carrillo said. \u201cI feel sorry for these clients. We\u2019re not talking about wealthy individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, after her daughter was deported, Mariela realized the fraudsters had cheated her out of more than $18,000 over three months.<\/p>\n

She said she had borrowed $3,000 from an uncle in Honduras, another $1,500 from a cousin, a few thousand from her boss, and another $2,000 from a friend from her Honduran hometown who had also emigrated to the U.S. In addition, she burned through her savings and her daughter\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Public Alerts, Little Recourse<\/h3>\n

Since the beginning of Trump\u2019s second term, local law enforcement, advocacy groups, state attorneys general and law firms have published notices warning immigrants about an uptick in scams.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur best advice is to make direct contact, outside of social media channels, with the organization you\u2019re seeking help from,\u201d said Kevin Brennan, vice president for media relations at Catholic Charities. \u201cCall the organization on the phone or visit an office in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scammers show no signs of retreat.<\/p>\n

In April, three months after her deportation to Nicaragua, Urbina received a call from someone claiming to be a lawyer. He said that he\u2019d been referred to her by a bishop with Catholic Charities and that he\u2019d help her obtain immigration papers.<\/p>\n

The stress of being scammed and separated from her husband, who remains in the U.S., had taken a toll. \u201cI\u2019ve been through a lot of things, one right after the other,\u201d Urbina said. She\u2019s living with her mother in a remote village, afraid to step outside in a country where the government has ramped up surveillance of those who previously moved to the U.S.<\/p>\n

Desperate, she gave the \u201clawyer\u201d her personal information.<\/p>\n

After earlier saying his help would be free, he then asked for money, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere did you get my number?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Intrigued but skeptical, Urbina followed up with WhatsApp messages, hoping he might really be an immigration attorney.<\/p>\n

She never heard from him again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

This story was originally published by ProPublica.<\/em><\/p>\n

As an asylum-seeker living in the U.S., Jasmir Urbina worried as she watched violence break out amid the military-style immigration sweeps across the country. Then she read about legal residents being arrested at immigration court and wondered when federal agents would set their sights on her city.<\/p>\n

Urbina had fled Nicaragua in 2022 and legally resided with her husband, a fellow asylum-seeker, in New Orleans while reporting to immigration agents for check-ins as she awaited her day in court. Finally, the date was approaching in late November 2025. Days later, the Trump administration would flood the region with federal officers in \u201cOperation Swamp Sweep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urbina, 35, began searching for a Spanish speaker who could help her, and said she stumbled on a Facebook post advertising the services of Catholic Charities, a prominent aid organization whose services include assisting immigrants. After a few clicks, she connected via WhatsApp with \u201cSusan Millan,\u201d who claimed to have a law degree. The woman\u2019s photo looked professional, showing a small library in the blurry background, according to a screenshot Urbina shared with ProPublica. The asylum-seeker said she discussed her predicament with the woman she thought was an attorney.<\/p>\n

Millan told Urbina the ordeal could be settled over a virtual hearing with U.S. immigration authorities. Millan sprinkled in details about her own life \u2014 a sick husband, two kids, a supportive church \u2014 so Urbina felt comfortable. In an interview, Urbina said she completed paperwork to be sent to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, for a fee. Millan\u2019s organization asked her for documentation, including five character references; for another fee, it would submit these up the line. Through the payment app Zelle, Urbina and her husband paid nearly $10,000, according to her financial records, money they had set aside to buy their first home.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 21, Urbina made the case that a \u201ccredible fear\u201d was keeping her from going home. In the virtual hearing, which lasted five minutes, she said she spoke to a man dressed in a green uniform, stitched with what looked like government insignia, seated in front of an American flag. A day later, via WhatsApp, Millan told her she \u201cwon residency.\u201d Her documents would be in the mail.<\/p>\n

In an instant, Urbina\u2019s fears had been assuaged. She asked if she should still attend her court date, Nov. 24. \u201cNo, don\u2019t worry,\u201d she remembers the woman replying. \u201cThere\u2019s no need.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when Urbina asked to speak with someone in a message to Millan\u2019s phone number the next day, according to screenshots she shared with ProPublica, the WhatsApp chat fell silent. After two days, she suspected she\u2019d been duped and wrote in anger: \u201cGod is with us and He fights for His children; today you messed with the wrong person and you will get your payment from the Most High, you cowards.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no attorney named Susan Millan associated with Catholic Charities, and the deceit was just one example of hundreds that the group has become aware of when desperate immigrants eventually reach the real organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason why we have a good reputation,\u201d said Chris Ross, vice president of migration and refugee resettlement services at Catholic Charities. \u201cAnd so for someone to be trading on that goodwill with nefarious intent is very frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urbina had fallen prey to \u201cnotario fraud,\u201d in which scammers provide legal advice, often by saying they\u2019re public notaries or other legal professionals. In many Latin American countries, a public notary is the equivalent of a lawyer, and notario fraudsters rely on this mistranslation to fake credentials.<\/p>\n

Urbina shared documents that detail how she was lured into the scam, and ProPublica corroborated her story with her husband and Catholic Charities. After Urbina told local and federal authorities she had been tricked out of her day in court, Immigration and Customs Enforcement switched her scheduled December virtual check-in to an in-person meeting. When she showed up, agents arrested her. In January, she said, officers shackled her hands and feet and loaded her on a plane to Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d been scammed, then deported.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to questions about Urbina\u2019s case but said, \u201cAnyone caught impersonating a federal immigration agent will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.\u201d New Orleans police did not answer ProPublica\u2019s questions about a complaint she filed.<\/p>\n

Scams like those that destroyed Urbina\u2019s dreams are on the rise, federal data analyzed by ProPublica shows, as profiteers seize on the fear and confusion wrought by President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n

Complaints of immigration scams have doubled since Trump was elected, ProPublica found in analyzing more than 6,200 complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission by victims and advocates over the last five years.<\/p>\n

From the start of 2021 through the election in fall of 2024, the FTC \u2014 the nation\u2019s top consumer protection agency \u2014 fielded about 960 immigration complaints per year, such as reports of fake attorneys offering services or people impersonating federal officers. In 2025, the commission received nearly 2,000 complaints.<\/p>\n

In all, at least $94.4 million was reported stolen in complaints to the FTC over five years. That number is certainly an undercount, as not all immigrants report wrongdoing for fear of deportation, and not every report included dollar amounts.<\/p>\n

The spike in complaints is so severe that many states and legal organizations have alerted the public about them. California\u2019s and North Carolina\u2019s attorneys general released statements in late 2025, as did the American Bar Association and AARP. In June 2025, the New York City Council passed legislation increasing notario fraud penalties, and a similar law passed in Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigration scammers contribute to a lawless environment, undermining our immigration system,\u201d said Zach Kahler, a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency Urbina falsely thought had awarded her residency. Online, the agency provides guides on how to spot immigration fraud and warns consumers that it does not use WhatsApp. The agency tells people who think they\u2019ve been scammed to complain to the FTC.<\/p>\n

Old Problem, New Sophistication<\/h3>\n

Scams targeting those mired in the U.S. immigration system are not new, but advocates say predators have become more sophisticated, using technologies like artificial intelligence and targeted ads. At the same time, immigrants have become increasingly anxious about speedy mass deportations, creating a bonanza for those looking to cash in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe AI is being utilized in these scams pretty effectively. People think they\u2019re talking to a real person, or the logos and stuff look pretty professional to the untrained eye,\u201d said Ross, of Catholic Charities.<\/p>\n

Many victims say they were duped by scammers who had professional-looking photos, wore immigration uniforms and staged realistic virtual hearings.<\/p>\n

A review of the image of the person named Millan who was supposedly helping Urbina suggests that it was AI-generated.<\/p>\n

Ross added: \u201cThe biggest thing is the desperation \u2014 that\u2019s really what\u2019s driving this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In San Diego, attorneys working for the city have been impersonated by scammers. City Attorney Heather Ferbert told ProPublica her office has forwarded these cases to the FBI and warned residents to be on the lookout for advertisements that promise a government official or lawyer can help with immigration proceedings. The FBI declined to comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you add the title and you add the government weight behind it \u2014 the city attorney\u2019s office, the district attorney\u2019s office, for example \u2014 the targets are sort of lulled,\u201d Ferbert said. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard stories where they promise that they can solve their immigration problems for them. No real lawyer is ever going to promise an outcome to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other scams extend beyond impersonating lawyers. The FTC complaints include a case in which people posing as Department of Homeland Security immigration officers received more than $600,000 from a family by claiming one of the relatives\u2019 identities had been stolen and they needed to pay to protect it. In West Virginia, a \u201cfederal agent\u201d threatened to deport a college student who was close to graduating unless they paid nearly $4,000 in gift cards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey claimed that if I did not comply immediately, I would be arrested, detained or deported,\u201d wrote the student, who was legally residing in the U.S. on a student visa. The student, whose name was not disclosed in federal data, used prepaid Dollar General gift cards and then went broke and turned to family for help.<\/p>\n

Immigrants from India and Bangladesh were told they had failed to update a necessary form and would be arrested and deported immediately unless they shared their Social Security numbers. Other scammers claimed the government had intercepted packages full of money and drugs addressed to immigrants, who were told to make a payment or face arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell-Oiled Machine\u201d<\/h3>\n

Most victims find the fake attorneys advertising on Facebook or TikTok. Facebook\u2019s parent company, Meta, has pledged to delete scam accounts and announced new tools to track them.<\/p>\n

Charity Anastasio, practice and ethics counsel for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the ads are often pay-per-click and targeted at Spanish-speaking users.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve designed such a well-oiled machine,\u201d Anastasio said.<\/p>\n

The ads appealed to those in deportation proceedings, clinging to any means to stay in the U.S., but also those who may have wanted to get their paperwork in order ahead of Trump\u2019s crackdown, said Adonia Simpson, an attorney with the American Bar Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are trying to preemptively get representation to see what their options are,\u201d Simpson told ProPublica. \u201cThe enforcement has been a big driver. It\u2019s caused a lot of people to be very fearful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House declined to comment.<\/p>\n

In October 2024, 56-year-old Jos\u00e9 Aguilar, who had been granted temporary protected status under George W. Bush\u2019s administration, was in just that position when he came upon a Facebook ad. The advertiser claimed to work for Jorge Rivera, a well-known Miami immigration attorney, and promised Aguilar they could get him permanent residency. It would take $15,000. ProPublica sought comment from the real Rivera, who is not accused of wrongdoing; he did not respond.<\/p>\n

A leather factory worker in Minnesota who had fled El Salvador, Aguilar cobbled together the money in installments through loans from friends and that year\u2019s tax refund. Over several months, he had four video calls with the fake attorney and two calls with immigration agent impersonators. He was initially skeptical but became convinced when they sent him videos of residency cards with the Citizenship and Immigration Services logo.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t try to deceive me, because I\u2019m borrowing money, I\u2019m a man of faith, and I\u2019m a person who has had a heart transplant, so I can\u2019t get angry because it hurts me,\u201d Aguilar remembered saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, don\u2019t worry, sir,\u201d Aguilar said the scammer responded. \u201cThis is real. It\u2019s super real.\u201d<\/p>\n

During one of their last conversations, Aguilar says the scammer appealed to their shared Christian faith, thanking God for approving the paperwork and earning him residency.<\/p>\n

By February 2025, the scammers had stopped responding. A month later, Aguilar realized he was probably never going to get the residency cards and contacted an attorney who confirmed he had been duped. Aguilar, who has two young daughters, says his family is subsisting on food banks and relies on donations for rent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unforgivable,\u201d Aguilar said. \u201cEven bringing God into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mother and Daughter Torn Apart<\/h3>\n

For Mariela, an undocumented Honduran mother of three, financial stress began long ago. In 2021, the father of her children headed for the U.S. along with one of their daughters, seeking construction work. Two years later, when she traveled 2,000 miles in blistering heat to join them, she broke her arm in three places after falling into the Rio Grande while crossing the border. ProPublica is withholding her last name because she fears being deported.<\/p>\n

And then, in October 2025, immigration agents detained her 20-year-old daughter. Desperate, the mother reached out to what she thought was a Catholic Charities Facebook page.<\/p>\n

She was pulled into a scheme involving a man who posed as a priest, another posing as an immigration judge, and another posing as Oscar Carrillo, an attorney licensed in Texas who practices tax law.<\/p>\n

The real Carrillo told ProPublica he began getting calls from frustrated immigrants last spring, all of them Spanish speakers who claimed they had been referred by Catholic Charities. When he realized his name and photo were being misused, he alerted the FBI and FTC. The State Bar of Texas has posted a public warning on its webpage about Carrillo impersonators.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of these clients, because of their immigration status, are afraid to report this to the police,\u201d Carrillo said. \u201cI feel sorry for these clients. We\u2019re not talking about wealthy individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, after her daughter was deported, Mariela realized the fraudsters had cheated her out of more than $18,000 over three months.<\/p>\n

She said she had borrowed $3,000 from an uncle in Honduras, another $1,500 from a cousin, a few thousand from her boss, and another $2,000 from a friend from her Honduran hometown who had also emigrated to the U.S. In addition, she burned through her savings and her daughter\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Public Alerts, Little Recourse<\/h3>\n

Since the beginning of Trump\u2019s second term, local law enforcement, advocacy groups, state attorneys general and law firms have published notices warning immigrants about an uptick in scams.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur best advice is to make direct contact, outside of social media channels, with the organization you\u2019re seeking help from,\u201d said Kevin Brennan, vice president for media relations at Catholic Charities. \u201cCall the organization on the phone or visit an office in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scammers show no signs of retreat.<\/p>\n

In April, three months after her deportation to Nicaragua, Urbina received a call from someone claiming to be a lawyer. He said that he\u2019d been referred to her by a bishop with Catholic Charities and that he\u2019d help her obtain immigration papers.<\/p>\n

The stress of being scammed and separated from her husband, who remains in the U.S., had taken a toll. \u201cI\u2019ve been through a lot of things, one right after the other,\u201d Urbina said. She\u2019s living with her mother in a remote village, afraid to step outside in a country where the government has ramped up surveillance of those who previously moved to the U.S.<\/p>\n

Desperate, she gave the \u201clawyer\u201d her personal information.<\/p>\n

After earlier saying his help would be free, he then asked for money, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere did you get my number?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Intrigued but skeptical, Urbina followed up with WhatsApp messages, hoping he might really be an immigration attorney.<\/p>\n

She never heard from him again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ice-on-phones-1200×675.jpg”] This story was originally published by ProPublica. As an asylum-seeker living in the U.S., Jasmir Urbina worried as she watched violence break out amid the military-style immigration sweeps across the country. Then she read about legal residents being arrested at immigration court and wondered when federal agents would set their sights on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-1913814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1913814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913814\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1913814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1913814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1913814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}