Legal advocates are warning the public about a multistate scam targeting the immigrant community, with some victims losing as much as $30,000.
According to Claudia Abasto Rivilla, founder and executive director of Salinas-based Latin Advocacy Network (LATINAN), scammers target Spanish- and Indigenous-language speakers using information gleaned from social media. They then use stolen identities and fake legal credentials to appear legitimate, she said.
With an already tenuous legal status, victims are often too afraid to seek help or report the crime.
Abasto said victims typically seek help only after being defrauded. She also said she has not seen meaningful follow-through in her own identity theft case, despite reporting it.
Many victims are unfamiliar with what legitimate immigration documents look like, and speak only Spanish or Indigenous languages such as Mixteco, Chatino and Triqui, making them easier targets.
“They come to this country with a dream to fix their situation,” she said. “They are desperate for services, and that’s when they’re targeted.”
LATINAN is a nonprofit that provides low-cost immigration legal services in Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz and Bay Area counties.
Abasto said many victims are contacted by a fake company based in Florida, with representatives using fake websites, contracts, documents and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) logos.
The scammers are Spanish speakers, but with evolving technology making locations increasingly difficult to pinpoint, it is unclear where the scams are centered.
“This is a big criminal organization happening all around our country, not only in our area,” she said.
A Facebook page associated with the scam had about 2,000 followers, which Abasto said suggests multiple victims and potentially large-scale losses.
Immigrants are not the only victims. The scammers also use the names of people and organizations providing legitimate legal services.
Abasto said one scammer is using her name, and despite reporting it to local police and the FBI, there has been no resolution.
She said a victim recently called her from North Carolina saying she had lost $20,000 to a scammer using Abasto’s name. The victim had to take loans from friends and family to raise the money.
“This really broke my heart,” she said. “It’s really bad when I am the victim, too. I live with that every day, and I’m very aware that this is happening every day.”
In a separate case, a mother learned her son had been detained by immigration officials and found an “attorney” through Facebook. She eventually paid $30,000.
“Nothing happened,” Abasto said. “The person doesn’t exist. The son is still detained.”
How it works
The scam begins when victims are contacted through social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. The scammers then move the conversation to WhatsApp and send contracts, USCIS documents, green cards and approval notices — all fake.
Finally, they demand payments — often through apps such as Zelle — to “activate” the documents.
Advice
• Do not hire legal services that operate only remotely — visit a physical office if possible.
• Legitimate providers do not send photos of their identification or staged images.
• Check web addresses carefully. Official government sites end in .gov, and many nonprofits end in .org.
• Verify that the organizations and individuals contacting you are legitimate.
• Watch for formatting errors in documents and logos.
• Example scam URL: GOV.USSCIS.com (ends in .com, not .gov).
• Be wary of someone claiming to work for the U.S. government but asking for payment under a different name.
For information, visit latinan.org
Phone: 831-401-4838 (leave a voicemail for a callback).
