US officials warned on Sunday that scammers are attempting to prey on the families of some of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied child immigrants crossing the border from Latin America, seeking money for phony travel costs.
A Federal Bureau of Investigation official in San Antonio said investigators have uncovered two similar fraud schemes targeting family members of the children who are living illegally in the United States.
"One fraud scheme involved individuals who claimed to be representing a charitable or non profit organization, which they claimed assists in processing and reuniting the children with their families," said Special Agent Michelle Lee.
Another scheme used what Lee described as "caller I.D. spoofing" to make it appear that the calls were coming from a San Antonio business, which she didn't name, in an attempt to lend credibility to the scheme. Lee said the callers requested payments from the families of the young immigrants ranging from $300 to several thousand dollars, claiming the money was for travel expenses.
Comments
Comments are closed.