Telephone Scam Targets to Defraud Applicants and Petitioners to USCIS

We have learned from immigration applicants and petitioners that there is a new telephone scam targeted to defaud them. USCIS also reported about these scams targeting USCIS applicants and petitioners. Scammers are using a technique called “Caller ID spoofing” to display a misleading or inaccurate phone number in a recipient’s Caller ID. The scammer poses as a USCIS official and requests personal information (such as Social Security number, passport number, or A-number), identifies supposed issues in the recipient’s immigration records, and asks for payment to correct these records.

If you or your family members receive a call like that, we advise you to say “No, thank you” and hang up immediately.

As per its policy and immigration law USCIS never asks for any form of payment or personal information over the phone. Do not fall victim to telephone scammers posing as USCIS personnel or other government officials or some other scams which seek payment or your personal information. We encourage you to protect your personal information and not to provide details about your immigration application in any public area or online.

If you have been a victim of this telephone scam, please report it to the Federal Trade Commission (follow the link here), or report it to an appropriate state authority (to find out an appropriate authority in your state, follow the link here). USCIS lists some of the most common scams, follow the link here.

If you have a question about your immigration record, please call our Law Offices at 703-230-6800, or the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283 or make an InfoPass appointment by visiting our website at http://infopass.uscis.gov/.