A naturalization ceremony was held at Empire State Plaza on July 4, 2022. Scams targeting people looking for immigration legal help are increasing and becoming more elaborate thanks to artificial intelligence and social media.
Will Waldron/Times Union
In 2023, Patricia fled South America with her three daughters after men her husband owed money to threatened her.
After arriving in the lower Hudson Valley, she began searching for an immigration attorney to help her apply for asylum. One quoted her $250 for a consultation. Another charged $100, only to tell her that asylum wasn’t an option because of its low grant rate. She spoke with at least five attorneys, but she could not afford them at the time.
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After saving some money, Patricia eventually found a paralegal online who would take her case for $10,000 with a $1,500 upfront payment. But the paralegal never filed her asylum application and stopped answering her calls when she could no longer pay.
She then hired another lawyer who charged $1,000 per hour, signing a retainer she didn’t fully understand due to her limited English, because it used the term “representation.” Days before her court date, the firm told her that the $10,000 she’d spent only covered the filing of her asylum application, work authorization and a motion to delay the hearing. If she wanted an attorney to accompany her to court, she would need to pay another $9,000.
So, Patricia and her daughters attended the initial hearing alone. An immigration judge ordered them removed to Honduras — a country she has no ties to — under the Asylum Cooperative Agreement, through a process known as pretermission, which dismisses an asylum claim without a full hearing.
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A month before her scheduled deportation, Patricia received WhatsApp messages from a man who claimed he could help her file an appeal. After she paid him online, he sent her a fake filing receipt through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, though it should have been filed with the Board of Immigration Appeals.
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“I felt so bad and disappointed,” said Patricia. The Times Union is using a pseudonym for her because of her pending immigration case.
Patricia eventually connected with Neighbors Link Community Law Practice, which took her case and filed a proper appeal days before the deadline. But when attorneys followed up with those who had previously advised her, they could not confirm whether they were legitimate legal service providers, except for the attorney who filed her asylum application but charged her an “outrageous” amount and likely misled her, said Melanie Zamenhof, senior attorney at the Westchester County-based organization. Other red flags included a confusing retainer from the firm Patricia hired for court representation and rates that were “so far inflated and above what a real immigration attorney would charge.”
It turned out the people who had promised to help Patricia were not real immigration attorneys.
Neighbors Link says Patricia was a victim of immigration-related fraud, a type of scam that involves people pretending to be legitimate immigration service providers who prey on people in a vulnerable situation to steal money and sensitive personal information.
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State agencies and immigration advocates say this type of fraud has become more common as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown continues. While immigration services scams are not new, rapidly shifting federal policy and heightened enforcement have sown fear in immigrant communities, driving many to seek scarce legal help. That imbalance between high demand and limited supply has created a gap scammers can exploit.
Patricia has lost roughly $16,000 to the scams. She said she could have used that money to pay back the men who were threatening her.
“It just speaks to the desperation of people,” Zamenhof said.
Increasing across the board
The state attorney general’s office has received about 240 complaints related to immigration service providers since January 2025. Nearly all were filed with the Harlem regional office, according to spokesperson Fox Grant. The total was about double in 2024, which Grant said was partly due to a major immigration services fraud case.
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The state Office for New Americans’ hotline received 105 fraud complaints in 2025, primarily from New York City, compared to 73 the year prior. Callers reported being scammed by “unscrupulous people” posing as immigration attorneys or U.S. Department of Justice representatives, according to state Department of State spokesperson Mercedes Padilla.
“We are certainly seeing far more cases of immigration fraud than was true before last year, and we’re seeing a lot of cases, multiple cases a week,” said Margaret Martin, co-director of Catholic Charities’ Immigrant and Refugee Services Division. “We’ve always noted a bit more fraud in the Hudson Valley … There aren’t as many services there, and communities are a little more isolated than in the city… but now we’ve seen this increase across all of our offices.”
Nationwide, complaints have also surged. A ProPublica analysis of 6,200 complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission over the past five years found reports nearly doubled after Trump was reelected, from about 960 annually since 2021 to 2,000 last year.
Authorities have taken action against perpetrators. In one recent case in the Eastern District of New York, five suspects are accused of collecting more than $100,000 through fraudulent transactions.
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“We are declaring an all-out war on immigration fraud in all forms,” USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said in a statement. “Immigration scammers contribute to a lawless environment, undermining our immigration system and posing risks to national security and public safety.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Colonie. Some scams involve the falsification of Department of Homeland Security documents.
Jim Franco/Times Union
Still, the true number of victims is likely higher than what has been reported. Fear of interacting with authorities and stigma prevent many immigrants from reporting fraud, said Rosanna Eugenio, legal director at the New York Immigration Coalition.
“(It’s) difficult on all sides,” Eugenio said. “For the client who’s being deceived and they’re losing money. And for the attorney, you might face a bar complaint and that might be the first time that you know any of that has happened.”
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A ‘very steep upward battle’
Immigration scams often involve misleading ads, poor-quality legal work, falsified Department of Homeland Security documents, and impersonation of real attorneys or officials.
But the schemes are becoming more sophisticated, aided by new technologies like artificial intelligence. Scammers are increasingly targeting immigrants through social media and trusted WhatsApp groups, often advertising services in victims’ native language.
“To the untrained eye, it seems very legitimate,” said Adonia R. Simpson, deputy director of policy and pro bono at the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration.
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Last summer, the association issued an alert after receiving inquiries from people checking on case statuses — even though the organization does not typically provide legal services. The ABA found scammers were using its branding and impersonating real attorneys nationwide.
In one case, scammers staged a fake immigration hearing on Zoom that resembled the TV show “Judge Judy,” said Stephanie Mulcock, senior director for immigration initiatives at the national nonprofit Hispanic Federation. She noted that legitimate immigration hearings are conducted through WebEx and only for people already in deportation proceedings.
Courtesy of the American Bar Association
Another common scam involves people claiming to be “notarios” or notary publics. In many Spanish-speaking nations, notaries also offer legal services. This scam preys on immigrants who are unaware that in the United States, notaries are not necessarily authorized to provide legal help.
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The Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit advocacy group, recently sued Meta, Facebook’s parent company, alleging it failed to block suspicious ads while charging those advertisers more to display their content. The company says it has removed millions of scam ads and developed tools to identify them.
While people with limited English proficiency or little experience with attorneys may be especially vulnerable, “anyone can fall victim to it,” Martin said.
The impacts can be devastating, from the loss of thousands of dollars to denial of immigration benefits and deportation, advocates said.
“There (were) over 600 substantive legal changes to immigration in 2025 since the Trump 2.0 administration,” Zamenhof said. “There are all these very niche areas of the law that are very complex and would be hard for a person to navigate on their own, let alone if there are technology, language (and) cultural barriers. It’s just this very steep upward battle.”
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To address the issue, a coalition of advocates and lawmakers is pushing for a $175 million investment for immigration legal services in the state budget, which is now more than a month late. They are also backing two bills — the Access to Representation Act and the Building Up Immigrant Legal Defense Act — which would establish a right to legal counsel in immigration proceedings and help build the legal infrastructure needed to provide it.
“If we can increase capacity for our current existing legal service providers, it wouldn’t leave so many people out in the cold, desperate and seeking to believe these very convincing scams at times,” Zamenhof said.
Advocates urge immigrants to research anyone offering legal help, including by verifying an attorney’s licenses and calling the firm or organization they purport to work for. The American Bar Association has online resources to spot deceptive practices and other materials in English and Spanish. Scammers have reportedly requested payment for immigration forms, but those are available for free online.
In New York, suspected fraud can be reported to the Office for New Americans hotline at 800-566-7636. USCIS also has an online fraud tip form and more resources.
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After being deceived three times, Patricia said the experience took a heavy toll. She separated from her husband and fell into a depression. Her daughter attempted to take her own life. Her appeal is now pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals.
But with help from Neighbors Link and support from her church, she is trying to rebuild.
“My self-esteem is in the gutter. I got depressed, didn’t want to go outside. Financially — yes, I’m in debt as well,” she said. “But there will always be good people.”
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