I actually caught this story on ABC NY Wednesday night while visiting NJ, and there was something that really stood out to me
Legal resident loses thousands seeking citizenship to AI immigration attorney
It’s a perfect storm, where online scammers use artificial intelligence to victimize vulnerable people out of thousands of dollars, with many getting taken for their life savings and immigrants are increasingly the target.
Not only is this a high-tech scam, but the people behind it are also using the identity of a real person without his knowledge to pull it off.
“Tengo dos días sin dormir,” said Victor Hernandez, telling 7 On Your Side Investigates that he hasn’t slept in days. He said his eyes have been glued to his phone, waiting to see what message comes next.
“Todos los documentos mios lo tienen,” Hernandez said. “Me pueden ser una maldad.”
“They have all my documents, they can do me a lot of harm,” he said. “They have everything of mine.”
Everything was in Spanish on the newscast. There were no English words
Hernandez has lived and worked in The Bronx for more than a decade since moving from the Dominican Republic. He’s a legal resident of the United States.
Hernandez says it’s always been his dream to become an U.S. citizen. So when an ad by an immigration attorney popped up on social media, he called. It promised to help him become a citizen without having to take the official exam. The cost? $1,500.
Now, if he’s a great guy, hard worker, loves America, I hope he gets everything sorted out. But, one problem: where’s the English proficiency? That’s required for the citizenship process. He’s been here 10 years, and, not to get too specific, this is a big problem with people living in the US from other countries: they do not learn the most basic stuff, which is English as their now primary language. Or barely even learning it. Or not learning it.
In all, he said he spent $4,820. It was only after his wife suggested that things didn’t seem right that they asked a friend for help. Together, they learned the ad was fake. It was AI-generated, but based off real immigration attorney Angel Leal from Miami, who says he had nothing to do with it.
“I’m extremely upset about it. Very disappointed,” said Leal. “On the verge of almost trying to give up.”
They’ve taken down over 8,000 fake videos. Scammy people are scammy.
