SCAMMERS USE AI TO IMPERSONATE IMMIGRATION ATTORNEYS TO DUPE IMMIGRANTS WITH FAKE LEGAL SERVICES
Last October, immigration lawyer Angel Leal realized he had a serious problem when immigrants began calling his office about their supposed legal cases. He had never advised them.
“They had in fact hired scammers" who had impersonated him.
“ It's gotten to the point where I literally have one to two people every day, all day, answering calls of people who have been defrauded or scammed,” Leal said.
Leal and other immigration attorneys say a wave of faceless fraudsters are stealing their identities— using their photos, names, even their signatures — to then rob vulnerable immigrants seeking legal representation.
They say scammers have been taking advantage of the confusion and fear under President Trump's aggressive deportation agenda.
The administration, for example, ended Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for several immigrant groups, including 350,000 Haitians and more than 600,000 Venezuelans. TPS holders are now scrambling to find other routes to legally remain in the country.
READ MORE: Some Haitians targeted for ankle monitors by ICE as they face threat of mass deportation
Leal said scammers have used AI to produce fake immigration hearings over Zoom to dupe immigrants who believe they are being legitimately represented.
Leal hired an online anti-piracy company to find and track down the scammers. He says that — in June alone — they had taken down over 6,600 fake videos and profiles.
“It seems like the more they take down, the more that come up,” he said.
Charity Anastasio of the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association has seen a mountain of AI generated scams.
“ I've seen it run the gamut,” Anastasio said. “ They can just impersonate you with technologies that anybody can buy very cheaply, and they can prop up a fake website or a fake set of ads on Facebook or WhatsApp.”
“ I'm just hoping that law enforcement can start prosecuting people,” Leal said, who worries that victimized immigrants may be hesitant to go to the police because of their immigration status.
Leal has filed a report with the Doral Police Department.
Neither police in Doral nor the Florida Attorney General’s Office responded to WLRN for comment.
The American Bar Association has issued multiple alerts and published articles to help lawyers whose identities have been stolen.
Adonia Simpson, the deputy director of the ABA Commission on Immigration, said her group started to see these kinds of scams last year.
“ There were fraudulent ABA websites and social media sites that had used AI to generate logos, generate contracts with our branding,” she said.
Anastasio and Leal are now working together to create a "what-to-do" article for lawyers part of AILA once they become aware that their identities are being used in these scams.
Anastasio says she is also putting together a toolbox that will focus on investigation, collecting evidence, take down notices, and other information which she says she hasn't seen yet.
Immigration attorneys advise immigrants faced with the termination of TPS or possible deportation to verify anyone advertising legal services online.
Leal says many immigrants are falling prey to scammers because “they’re just desperate for help in any way that they think they can get it.”
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You can check a lawyer’s professional standing on your state’s bar association website. You may find an alert like the one on Leal’s page on the Florida Bar Association — saying that his identity is being used by scammers. He says anyone seeking legal advice should visit his office in person.
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