Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York (CCNY) has been bringing public awareness about increased fraudulent activities that target vulnerable immigrants, in conjunction with state and local government agencies.

The CCNY effort, which includes an immigration fraud informational hotline, is being carried out with the New York State Office of New Americans, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Officials said the immigration influx into the city in recent years evidently has resulted in fraudsters becoming more active.

On the evening of Wednesday, July 17, CCNY staff and trained volunteers were on hand via telephone to help callers learn how to identify and avoid immigration service scams targeting immigrants. The multilingual effort was held in Lower Manhattan at the Immigrant and Refugee Division of Catholic Charities Community Services.

At the event were Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities of New York; Manuel Castro, commissioner of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs; David Satnarine, special counsel for Immigrant Affairs at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office; and Bill Tipacti, senior director of Community Empowerment at Televisa Univision.

“Thank you to our partners in this incredible work, and thanks to Univision for their willingness to shine a light on this issue,” Monsignor Sullivan told reporters and other attendees during the event.

“An overwhelming numbers of New Yorkers want to make sure that their neighbors are not cheated, they’re not schemed, they’re not exploited. And that’s what we are here tonight to raise – that there’s a safe place where people can call without fear, and that their concerns about having been defrauded, having been cheated, having been taken advantage of, will be treated seriously and will be responded to,” Monsignor Sullivan added.

Castro said, “It’s so important to make sure that our community has the appropriate information, so that they’re aware if they have been a victim of immigration services fraud, and to prevent immigration services fraud.” He and other speakers noted that fraudsters often are of the same nationality as the people they prey on. Castro said being a victim “can be devastating to the individual, the family, and it often worsens a situation that’s already precarious…My own father, many years ago, was a victim of immigration services fraud,” said Castro, who later told The Good Newsroom that he was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States.

Satnarine thanked all the agencies involved “in this very important, needed initiative.” He said it was important that all involved “do this work together…In the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, we recognize that ‘together’ is the only way forward to make sure that we can make the criminal justice system fair to immigrants and that we can protect our immigrant communities.”

Tipacti also expressed gratitude for the collaborative effort, adding, “We do this because the community expects it from us; we do this because we have three messages at Univision. One is to inform, another one is to entertain, and the last one is to empower. And what we’re doing right here today, is just that – it’s empowering our community to make sure that they don’t fall victims of this fraud or any of this bad information.”

Kelly Agnew-Barajas was among the phone bank workers taking calls. “I work with Catholic Charities, and they asked for people to help (with the phone bank), and I decided to step up,” she told The Good Newsroom a few minutes before she and others began taking calls. Agnew-Barajas said she stepped up because “people are very often taken advantage of by unscrupulous practitioners.”

Catholic Charities made these points in explaining why this awareness effort is being done now:

– Catholic Charities New York filed 40 fraud complaints to law enforcement on behalf of victims between September 2023 and mid-July 2024 – compared to 18 fraud complaints between September 2022 and August 2023.

– In addition to the increase in volume, the types of fraud tricking people are more complex, and use technology to mislead immigrants. Fraudsters are impersonating immigration officers, lawyers, other government agency officials, and even judges who use ads on Facebook and send calls/texts that spoof government numbers when they call them or text the people to find victims.

– People CCNY has supported through filing complaints with law enforcement entities have paid fraudsters anywhere from $40 to as high as $15,000.

– People need trusted resources and information.

Catholic Charities New York is a federation of about 90 agencies and programs located throughout the 10 counties of the archdiocese, helping New Yorkers, immigrants, and refugees in need “with services that protect and nurture children, strengthen families and resolve crises.”

The dedicated informational toll-free number is 1-888-958-5264 for free, confidential information and to report related fraud.