U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued an alert regarding a telephone scam that is targeting companies and individuals who have filed petitions with the USCIS. Filers are receiving phone calls from scammers who claim to be from USCIS; they are saying that mistakes have been made in the applicant’s immigration records and that payment is required to correct the mistakes. They are also requesting personal information during this process.
The scammers use “Caller ID spoofing,” which is a technique that displays a misleading telephone number to deceive caller IDs. The calls appear to come from the USCIS. It is possible to find out where the phone call is actually coming from by using a phone number lookup page which will trace the location of the call – click here for details.
If you receive a phone call requesting personal information and/or payment over the phone, do not provide it. Please be advised that the USCIS does not ask for any form of payment or personal information over the phone.
If you are targeted by this scam, please let us know. We can help you report it to the Federal Trade Commission. To find out where to report scams in your state, you may also visit www.uscis.gov/avoidscams.