ShareThisBy MATT CHISMAR
Con artists devising methods to swindle consumers is nothing new, but Spanish-speaking victims, particularly undocumented immigrants, are more at risk than non-Hispanic whites, according to fraud experts contacted by Hispanic Link News Service.
Their view is supported by a 2004 Federal Trade Commission study which found that Hispanic consumers are twice as likely to be subject to fraud as non-Hispanic whites. The FTC plans to release an updated survey by the end of this year.
Most of the scams affecting Hispanics involve citizenship, housing or automobile sales, arguably the three most costly decisions immigrants are likely to face. Many of the cases involve individuals posing as licensed professionals or legal advisors, deceptive solicitations, unlicensed medical services and contractor, telephone or notary fraud.
Many undocumented Latinos don't report scams because of a general distrust of the government or because they fear deportation, explained Laura Koss, coordinator of the FTC's Hispanic law enforcement initiative.
Jenaro Batiz-Romero, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles City Attorney's office, agreed that crime against Latinos is underreported.
"One of the messages we convey is that we will try to help residents regardless of their status," explained Batiz-Romero. "People don't know that they can report crime and they deserve protection regardless of their immigration status."
The Texas attorney general's office issued a $10 million judgment on Feb. 3 against Yolanda Perez for misrepresenting her authority to provide legal advice on immigration matters. Perez told her clients that she had worked for the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and was affiliated with the churches where she was employed. Perez charged anywhere between $300 and $4,000 to 4,881 individuals who sought assistance in legalizing their U.S. residency, according to Paco Felici, a spokesman for the attorney general's office.
In New York, a U.S. immigration officer, his sister and 25 others were arrested June 1, charged with providing green cards to immigrants by arranging false marriages. Federal prosecutors estimated that they received more than $1 million selling counterfeit green cards for $8,000 to $16,000 between 2001 and 2005.
Frequently, scams are not limited to undocumented immigrants seeking U.S. residency. According to Felici, swindlers also target legal immigrants high in debt, those without insurance or with little or no established credit.
Such is the case for Galindo Trust, a real estate firm based in Austin, Texas. Trustees Robert Flores and Richard Allen Small Jr. were charged by the Texas Attorney General on June 7 with accepting payments from consumers through deed-for-trust housing contracts when, in fact, the buyers were given no legal claim to the property. Eventually, their homes were foreclosed.
Flores and Small were allegedly exposed after six years in operation when one of their tenants, planning to sell her house, was told by a title office that she was not the owner.
"Oftentimes these scams involve not telling consumers that there are other people or entities that have legal claim to their property," said Felici.
Scammers often exploit cultural and language differences to dupe potential consumers into entering bogus business deals, experts said.
Andrea Esquer, a spokeswoman for the Arizona attorney general's office, cited a case involving Prieto's Auto Sales. The Phoenix-based company was prosecuted June 1 for placing deceptive advertisements in Spanish-language publications that allegedly gave consumers a false sense of security.
Capitalizing on this trust, Prieto's allegedly forged signatures on loan documents, didn't fulfill warranties and pocketed deposits after buyers failed to pass finance qualifications.
Prieto's owners agreed to pay $54,000 in settlements to 18 Latinos who were sold defective vehicles and cheated out of their deposits.
"Hispanics should be very leery of someone who is unwilling to provide basic information," Felici said. "Consumers should trust their instincts if they feel someone is trying to take advantage of them."
(Matt Chismar is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C. He may be contacted at editor(at)hispaniclink.org.)
