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Posted on 03/28/2026 3:46:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Double-check all sources, experts say es are warning the public about a multi-state scam targeting the immigrant community, with some victims losing as much as $30,000.
According to Claudia Abasto Rivilla, founder and executive director of Salinas-based Latin Advocacy Network (LATINAN), scammers target Spanish- and Indigenous-language speakers using information gleaned from social media. They then use stolen identities and fake legal credentials to appear legitimate, she said.
With an already tenuous legal status, victims are often too afraid to seek help or report the crime.
Abasto said victims typically seek help only after being defrauded. She also said she has not seen meaningful follow-through in her own identity theft case, despite reporting it.
Many victims are unfamiliar with what legitimate immigration documents look like, and speak only Spanish or Indigenous languages such as Mixteco, Chatino and Triqui, making them easier targets.
“They come to this country with a dream to fix their situation,” she said. “They are desperate for services, and that’s when they’re targeted.”
LATINAN is a nonprofit that provides low-cost immigration legal services in Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz and Bay Area counties.
Abasto said many victims are contacted by a fake company based in Florida, with representatives using fake websites, contracts, documents and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services logos.
The scammers are Spanish speakers, but with evolving technology making locations increasingly difficult to pinpoint, it is unclear where the scams are centered.
“This is a big criminal organization happening all around our country, not only in our area,” she said.
A Facebook page associated with the scam had about 2,000 followers, which Abasto said suggests multiple victims and potentially large-scale losses.
Abasto said one scammer is using her name, and despite reporting it to local police and the FBI, there has been no resolution.
She said a victim recently called her from North Carolina, saying she had lost $20,000 to a scammer using Abasto’s name. The victim had to take loans from friends and family to raise the money.
“This really broke my heart,” she said. “It’s really bad when I am the victim, too. I live with that every day, and I’m very aware that this is happening every day.”
For more info:latinan.org; 831-401-4838 (leave a voicemail for a callback).
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If the far left RAT Nazis aren’t going to let Americans throw the scum illegal aliens out, we need to start throwing them in prison for the money the bassturds are stealing from hardworking American workers and their families.
“she had lost $20,000 to a scammer using Abasto’s name”
The knuckledragging freeloaders are here sucking off the gringo teat for a “better life” and the azhos have 30 grand? I hope whoever is ripping those illegal aliens biatches off, keeps it up. Money thieving scum.
Liberals try to get away with their crimes.
I saw this picture of a female police officer who was talking to a violator. She says “Just because you have a Democrat in your car, doesn’t mean that you can park in a Handicap spot”.
FOR ALL
Freepathon is bleeding. END this.
Claudia Abasto Rivilla, founder and executive director of Salinas-based Latin Advocacy Network (LATINAN)
Sometimes the perpetrator is an individual on individual situation.
Some are friendly.
Some are misunderstood but hoped to be friendly and had misunderstandings.
Some have no attempt at friendliness.
Sometimes the perpetrator is an organized group.
Some group members are willing participants
Some group members are unaware of their participation
Most of the above occur in employment related environments.
The most common is the illegal parent who works for an employer under the name and SSN of his anchor baby child.
The most agregious (IMO) is the Satyam scam. One person has a valid H1b. Satyam consulting directs 5 persons from Mumbai to all work as consultants under the same SSN and name.
One consults to Allstate Insurance.
One consults to State Farm Insurance.
One consults to Discover Card.
One consults to International Harvester.
One consults to Caterpillar.
Good question. I know for sure that two obviously legal couples from Ukraine in my neighborhod have new suvs that I can’t afford.
One of those couples has a female doctor working at local hospital, well paid but was seen at the local food bank for freebies. That’s really irritating. I volunteered there for a couple of years. Really poor families traveled miles to pick up food for their kids. Volunteers told we could take stuff home, but only thing I did was a bag of nice cat crunchies.
The Uke couple that lives closer to me is very nice and so are their children and grandchildren who live here. Grandson is 15, wears nice suit, polite as they come.
Yes. They are often much better off.. throw in a social justice warrior with a non profit and in Oregon you could be given a new home. Illegal aliens have better health care than I do.
We reward illegal immigration, and punish legal immigration.
I have a friend who moved legally to the U.S. when he was 12. (From a country that used to be part of the U.S.) He ended up going to a top college, and got a Master at a top university, and has always been gainfully employed in the U.S.
It took him 26 years to become a citizen, and 10s of thousands of dollar, plus he had to miss all his grandparents funerals, because you can't leave the country when you have a Green Card.
If he had come illegally, he could have become a citizen a lot faster. Look at the 1986 amnesty alone.
So our laws create this problems. And all the laws in the world won't change it until the laws are changed.
“Triqui”
From what I’ve heard, that is a hard language to learn.
They really went to a foodbank even thought why are flush? I have a friend who hasn’t gone to a foodbank yet, even though he needs to, because he’s too ashamed.
So, the undocumented are preying on the undocumented?
Yes. Very tricky
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