Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg
Abu Sabet: Undocumented New Yorkers are being targeted on Facebook and other online platforms by scammers masquerading as pro bono immigration services, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Friday in a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The DA urged the tech giant to install safeguards to clamp down on the quickly growing racket.
Bragg said victims have typically been sending their payment money outside the U.S., making it difficult for authorities to recover stolen funds. He said scammers have been impersonating legal organizations and religious groups, like Catholic Charities of Baltimore, Catholic Charities of Greater Houston, and Catholic Charities of Trenton.
“Imposter accounts are using your company’s platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp, to falsely pose as pro bono legal services organizations,” Bragg wrote. “Those scammers then communicate with unsuspecting victims and claim to be lawyers offering immigration services. The money that the victims send for this bogus legal assistance is typically transferred overseas, making it difficult to prosecute or recover those funds.”
The DA asked that Meta include a reporting option for law enforcement to report impostors, suspend accounts suspected of participating in the scam, and implement stronger verification protocols.
Immigrant rights groups condemned the social media giant for providing the means for bad actors to target people in desperate circumstances.
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“Immigrant New Yorkers should be able to seek legal help with confidence, but scammers increasingly prey on the vulnerable via social media,” Murad Awawdeh, the president and CEO of New York Immigration Coalition, said in a statement. “Meta is failing to adequately prevent and remove fraudulent accounts, such as those impersonating real organizations offering pro-bono legal services or others claiming to be real lawyers offering immigration services.”
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