Consumer Alert
Avoiding scams that target immigrants
By
Jennifer Leach
Associate Director, Division of Consumer and Business Education, FTC
Image
When there are big changes that lead to confusion, scammers prosper. Pretty much always. So, as Title 42, the pandemic-era law related to immigration, expired last week, the resulting “what happens next” will almost certainly lead to notarios hoping to ride that question all the way to the bank. So how do you stop them?
First, know this: notarios (also called notaries or notarios públicos) in the U.S. are not licensed attorneys. They can’t give you legal advice. But that won’t stop some crooked ones from saying they can help you or promising you results. Those, however, are lies. They’ll cost you not only your money, but possibly your chance to immigrate lawfully.
To avoid the scams that target immigrants, check out ftc.gov/immigration. Then:
- Know who can help. Some specialized lawyers and accredited representatives can help people with immigration. Don’t go to a notario for immigration or legal help.
- Don’t pay for forms. Official immigration forms from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) are free. Anyone who tries to charge you is a scammer.
- Don’t sign blank forms. Or any form that has info that’s not true. Dishonest notarios might ask you to do that, and it’s a guarantee of trouble. It also guarantees that someone is only after your money.
- There’s no special access. Nobody can guarantee they’ll get you a Green Card or citizenship. Nobody can get you on a special list or get early access to any secret process. Those are lies that will cost you money and, very likely, your chance to immigrate lawfully.
Look, the people who need this information aren’t reading this post. So: if you know people who work with the immigrant community, who are in legal services organizations, who work for cities where immigrants are arriving, who help refugee and immigrant communities in any way: please share. And if you spot a notario taking advantage of immigrants, tell the FTC: ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Scams
Scams Against ImmigrantsLeave a comment
______________________________________________________
Consumer Alert
Investment scam targeting WeChat groups
By
Tiffany Smedley
Investigator, FTC, East Central Region
Image
Image
Image
A so-called investment opportunity reportedly took the social media platform WeChat by storm — and stole millions from the Chinese community in the U.S. A flurry of social media posts urged people to “invest” in various household goods and electronics, promising returns of 20-40% in 1-3 months. But it was really a scam. Want to know how to spot it?
Using WeChat groups, scammers heavily promoted the investment with pictures and stories about supposed successful investors. To invest, people agreed to over-pay upfront — as much as three times the retail price — to buy items like iPhones, laptops, and furniture. In exchange, scammers promised to return investors’ money in 1-3 months. And, as a thank you for investing, investors got to keep the products for free. At first, scammers shipped products and paid out some investors, leading people to sink more money into the scheme. In truth, there was no investment and what little scammers paid out was money they stole from new investors. It was all a lie.
To build trust, scammers often use common bonds — like shared language or culture. They exploit these relationships and pitch can’t-miss investment scams. To spot the scams:
- Don’t believe promises that you’ll make money, get a big payout, or earn guaranteed returns. No one can guarantee you’ll make lots of money with little to no risk. Anyone who does is a scammer. And those testimonials or photos from people who supposedly made it big? Those are easily faked.
- Ask online group moderators to remove people pushing investments. Or, if you’re a group moderator, remove anyone offering advice or “help” with investing to prevent scams.
- Research before you invest. It pays to search online for the company or person’s name with the words “review,” “scam,” or “complaint.” Find out how the investment works and where your money is going. If you need help making investment decisions while avoiding fraud, visit Investor.gov.
Spot a business opportunity or investment scam? Tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Read this post in Simplified Chinese
Read this post in Traditional Chinese
Topics
Money-Making Opportunities and Investments
Scams
Money-Making Opportunity Scams
____________________________________________________
Business Blog
Body language? FTC issues policy statement about misuse of biometric data
By
Lesley Fair
As Emelia asked in Act V of Comedy of Errors, do “mine eyes deceive me?” Sorry to get all Shakespearean, but our eyes (and face, fingerprints, etc.) can reveal a lot of information about us – data that can be misused in deceptive or unfair ways. The FTC just issued a Policy Statement on Biometric Information and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and it’s a must-read for businesses.
The increasing use of consumers’ biometric information – and the marketing of technologies that use it or claim to use it – raises significant concerns about data security, privacy, and the potential for bias and discrimination. This isn’t a new issue for the FTC. We’ve been looking at the consumer protection implications of biometric data for more than a decade – for example, at the FTC’s Face Facts: A Forum on Facial Recognition Technology and in the report, Facing Facts: Best Practices For Common Uses of Facial Recognition Technologies. More recently, the FTC has brought enforcement actions against photo app maker Everalbum and Facebook, charging they misrepresented their uses of facial recognition technology.
During this time, some biometric information technologies have made significant advances. NIST found that between 2014 and 2018, facial recognition had become 20 times better at finding a matching photo in a database. Many of these technologies have also become a lot less expensive to use. So it’s no surprise that the use of these technologies is showing up everywhere from retail stores to arenas.
But as rapidly as the technologies and risks are evolving, important guiderails remain in place to protect consumers: the FTC Act’s prohibitions on unfair or deceptive practices. The Policy Statement demonstrates how established legal requirements apply and lists examples of practices the agency will look at in determining whether a company’s use of biometric information or biometric information technology could violate the FTC Act.
You’ll want to read the Policy Statement for the full story, but on the deception side of Section 5, companies shouldn’t make “false or unsubstantiated marketing claims relating to the validity, reliability, accuracy, performance, fairness, or efficacy of technologies using biometric information.” What’s more, “deceptive statements about the collection and use of biometric information” could be actionable, too.
Turning to unfairness, the Policy Statement includes factors the Commission will consider in assessing whether a use of biometric information is potentially unfair:
- failing to assess foreseeable harms to consumers before collecting biometric information;
- failing to promptly address known or foreseeable risks;
- engaging in surreptitious and unexpected collection or use of biometric information;
- failing to evaluate the practices and capabilities of third parties who will have access to consumers’ biometric information;
- failing to provide appropriate training for employees and contractors whose duties involve interacting with biometric information; and
- failing to conduct ongoing monitoring of a business’ technologies that use biometric information to ensure they’re functioning as anticipated and they’re not likely to harm consumers.
There’s no need to read between the lines to discern the FTC’s message to your company and clients. As the Policy Statement makes clear:
The Commission wishes to emphasize that – particularly in view of rapid changes in technological capabilities and uses – businesses should continually assess whether their use of biometric information or biometric information technologies causes or is likely to cause consumer injury in a manner that violates Section 5 of the FTC Act. If so, businesses must cease such practices, whether or not the practices are specifically addressed in this statement.
Tags:
- Consumer Protection
- Bureau of Consumer Protection
- Privacy and Security
- Consumer Privacy
- Health Privacy
______________________________________________________________
