{"id":392929,"date":"2025-02-19T11:15:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T11:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/?p=392929"},"modified":"2025-06-12T23:20:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T23:20:21","slug":"avoiding-scams-that-target-immigrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/human-services-agency\/blog\/2025\/02\/19\/avoiding-scams-that-target-immigrants\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding Scams that Target Immigrants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Notarios (also called notaries or\u00a0<em>notarios p\u00fablicos<\/em>) in the U.S. are not licensed attorneys. They can\u2019t give you legal advice. But that won\u2019t stop some crooked ones from saying they can help you or promising you results. Those, however, are lies. They\u2019ll cost you not only your money, but possibly your chance to immigrate lawfully.<\/p>\n<p>To avoid the scams that target immigrants, check out\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/consumer.ftc.gov\/immigration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ftc.gov\/immigration<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Then:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"arrow-list\">\n<li><strong>Know who can help<\/strong>. Some\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/consumer.ftc.gov\/articles\/avoid-immigration-scams-get-real-help#real%20help\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">specialized lawyers<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/eoir\/recognition-accreditation-roster-reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">accredited representatives<\/a>\u00a0can help people with immigration. Don\u2019t go to a notario for immigration or legal help.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t pay for forms<\/strong>. Official\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/forms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">immigration forms<\/a>\u00a0from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) are free. Anyone who tries to charge you is a scammer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t sign blank forms<\/strong>. Or any form that has info that\u2019s not true. Dishonest notarios might ask you to do that, and it\u2019s a guarantee of trouble. It also guarantees that someone is only after your money.<\/li>\n<li><strong>There\u2019s no special access<\/strong>. Nobody can guarantee they\u2019ll 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Look, the people who need this information aren\u2019t 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:<strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/reportfraud.ftc.gov\/#\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ReportFraud.ftc.gov<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For more information on scams, <a href=\"https:\/\/consumer.ftc.gov\/consumer-alerts\/2023\/05\/avoiding-scams-target-immigrants?utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">visit the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Evitar las Estafas Dirigidas a Inmigrantes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Los notarios (tambi\u00e9n llamados <em>notaries<\/em> o <em>notarios p\u00fablicos<\/em>) en los EE. UU. no son abogados con licencia. No pueden brindarle asesoramiento legal. Pero eso no impedir\u00e1 que algunos corruptos digan que pueden ayudarlo o prometerle resultados. Esas, sin embargo, son mentiras. Le costar\u00e1n no solo su dinero, sino posiblemente su oportunidad de inmigrar legalmente.<\/p>\n<p>Para evitar las estafas dirigidas a los inmigrantes, visite <a href=\"https:\/\/consumer.ftc.gov\/immigration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ftc.gov\/immigration.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Entonces:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"arrow-list\">\n<li><strong>Conozca qui\u00e9n puede ayudar.<\/strong> Algunos <a href=\"https:\/\/consumer.ftc.gov\/articles\/avoid-immigration-scams-get-real-help#real%20help\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">abogados especializados<\/a> y <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/eoir\/recognition-accreditation-roster-reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">representantes acreditados<\/a> pueden ayudar a las personas con inmigraci\u00f3n. No vaya a un notario para obtener ayuda legal o de inmigraci\u00f3n.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No pague por formularios.<\/strong> Los <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/forms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">formularios oficiales<\/a> de inmigraci\u00f3n del Servicio de Ciudadan\u00eda e Inmigraci\u00f3n de los Estados Unidos (USCIS) son gratuitos. Cualquiera que intente cobrarte es un estafador.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No firme formularios en blanco. <\/strong>O cualquier formulario que tenga informaci\u00f3n que no sea cierta. Los notarios deshonestos pueden pedirle que haga eso, y es garant\u00eda de problemas. Tambi\u00e9n garantiza que alguien solo est\u00e1 detr\u00e1s de su dinero.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No hay acceso especial.<\/strong> Nadie puede garantizar que obtendr\u00e1 una tarjeta verde o ciudadan\u00eda. Nadie puede incluirlo en una lista especial ni obtener acceso anticipado a ning\u00fan proceso secreto. Esas son mentiras que le costar\u00e1n dinero y, muy probablemente, su oportunidad de inmigrar legalmente.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mira, las personas que necesitan esta informaci\u00f3n no est\u00e1n leyendo esta publicaci\u00f3n. Entonces: si conoce a personas que trabajan con la comunidad de inmigrantes, que est\u00e1n en organizaciones de servicios legales, que trabajan para las ciudades a las que llegan inmigrantes, que ayudan a las comunidades de refugiados e inmigrantes de alguna manera: por favor comparta. Y si ve a un notario aprovech\u00e1ndose de los inmigrantes, d\u00edgaselo a la FTC: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/reportfraud.ftc.gov\/#\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ReportFraud.ftc.gov<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Para aprender m\u00e1s acerca de las estafas,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/consumidor.ftc.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vaya al Federal Trade Commission (FTC por sus siglas en ingl\u00e9s) aqu\u00ed.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Notarios (also called notaries or notarios p\u00fablicos) in the U.S. are not licensed attorneys. They can\u2019t give you legal advice. But that won\u2019t stop some crooked ones from&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":392930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,47,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-392929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basic-assistance-community-events","category-support-for-parents-and-families-community-events","category-support-for-seniors-community-events"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 21:27:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/human-services-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/human-services-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/human-services-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/human-services-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/human-services-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/human-services-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/human-services-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/human-services-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/human-services-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacounty.gov\/human-services-agency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}