Jose is a Venezuelan national living in North Texas who has been preparing for his asylum hearing scheduled for July. Last week, he received an email he thought was from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services notifying him his hearing had been moved up almost two months.
It read: “The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services informs you that your virtual hearing had been scheduled for May 9, 2025 at 5:00 p.m., New York local time.”
“It caught me by surprise because I wasn’t expecting this,” Jose – who asked to only use his first name -- said in Spanish.
But something about the email didn’t look right: It came from a .com address. Later, A person posing as a government official called Jose and sent him a WebEx link, which Jose was afraid to click. He realized it was a scam.
“It puts us all in a situation that concerns us all, because you want to solve your legal status, and you try to find someone to help you, but you really don’t know who to trust,” he said.
Immigrants without legal status are increasingly finding themselves the targets of these types of online scams.
Some claim to be from immigration officials; others might offer legal help as the federal government ramps up immigration enforcement.
“I think the fact that this undocumented population is so vulnerable, they’re more likely to fall for these traps,” said David Reyna, an attorney and a former Dallas County prosecutor. “You have to do your own research to protect yourself.”
There are various ways that scammers target people without legal status, he said.
Reyna said one thing to look out for in scams like these is that communication has to be from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).
“If it's not from them, and these other people that schedule the hearings, then it's not anything legitimate," he said.
One of the big clues that something might be a scam is that “the law forwards a reasonable notice for you to have the opportunity to be heard, to be represented by competent counsel and reasonable time to prepare for such an important hearing," Reyna said.
An email from a non-government entity alerting you that you have a hearing in two days isn’t legitimate, he said.
Reyna said official communication will come from an 800 number. Jose had received a call from a computer-generated number When KERA called it, no one answered.
Another sign of a scam is if a hearing is scheduled for 5 p.m. or after, Reyna said. People can also check the status of their hearing by visiting the EOIR website or asking their attorney. Legitimate legal counsel will have a bar number and good standing with the state.
According to various advocacy groups, another common immigration scam to look out for are “notarios,” or notary publics.
“In many Spanish-speaking nations, ‘notarios’ are powerful attorneys with special legal credentials,” according to the USCIS website.
“In the United States, however, notary publics are people authorized by state governments to witness the signing of important documents and to administer oaths but are not necessarily authorized to provide legal services.”
Jose said with information on TikTok, Facebook and other social media that promises legal representation, it’s hard to know who or what to trust.
"You look for people to guide you, to represent you, and then you find out it’s all a fraud,” Jose said.
If you have a gut feeling that something isn’t right, contact somebody you can ask, like an attorney, but don't start sharing your information to potential scammers, Reyna said.
Priscilla Rice is KERA’s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
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