Nevada judge issues order in alleged nationwide immigration scam

By Steve Green

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011 | 9:58 a.m.

A federal judge in Nevada has issued a temporary restraining order shutting down what the Federal Trade Commission calls a nationwide scam targeting people seeking immigration services.

The FTC announced Monday that the operation posed as the U.S. government, then duped consumers into paying fees ranging from $200 to $2,500 by claiming the fees would cover processing by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Newly-unsealed court documents show Judge Edward Reed Jr. in Reno on Jan. 26 froze the defendants’ assets and appointed a receiver to take over the defendants' businesses until the case is resolved.

The FTC is now asking the court to halt the business practices permanently and order the operation to repay its victims.

The FTC said the real U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, offers advice and counseling to immigrants in the United States and people seeking to immigrate to the United States. USCIS provides application forms for such benefits as green card renewal, work visas, and applications for asylum. The application forms are free, but can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to process.

The FTC in its Nevada lawsuit filed last week -- initially under seal -- said defendants Immigration Center and Immigration Forms and Publications Inc. set up websites that mimic official government sites, and then used the fake sites to steer immigrants to their allegedly deceptive telemarketing operation. The websites depicted American eagles, the U.S. flag, and the Statue of Liberty and had URLs such as www.uscis-ins.us and www.usgovernmenthelpline.com.

The FTC said the sites directed consumers to call a toll-free number that an automated voice answered, "Immigration Center." Consumers were then transferred to a live person who answered, "USCIS or "U.S. Immigration Center," and identified him or herself as an "agent," "immigration officer," or "caseworker," the government alleged. The sites also offered counseling and application forms, the FTC said. The counseling was done by telemarketers who did not meet legal requirements to provide immigration services, the FTC said.

Adding to the consumers’ confusion, the FTC alleged, the defendants charged fees for application forms that were the same amount as the government processing fees, leading them to believe the fees covered the cost of USCIS processing. The FTC said some consumers who applied for the forms were told to send checks by overnight mail to cover the costs. Others paid with checks or money orders on delivery. Consumers ended up paying for applications that were never processed by the USCIS for failure to pay the official processing fee, or, in some cases, they were charged twice, once by the defendants and once by the government after the defendant forwarded their bank account information to USCIS, the government alleged in its lawsuit.

The correct website of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service is www.uscis.gov.

The defendants named in the case are Immigration Center in Reno; Immigration Forms and Publications Inc. of Sedalia, Mo.; Charles Doucette, individually and doing business as Telestaffing; Immigration Forms and Services and Immigration Form Processing; Deborah Stilson aka Deborah Malmstrom; Alfred Boyce; Thomas Strawbridge; Robin Meredith; Thomas Lawrence; and Elizabeth Meredith.

Aviva Gordon of the firm Ellis & Gordon was appointed by Reed as the temporary receiver of the companies.

Court records show the defendants have not yet filed court papers answering the allegations.