A well-known example is the activity of a firm called National Visa Service Center, remembered by many for its extensive advertising campaign in the press two years ago. Some time after sending their applications, their clients received letters solemnly announcing that they had passed a "preliminary selection" and that they needed to send a certain sum to participate in the next stage. Puzzled by the unclear wording, many decided to send the money, whereupon their participation in the lottery, which enriched unknown fraudsters, ended.
Danger can lie in wait even for those who won without outside help. In spring, when winning notifications arrive en masse, truly incredible events begin: packages with notifications are simply stolen at post offices. A few years ago such cases were rare - most often a package was accidentally stolen from an unreliable mailbox, followed by an offer to buy it back for a small sum. In one situation known to the author, the local postman himself offered to buy the winnings. Despite the fact that in such cases it is not difficult to prove the fact of extortion by contacting law enforcement agencies, for many winners the safety of the package is more important, so they agree to part with their money.
Today, it turns out, theft of winning packages can quite be considered a separate type of fraud. More precisely, packages are not even stolen - they are apparently simply bought from postal workers. So, last autumn, a reader from Ternopil contacted the editorial office of "Zagranitsa", having received a letter from the director of some local commercial firm. In the envelope was a congratulation on winning the lottery and an unambiguous offer of further "legal support of the winner". Since our reader had heard about the existence of this firm for the first time, and he filled out and sent the lottery application himself, a reasonable question arose: how do the newly minted Ternopil Benders learn about their compatriots' participation in the American visa lottery and about the winnings that fell to them? The reader asked "Zagranitsa" for help, and we managed to find the firm's director. We asked him: on what basis are congratulations about winning the lottery sent to Ternopil residents? Apparently, the answer about "wanting to do something nice for people" seemed unconvincing even to the director himself. So in the end he explained to us that he had bought diskettes with the coordinates of the winners and the victory notifications themselves from some dealers in the capital.
Unfortunately, more detailed information could not be obtained. Shortly after our conversation with the "entrepreneur", the reader's envelope with the winning notification was returned to him, after which he stopped cooperating with the editorial office. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that the director's story was just an evasion, and that the packages were bought at one of the post offices in Ternopil.
Those who have used application-filling services without signing a contract detailing the further relationship between the parties in the event of the applicant's victory also sometimes face the demand to buy back the package. The fact is that in many cases the firm indicates its own address in the application, where the notification will naturally be sent. Sometimes this has its advantages - in particular, when an address in the USA is used so that the letter is not lost when it is forwarded to Ukraine by regular mail.
Therefore, before using the services of a firm, you should find out whose return address will be indicated in the application. If the address is the firm's, you should ask under what conditions the letter will be given to you. However, there are also known cases where the client was offered to buy the package even despite the fact that when filling out the participation applications they were guaranteed that they would receive the winnings without any additional conditions (or: the previously agreed amount is inflated several times). It even goes as far as the client being informed that the sent application was not signed by them; they are intimidated that at the consulate interview they will be refused if they do not buy back a sample of the signature used and learn to sign accordingly. The dealers understand well that a person is unlikely to risk the chance of leaving for the USA, and therefore will prefer to pay the required amount. However, when buying a winning package in such situations, a person cannot be sure whether it is really genuine - we remind you again that a victory notification can be forged.
If you find yourself in such a situation, in any case insist that they show you the original victory notification. Most likely, they will not tell you the number assigned to your case, so that you cannot contact the KCC yourself, but an unsubstantiated refusal to show you at least part of the notification with your name will be more than suspicious. Therefore, you should not give money until you are sure that you really won. If you do manage to find out your case number, you can contact the KCC yourself with a request to send a duplicate of the victory notification.
In any case, if you have problems receiving the package, weigh all the pros and cons. It should be borne in mind that without a case number, it will be very difficult or even impossible for you to continue the immigration process on your own.
It should be noted that a winner can have troubles even when the winnings are obtained without outside help. Potentially dangerous are newspaper advertisements about "business" marriages with lottery winners. In such cases, we would like to warn not only winners who are short of funds and count on concluding a fictitious marriage for money, but also those who offer that money in the hope of getting married and leaving for the USA.
The former risk doubly. First, by entering into a fictitious marriage, you cannot be sure of successfully passing the interview at the consulate. It is known that consular officials view with distrust marriages concluded after receiving notification of winning the lottery, so your chances of successfully passing the interview are reduced many times over. Second, there is no guarantee that your fictitious spouse will ultimately keep their word. Usually the full amount is not paid until the spouses have passed the interview at the consulate and received a visa. After that, your "chosen one" may refuse to fulfill promises of any kind: to pay the money, to help with employment in the USA, etc. The winner is no longer in a position to change anything: they will be explained that they cannot turn to the consulate or the INS because they would also bear responsibility and lose the right to an immigrant visa. If they try to get out of the situation in another way, their fictitious "half" can themselves report the illegal marriage to the American consulate.
Of course, those people who themselves look for a winner through advertisements with the aim of concluding a fictitious marriage also risk being fooled. In the end, they risk being left without money, and the fake winning notification that remains in their hands is unlikely to serve as a worthy justification for the money spent.
Along with fictitious marriages, one can mention offers of fictitious adoption, which have also been heard of. They consist in the lottery winner being offered to adopt a child whose parents are, as a rule, illegally in America. Such offers look tempting - after all, parents working abroad will not spare money to ensure that the child gets to them with the status of a permanent resident of the USA. The danger is that such options are obviously impossible to implement, and you may not only be refused an immigrant visa, but also have your path to the USA closed forever. People who offered you such a deal usually lose nothing: if there is no result they need, there will be no payment.
Among the most incredible is the offer to buy the winning package of another person who does not wish to leave for the USA, with the subsequent alteration of one's own documents to match their data. Although many understand that such a purchase is simply meaningless, since the application form contains photographs of the applicant and his family members, questions about the possibility of such deals are still encountered. By the way, the roots of this type of fraud go back to the first immigration lotteries of the late 1980s, when applications were sent without photographs, which allowed some enterprising lucky winners to sell their winnings.
Winners who handle their own paperwork should beware of fraudsters offering "accompaniment" services. For example, winners are often offered to purchase a letter from a sponsor or potential employer in the USA, which during the interview is supposedly supposed to help prove that the winner and his family will not become a burden on American society. Documents of this kind are indeed useful to have before going to the consulate - but only if they are genuine. The actual value of those "documents" offered at prices from a hundred to over a thousand dollars does not exceed the cost of the sheet of paper on which they are printed. Even when the employment offer is certified with the seal of a notary, it should be remembered that in the USA almost anyone can become a notary by paying a small fee to the state treasury. People who have bought such a "document" are unable to answer the simplest questions of a consular official concerning the American employer or sponsor. It is also possible that the person who signed such a letter, or even the company itself, simply does not exist, and this may well lead to a refusal to issue a visa.
Finally, some other services advertised in the press are not fraudulent in themselves, but at the same time deliberately misinform the reader. These include, for example, English language study groups offering their course of "language preparation for the consular interview for Green Card lottery winners" with obtaining a certificate "required" by consulates.
As you can see, fraudsters have at their disposal a great variety of techniques, and their imagination is inexhaustible. Our list of common types of fraud is surely not likely to claim completeness in the future. Therefore, we once again advise you to thoroughly study the information you receive from those who offer their immigration services, and not to rush into concluding any contracts, even the most tempting ones. If you learn of any cases of fraud against those wishing to immigrate, please contact the editorial office of "Zagranitsa".
Alexander DEMCHENKO,
Chicago, USA.
Specially for "Zagranitsa".