By Sam Abuya
To some people from around the world, living or working in the United States is a dream that they hold close to their hearts. But did you know that there’s a lot you need to know as far as the whole immigration process is concerned? Well, that’s right. There’s also a lot that you need to invest your precious time in order to get things the right way and that includes, searching for a job or education scholarships and schools in the United States.
A lot of fraud cases have been reported from those seeking to migrate to the US, work or study there. Many cases include unsuspecting victims falling prey to scammers posing as official representatives of the various US government departments that one needs to go through in order to legally migrate to the US or work and study there.
Here is a quick run-through on what you need to know.
Education scams
There have been issues of schools purporting to work with employers where they can place their students upon graduating. This places them at ‘among the best schools’ in America and, as a result, attracting many students looking to further their studies in the US.
Another cases of common education scams in the US includes inflation of the postgraduation numbers something which is meant to play around with the mind of prospective students in terms of the employability rate of the school in question. What that basically means is that if you study in such a school, you’ll stand a high chance of securing a job.
The scholarship and finance scammers is yet another batch of fraudsters that you will need to look out for when looking forward to study in the US. Many scholarship scammers will require you to pay some sort of upfront fee before being awarded the scholarship. In other cases, scammers can approach you with the idea of writing off your student’s loan thanks to their networks. This is not possible.
Additionally, there have been cases of students being scammed by fraudsters who pose as people who can help you get your degree without necessarily having to sit in any class at all.
To be on the safe side, the Federal Trade Commission advises you to run a scan of any school search on the College Navigator. This tool or platform will give you any information about the school that you want to join. It will tell you if the school is private or public and its students’ loans rate, for instance. This will help open your eyes on whether you’re dealing with scammers or not.
The Federal Trade Commission also advises that you should look out for the school’s reviews. That’s what people are saying online about your prospective school.
Immigration scams
Immigration scams are widely reported in the US. This scam involves people promise to help one with any immigration issues. At times, they can pose as genuine government representatives or websites.
In some Spanish-speaking countries, governments are known to have representatives who step in to help on matters immigration in case one is stack. But this is not the case in the US.
The area that highly targeted by immigration scammers involves those seeking asylum from the US government.it makes them more vulnerable. But a thing to remember is the fact that nobody is usually required to pay any fee to have their asylum status processed.
To counter this, the US government encourages people to put in an extra effort to make sure that they get information from the genuine government websites ending with .gov. Some may look really official but they are not.
It is also critical that you don’t sign documents that you don’t understand or ones that are already filled. Again, never pay for government immigration forms – they’re free and accessible from the official government website – Ftc.gov/immigration. There, you will get any sort of help including legal. The documents offered are available in various languages making it easy for people from different language backgrounds.
Job and income scams
According to the Federal Trade Commission, job and income scams come in many forms in America and the corona pandemic has made the situation even more dire, the more reason one needs to be fully alive to the dirty tricks that scammers use to prey on their targets. The pandemic has exposed more people to the scam rackets as they search for work and how to make money from home.
One of the biggest scams in this area is the reshipping scam – here, the scammers, posing as genuine shipping companies, says that you’re hired and hat your job is to receive shipped packages at your home and repackage them and ship them again to an address that they will give you. When the pay time comes, they will go under and won’t respond to your calls. In most cases even the website used will be deactivated once they have hit their targets. Such companies also steal personal information from their victims.
The ‘pay to get a job’ is also a red alert always when looking for a job. Never pay anything to get a job. Many people have ended up disappointed in the hands of scammers who promised to secure them a job upon paying some sort of a fee.
Business coaching scams is also something else that you should be warry of. These scammers pose as experts as far as businesses go and offer to teach you how to make money, especially online but upon paying some money. In most cases, they can pose as affiliates of already established entities.
There are many forms of jobs and income scams going on in the US and anyone can be targeted by these scammers. That’s why you need to work extra hard to avoid anything suspicious when looking for a job or a source of extra income. Be sceptical of easy things or people offering shortcuts. Take your time and do your research on the company’s name or any more information available about them.
This was discussed during a virtual event themed the African Community Engagement that was organized by the United People for African Congress (UPAC) and brought together the Federal State Commission, US Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.
According to Dr. Sylvester Okere, President and CEO of the United People for African Congress, there’s a lot that one, particularly Africans, need to know in order to avoid falling prey to the scammers. This includes seeking information and help from the right sources.
The United People for African Congress seeks to regroup all the African communities living in the USA under the same umbrella in order to create a unique voice to address issues they are facing in their respective communities.
In case of any fraud or scam, you’re encouraged to report it to FTC ReportFraud.ftc.gov
