Fake ICE Agents Threaten Residents With Deportation In Money Scam

PALOS PARK, IL —Fraudsters are apparently impersonating Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and threatening immigrants in the area with deportation in exchange for large sums of money. Those being targeted by scammers receive a phone call from callers posing as ICE officers. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a fraud alert warning citizens of the scam.

Police said the fake ICE officers call victims stating they have warrants for their arrest. Unless victims send money orders or gift cards to the scammers, they will be detained and removed from the country. The phony ICE officers also proccur the victims’ social security numbers, according to police.

Chief Joe Miller, of the Palos Park Police Department, said that in the past two days a professional and a teacher have been targeted.

“Anyone getting such a call should hang up and call the police,” Miller said. “Police do not call people looking for someone’s country of origin or immigration status, nor do police ask you over the phone for your social security number.”

Numbers showing up on victims caller IDs are actual DHS numbers, part of a telephone spoofing scam targeting individuals throughout the country. Spoofing is the deliberate falsifying of information transmitted to a caller ID display to disguise an identity.

According to the recent alert issued by the DHS Office of the Inspector General:

The perpetrators of the scam represent themselves as employees with “U.S. Immigration” or other government entities. They alter caller ID systems to make it appear that the call is coming from the DHS HQ Operator number (202-282-8000) or the DHS Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) number (202-401-1474). The scammers obtain or verify personally identifiable information from their victims through various tactics, including by telling individuals that they are the victims of identity theft. The scammers also pose as law enforcement or immigration officials and threaten victims with arrest unless they make payments to the scammers using a variety of methods. The scammers have also emailed victims from email addresses ending in “uscis.org.” Many of the scammers reportedly have pronounced accents.

DHS OIG takes this matter very seriously. While we investigate the situation, we would like to remind the public that DHS never uses its HQ Operator or CRCL number to make outgoing calls of this nature. Individuals receiving phone calls from these numbers should not provide any personal information. It continues to be perfectly safe to place calls to the DHS HQ Operator and CRCL numbers and DHS officials may continue to be contacted by dialing the DHS HQ Operator number.

Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of this telephone spoofing scam is urged to call the DHS OIG Hotline (1-800-323-8603) or file a complaint online via the DHS OIG website www.oig.dhs.gov. You may also contact the Federal Trade Commission to file a complaint.