Immigrants Targeted in Phone Scam in Ashburn

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Legal immigrants in the Ashburn area are again being targeted by telephone scams with the caller threatening their immigration status.

Loudoun County deputies responded to a call Wednesday afternoon from a resident who received a call from someone claiming to be from Homeland Security.

The caller claimed there was an issue with the resident’s citizenship. Investigators say the resident provided some personal information to the caller before realizing the call was a possible scam.

Last spring, a caller threatened a Fairfax City woman, claiming she owed back taxes and that she would be arrested, deported and lose her citizenship if she didn’t pay a large sum of money. A caller to a Herndon resident also threatened the victim’s immigration status.

And, in August, an Ashburn resident received a call from a person claiming to be from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The caller claimed the victim had fines due because his/her federal forms had expired.

The victim obtained a money card and provided the card information to the caller, who then claimed more money was due for back taxes to the USCIS. The victim purchased more money cards and provided the card information to the caller.

It wasn’t until later that the victim realized this was a scam and contacted deputies.

The UCIS notes it will not call you to ask for any form of payment over the phone and warns immigrants not to give payment over the phone to anyone who claims to be a USCIS official.

If you have been a victim of this telephone scam, you can report it to the Federal Trade Commission.

More:

• Immigrants Targeted in Phone Scam (Ashburn Patch)
• Police: Immigrant Targeted in IRS Phone Scam (Fairfax City Patch)
• Police: Immigrant Targeted in IRS Phone Scam (Herndon Patch)