Green Card Scams are Common

A Barbados woman desperate to obtain legal status in the U.S. heard that she could get a green card through a church in Brooklyn. She needed $1,200, more than triple her life savings.

The woman emptied her bank account, borrowed from family members and joined the “church,” whose services were held in the living room of a private home by a disheveled woman who called herself the church leader. She attended Sunday service and Saturday Bible study, because the church leader said it was necessary; immigration officials would be watching, the church leader warned.After six months, she started to get suspicious. She’d been paying installments, borrowing more and more money, and she hadn’t received a Social Security Number, or even a work permit. She was told the cost of the green card had gone up. She eventually gave up on the church, but by then, the damage was done. Click here.

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