Popular ways to scam America

“If you come to the United States to commit crimes, you may stay here longer than you planned”, - once said FBI agent when investigating the case of Russian hacker students.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) want to toughen conditions of getting J-1 visa. The reason is numerous crimes committed by J-1rs in the United States.

Let me remind you, that owners of J-1 visa are students for Eastern Europe. Visa, given them within the conditions of “Work and Travel” program, allows them working and travelling in the USA 3-5 months. 

The last straw that broke the camel’s back was huge cybercrime committed by a group of Russian students living in New York. In March these guys stole $3 million from law-obedient Americans.

Here is the list of the most popular crimes committed by J-1rs.

1. Job offer scam. To enter America, students must receive job offer form their future employer. Finding an employer during economic crisis is not an easy thing to do. That’s why some J-1rs make up job offers (examples of ones are easy to find in the web).

2. Thefts in supermarkets. Last summer only in New York police detained about 50 foreign students who stole clothes in stores. In most cases fans of shoplifting are girls who dream about expensive and at the same time free designer clothes.

3. “Commercial” marriage. One of the ways to become legalized in the US is to marry American citizen. At the black market it costs $25,000 – 30,000. This criminal business prospers all over the United States.

4. Studying without lessons. In Florida, California and Texas in summer 2011 there were closed educational institutions where students didn’t attend lessons and had no exams. In most cases, clients of those institutions were owners of J-1 visa. Thus, students killed two birds with one stone: were legally present on the territory of the United States and didn’t spend time on studying.   

5. Selling Social security and ID. Before leaving America J-1rs often sell Social Security number and State ID. These two documents owned by one person can be sold in New York at $350 – 400. As a rule, SSN and State ID are used for further financial scams.

6. Fake checks. One more way of making money before leaving America is to put to your banking account fake check. As a rule, J-1rs cross up their former employers. There were cases when scammers made copies of checks on color printer, faked signatures of their owners, wrote down sum and brought to bank. The fraud was revealed after student withdrew money and left the country. 

7. Work without license. Having J-1 visa one can get only low-paid and difficult job. Naturally, no one wants to spend time on corn fields or washing up in New York cafe. That’s why a part of J-1rs find office work that requires license. Sometimes employers prefer paying $10 to a self-taught person than $40 to licensed specialist.