USCIS lists fifteen scams, and says what it will never do

Why this case matters

There is no useful loss statistic for immigration fraud, because the people most exposed to it are the people least able to report it. What exists instead is an unusually specific list from the agency being impersonated.

That list is the substitute for data, and it is more actionable than data would be.

The negative rules

The most useful part is what USCIS says it will never do — because a negative rule needs no judgement to apply.

It will never ask you to transfer money to an individual. Not to an officer, not to a caseworker, not to a lawyer’s assistant.

It does not accept Western Union, MoneyGram, PayPal, Venmo or gift cards. Naming the services is what makes this usable: a person being asked to pay by any of them has an answer immediately.

It will only contact you through official government channels, and will not contact you through your personal social media accounts.

Its forms are free, and its web addresses end in .gov.

The fifteen shapes

The catalogue is worth reading in full, but the shape of it is what matters — every one of these is a general scam wearing an immigration costume:

• Government impersonators — a call from “USCIS” demanding money to fix a problem with your case.
• Fake websites and social media pages — non-.gov domains charging for free forms and harvesting personal data.
• “Jumping the line” — paid claims of expedited processing that does not exist.
• Visa lottery scams — an email saying you have been selected. The State Department does not send those, and the programme is free.
• Job offer scams — overseas offers requiring payment.
• Student scams — fake universities, and threatening calls demanding money.
• Form I-9 email scams — fake USCIS emails asking employers for verification forms.
• Programme-specific scams — fees charged for Uniting for Ukraine and CHNV processes that are free, TPS re-registration collected before the official notice is published.
• Notario público fraud — covered separately.
• Human trafficking, which USCIS lists alongside the rest and which is not a financial scam at all.

What the list is really telling you

Every entry has the same engine: the target has something at stake that cannot be replaced, a process they cannot verify, and a strong reason not to involve the authorities.

That last part is the specific vulnerability. Most scam advice ends with “report it to the police”. For someone whose immigration status is uncertain, that instruction carries a risk the advice does not acknowledge — which is exactly why the fraud works, and why the government publishes reporting routes that do not require it.