FRAUD SUMMARY - ROME

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ROME 000438 SIPDIS DEPT FOR CA/FPP INL/HSTC FOR GORELICK CA/VO FOR KAGARISE AND LOPES DA ROSA DEPT ALSO PASS TO KCC POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KFRD KCRM CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC IT EUN SUBJECT: FRAUD SUMMARY - ROME REF: STATE 205073 ¶1. COUNTRY CONDITIONS: Italy has relatively few instances of fraud in connection with consular services. Italians, who enjoy a developed economy and access to the visa waiver program, find little reason to commit fraud to obtain visas or passports. The Italian government has a relatively secure system for ensuring document integrity for official civil documents such as birth certificates, passports, and national ID's, and keeps good records of the documents issued. Fraudulent use of genuine, photo-substituted and/ or otherwise altered passports appears more often in the cases of third country nationals, especially Albanians, who seek to board flights to western European countries or to the U.S. A growing number of illegal aliens are attempting to transit or stage in Italy and Europe in general, en route to their final destination in the United States. Those apprehended usually possess counterfeit "old style" (paper and ink) national identity cards made to match their passport data and to boost their credibility. While the interception of counterfeit Italian passports presented by nationals of Albania is not a new trend, the continued occurrence of these interceptions at ports of entry Italy-wide bears mentioning. Mala fide Albanians can utilize similarities in physical appearance and Italian language proficiency, due to the geographic proximity of the countries and often long-time residence in Italy, to credibly impersonate Italians. ¶2. NIV FRAUD: Since most Italians can travel to the U.S.A. on the Visa Waiver Program, fraud issues are rare and generally come from third-country applicants. Most NIV fraud is easily detected at the time of the interview and usually involves unsophisticated attempts to convince officers the applicant has spent more time in Italy or has more assets than is really the case. Post also conducts field investigations for all those cases that warrant additional scrutiny. NIV fraud at airports often involves Albanian, Eastern European and Chinese impostors with chemically washed pre-Lincoln NIVs. These aliens have also been found in possession of counterfeit credit cards and airline tickets as supporting evidence. The adjusted NIV refusal rate of 14.7% for FY05 is heavily skewed by TCN refusals; the refusal rate for Italian nationals is only 3%, while the refusal rate for all other nationalities is 11.6%. TCN NIV applications account for 35% of total NIV requests in FY05. Visa Sections in Milan, Florence, Rome and Naples process nonimmigrant visas for more than 150 nationalities. Requests for B1/B2s account for the largest percentage of our workload. F, M, J Visas - Although post sees a number of candidates who do not meet the qualifications for study or exchange visas, the Student and Exchange Visitor System (SEVIS) has made it very difficult for mala fide to successfully present fraudulent documentation. In FY 2005 Rome refused 75 F-1, 9 M- 1, and 33 J-1 visa applicants. R-1 Visas - In FY05, Rome refused 33 suspect religious worker cases, most in consultation with CA/VO. These applicants did not meet the spirit or intent of the specific R-1 visa category. Post conducts more in-depth investigations on religious institutions whose legitimacy may be open to questions. ¶3. IV/DV FRAUD: Naples is the only immigrant visa issuing post for Italy and Malta. It is one of a handful of posts designated to process Iranian IV cases. A large percentage of Naples' IV cases are for the U.S. military community based in Italy. IV fraud on the part of Italian and other visa waiver country applicants has not been a problem historically. While no one in the section speaks or reads Farsi fluently, the visa section staff has developed a familiarity with Iranian documents and is reasonably confident that there is little fraud among Iranian IV applicants. There is fraud, however, among third-country national DV applicants, principally from the Balkans and Africa. Submission of unfamiliar and frequently suspect supporting documentation routinely requires follow-up with U.S. missions in the applicants' home countries. Fraud related to educational certificates is relatively common. Naples has seen an increasing number of suspect fiance visa cases involving applicants from Ethiopia. ¶4. ACS AND PASSPORT FRAUD: Italy attracts thousands of tourists annually who are targets of criminals eager to get their hands on cash and credit cards. In the process, they also steal U.S. passports and other travel documents. Many of the passports are quickly discarded and are subsequently returned to post through law enforcement agencies. In some cases stolen documents do end up in the hands of professional smugglers, who alter them in an attempt to transport mala fide passengers to the United States and other desirable ports of entry. Law enforcement officials contend there has been a small increase in photo-substituted passports in the possession of US-bound travelers. The company employed by U.S.-flag carriers to inspect out-bound travelers, International Consultants on Targeted Security (ICTS),detected two photo-subbed passports in Rome and three in Milan in FY-05. ICTS also reported 4 imposters and 6 counterfeit passports during the period. ¶5. ADOPTION FRAUD: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in Rome, Italy is the sole office responsible for adjudicating adoption cases. USCIS in Rome does not currently maintain centralized statistics relating to adoption fraud, but has not found incidents of fraud in the recent past. ¶6. ASYLUM AND OTHER DHS BENEFIT FRAUD: The USCIS office in Rome is also solely responsible for adjudicating refuge asylum cases and other immigration cases in the region. They are not aware of any asylum cases involving fraud. ¶7. COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES: Post has developed effective relationships with host government law enforcement authorities. Italian police respond quickly and efficiently to our inquiries. ¶8. AREAS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN: Due to the large number of religious and quasi-religious institutions in Rome, it is relatively easy for mala fide travelers to assemble the ingredients for a fraudulent R-1 application. We would value a SEVIS- like system for vetting and tracking legitimate religious institutions whose applicants will be requesting religious worker visas. ¶9. STAFFING AND TRAINING: The Consular Section in Rome has only one full time LES employee devoted to fraud issues, Michelangelo Arezzo. He attended a two-week fraud prevention course with the government of Italy in 2003 and the EUR LES Fraud Prevention Course at FSI in December 2004. The FPM, Hugo Rodriguez, is also the Visa Chief. He arrived at post in August 2005 and is assigned for a three-year tour. SPOGLI