Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ATHENS1774
2009-09-30 13:14:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Athens
Cable title:  

FRAUD SUMMARY ATHENS

Tags:  KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC GR 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7965
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK
RUEHYG
DE RUEHTH #1774/01 2731315
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301314Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0765
RUEHPNH/NVC PORTSMOUTH 0002
INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHIK/AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI 0014
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ATHENS 001774 

SIPDIS
DEPT FOR CA/FPP (LEDESMA-LEESE)
DEPT PLS PASS KCC WILLIAMSBURG
DHS FOR CIS/FDNS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC GR
SUBJECT: FRAUD SUMMARY ATHENS

REF: STATE 57623

------------------
COUNTRY CONDITIONS
------------------

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ATHENS 001774

SIPDIS
DEPT FOR CA/FPP (LEDESMA-LEESE)
DEPT PLS PASS KCC WILLIAMSBURG
DHS FOR CIS/FDNS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC GR
SUBJECT: FRAUD SUMMARY ATHENS

REF: STATE 57623

--------------
COUNTRY CONDITIONS
--------------


1. Over the past 20 years Greece has seen a remarkable
improvement in its standard of living. This is primarily due
to the long-term convergence plan of the European Union for
socioeconomic uniformity among member states. This, together
with its geographic location, has made Greece an attractive
option for economic migrants of poor neighboring countries and
the Middle East.


2. While other European countries seem headed towards
economic recovery, Greece, having experienced an economic
shrinkage since before the onset of the global downturn,
appears to face a still deepening recession in the coming
months. The economic slowdown has further highlighted chronic
problems such as low wages, high taxes, unemployment,
cumbersome bureaucracy, and corruption.


3. Generally speaking, Athens is a low fraud post. Fraud
cases are overwhelmingly of third country nationals and are
almost exclusively immigrant and non-immigrant visa cases.

--------------
NIV FRAUD
--------------


4. NIV fraud at post is relatively low. Of the approximately
40,000 non-immigrant visas post processes annually, well over
90 percent of the applicants are Greek nationals for whom the
refusal rate is one percent. A 2007 validation study showed
that over 99 percent of host-country nationals issued visas
used their B1/B2 visas and returned to Greece within the legal
time frame. A FY 2007/FY2008 validation study (completed in
2009) of NIV referral cases revealed a 98 percent return rate,
with the remaining two percent deemed inconclusive. There is
a lower issuance rate for other applicant nationalities
including Albanians, Bulgarians and Russians. Due to their
recent arrival in and weak ties to Greece, these applicants
were most often refused under Section 214(b). Nonetheless, a
2008 validation study of TCNs revealed an overstay rate of 7.4
percent, which was a decrease from 11.3 percent in a similar
2004 study.


5. Non-immigrant visa fraud is more easily categorized by
nationality than by visa classification in Athens. Post sees
little employment-based fraud for Greek nationals, as Greeks

are rarely interested in the more fraud-ridden visa
classifications, such as the J-visa "summer-work-travel"
program for jobs in the agricultural or service industries.

--------------
IV FRAUD
--------------


6. Immigrant visa fraud is generally seen with Nigerian,
Albanian and Iraqi applicants providing false supporting
documents or engaged in sham relationships. During FY2009,
FPU detected seven fraudulent IV cases involving counterfeit
supporting documents and/or misrepresentation.

--------------
DIVERSITY VISA (DV) FRAUD
--------------


7. Few Greek nationals enter the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery.
TCNs from Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Albania who reside in Greece
pursue DV applications in greater numbers, but frequently lack
valid supporting documents. DV refusals rates are low, with
most due to either to insufficient education credentials or
misrepresentation. The most common counterfeit documents seen
at post are birth, marriage and school certificates. During
FY09, 10 Albanian DV applicants presented education
credentials that were either completely counterfeit, genuine
with alterations, or genuine documents suspected of being
fraudulently issued by education officials. FPU Athens
maintains a library of information on counterfeit and genuine
documents from countries around the world. In addition,
post's relationships with other fraud prevention units,
especially Tirana and Addis Ababa, provide the necessary
support for investigating suspicious documents.

ATHENS 00001774 002 OF 004


--------------
ACS AND U.S. PASSPORT FRAUD
--------------


8. Post rarely encounters fraud in the passport or ACS units.
Unusual or suspicious cases of passport abuse may arise once
every year or less. In a recent case of a Mexican-born Amcit
reporting the loss/theft of his U.S. passport to post, ADIS
checks revealed the subject travelled from the U.S. to Greece
on his Mexican passport. The applicant subsequently admitted
to not possessing or travelling on his U.S. passport from the
U.S. and said he must have lost it shortly before departure to
Greece. The case was reported to stateside authorities for
their discretionary action and an S lookout [suspicious
activity in connection with previous lost/stolen passports] in
PLOTS was immediately entered at post.

--------------
ADOPTION FRAUD
--------------


9. Adoptions of Greek children by parents outside of Greece
are extraordinarily rare as extended family members almost
always take in children if parents are unable to care for
them. Post sees approximately 2-3 adoption cases per year,
and has no suspected fraud cases to report.

--------------
USE OF DNA TESTING
--------------


10. In the past year, post encountered one IV case that
required DNA testing. Post used our panel physician and
followed Department guidance for appropriate testing
facilities. A second upcoming case with multiple fraud
indicators may also require testing. Post has not identified
patterns of groups which would necessitate an increase in the
need for testing. There are no known operational concerns
which might compromise the validity of DNA testing.

--------------
ASYLUM AND OTHER DHS BENEFIT FRAUD
--------------


11. ICE Athens has not seen an unusual number of lost or
stolen
I-551s, and USCIS Athens has not processed many Visas 92/93
applications. Familial relationships in most Visas 92/93
cases are documented, but in instances where document
authenticity is questioned, the USCIS sub-office consults its
contacts at the Rome District office and the Forensic Document
Lab for guidance.

-------------- -
ALIEN SMUGGLING, TRAFFICKING, ORGANIZED CRIME
AND TERRORIST TRAVEL
-------------- -


12. Greece is struggling to control the ongoing influx of
economic immigrants. The number of illegal immigrants
intercepted by Greek authorities jumped from 66,000 in 2005,
to 146,000 in 2008. While the majority of immigrants still
come from Albania, Greece has witnessed a dramatic increase in
the number of Iraqi and Afghani intercepts during that same
period - with Iraqi numbers increasing from 1,064 to 15,940
and Afghani numbers jumping from 1,771 to 25,577. In a period
of ten years, the government has introduced amnesty for legal
residency twice.
Although most immigrants welcomed this opportunity, those
involved in illegal practices such as substance smuggling,
prostitution, and document forgery have avoided this process.


13. The GoG announced strict measures in July 2009 for the
confinement of illegal migrants in detention centers. Police
contacts have advised us that this measure is purely aimed at
discouraging would-be illegal immigrants from entering Greece
rather than containing the hundreds of thousands of immigrants
currently in Greece. The number of immigrants intercepted in
the first seven months of 2009 reached just over 65,000.


14. Although some illegal migrants choose Greece as their
final destination, many continue traveling to countries in
Western Europe, Latin America and eventually the United

ATHENS 00001774 003 OF 004


States. The prevalent itinerary seen by authorities
intercepting migrants at the Mexican-US border is Turkey-
Greece-Spain-Mexico. Migrants of Middle Eastern descent,
particularly Iraqis, used to carry the old version of the
Greek passport as their fraudulent nationality of choice, but
have ceased to do so with the heightened security features of
the new e-chip Greek passport (see below). The new and more
secure Greek passport appears to be a deterrent to smugglers
who now provide travel documents of alternative nationalities
such as Norwegian, Austrian, Danish, and Bulgarian passports.

--------------
DS CRIMINAL FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS
--------------


15. Although the Consular Section rarely encounters cases
warranting DS involvement, CONS enjoys a good working
relationship with RSO. Exceptional circumstances such as
Interpol red alerts appearing in CLASS and suspicions of
passport abuse by Amcits would require immediate consultation
and intervention by DS agents. FPU and RSO work in concert
with law enforcement authorities on cases involving possible
applicant apprehension by police.

-------------- --------------
HOST COUNTRY PASSPORT, IDENTITY DOCUMENTS AND CIVIL REGISTRY
-------------- --------------


16. Greek passport issuance became more formalized and secure
when the Greek police authorities assumed this responsibility
from municipality offices across Greece in 2006. All Greek
citizens, regardless of age, must appear before a police
officer when applying for a passport. At this stage,
supporting documents are scrutinized and criminal checks are
performed, sometimes resulting in "on the spot" arrests.


17. The new Greek passport meets ICAO standards and is
considered among the most secure passports in Europe. All
previously issued passports were rendered invalid when the new
passport took effect in January of 2006. These new passports
were embedded with electronic microprocessors beginning
August 16, 2006. While pre-2006 versions of old Greek
passports lacked security features and were frequently altered
for immigration or criminal purposes, few incidents of bio-
page substitution have occurred with the new passport.


18. Post has no reason to believe that feeder documents such
as Greek birth certificates are suspect. Birth certificate
issuance by the Greek Civil Registrar is fairly
straightforward: a satellite birth registrar is located in
every public and private hospital where certificates are
issued during the child's discharge. This information is also
transferred to the city's vital records office located in
every town hall. Although registration papers are
traditionally hand-written in large binders, many
municipalities are slowly moving to electronic records though
still maintaining binders as a back-up mechanism. There is no
national or centralized birth registrar database, but
nonetheless, post believes fraud is limited in the issuance of
birth registration papers.


19. The GoG recently toughened its naturalization procedures
by enforcing stricter controls on document verification and
applicant interviews. Legislation has now specified the
criteria of age, family relations, and employment history as
pre-requisites for obtaining citizenship. These measures put
Greece in closer conformity to other EU member states. Post
has worked with the GoG to investigate a limited number of
cases with questionable claims to Greek passports.

--------------
COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES
--------------


20. Post has a strong working relationship with the Hellenic
Police, particularly the passport issuing agency, where lost
and
stolen passport (LASP) data are collected on a monthly basis.
Likewise, 2008 witnessed increased cooperation and
communication between the Embassy and Greek Police and Coast
Guard, specifically in regards to exchanging details of those
arrested and convicted for smuggling immigrants.


21. As a result of the Greek police successfully taking on

ATHENS 00001774 004 OF 004


passport issuance, the Greek police likewise began issuing the
new driver's licenses in February 2009, although the Ministry
of
Transportation still reviews the applications. Discussions
are also underway for the issuance of an electronic Greek
identity card with no specific date of production announced.
Authorities are proceeding with great caution over the
issuance of electronic identification cards given the public
outcry about potential privacy violations. Currently, the
Greek ID is a laminated paper the size of an index card with
little to no security features.

--------------
AREAS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN
--------------


22. Post sees no exceptional areas of concern pertaining to
consular fraud.

--------------
STAFFING AND TRAINING
--------------


23. Post is fortunate to have both DHS/ICE and DHS/CIS
offices on site and the Consular Section enjoys close working
relationships with both offices, along with posts RSO.
Standard operating procedures for cooperation are in place and
informal discussions of relevant issues occur as needed.


24. Posts new Fraud Prevention Manager (FPM) is Adair
Hamilton who assumed duties in August 2009. The FPM position
in Athens is part-time, with the incumbent also performing
regular consular functions, including adjudicating visa
applications.


25. Fraud Prevention Unit Investigator (FPU/I),Telly Bousios
traveled with the DHS Visa Waiver Assessment team in July 2009
to Chios island and to the north-eastern border town of
Alexandropoulos, and took advantage of the opportunity to
establish new police contacts and reaffirm ties with previous
acquaintances.
McCarthy