FRAUD SUMMARY - SANTIAGO (SEPTEMBER 2008 - FEBRUARY 2009)

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000346


SIPDIS

DEPT FOR CA/FPP
DEPT FOR CA/VO/F/P
DEPT FOR WHA/BSC
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO DHS/CBP
POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC CI
SUBJECT: FRAUD SUMMARY - SANTIAGO (SEPTEMBER 2008 - FEBRUARY 2009)

REF: (A) 08 STATE 074840; (B) 09 SANTIAGO 298


Post is submitting the following fraud summary report for September
2008 through February 2009 in accordance with reftel A.

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COUNTRY CONDITIONS
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1. Chile is a democratic country with a developing free-market
economy. Chile is a key U.S. partner in promoting democracy, human
rights, and free trade in the region and beyond. The United States
and Chile have a Free Trade agreement that took effect January 1,

2004. There is relatively little migratory "pull" to the United
States, relative to other countries in the region. Chilean civil
documents are generally reliable. Formatting and security features
in Chilean civil documents make falsification difficult. Chilean
passports are machine readable and difficult to obtain fraudulently.
Chile has an innovative system of reporting lost/stolen passports,
driver's licenses and Chilean identification cards (known as RUTs).
Chileans are assigned a national ID number at the time the parents
register children at the Civil Registry to obtain a birth
certificate. The actual RUT card is normally not issued until a
person begins traveling internationally or enters university. Much
like the system of reporting a lost/stolen credit card in the U.S.,
Chilean citizens can go online to report a lost/stolen civil
document. This information is immediately available to banks, the
Chilean International Police, and other Government of Chile
entities.

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NIV FRAUD
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2. During the reporting period, the Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU)
conducted 601 nonimmigrant visa (NIV) fraud investigations and
uncovered 60 fraudulent cases--10% of those referred--compared to 35
fraudulent cases in the previous six-month cycle. A majority of
cases involved document fraud, such as the submission of altered
bank, employment, or property documents. A new and troubling source
of fraud this year came from the 3,000 some J-1 Summer Work and
Travel NIV applicants. Many applicants brought altered or
completely forged school certificates that indicated they were
current university students. See Reftel (B). A small number of
other cases involved visa fixers, normally posing as travel agents.
As in the past, post has not been able to get cooperation from
Chilean police authorities to investigate or prosecute visa fixers,
even in cases where the altered documents include government tax
statements. One exception was the case of a low-level employee in a
local company who was posing as a human resources officer to give
job references for recently laid-off workers that were applying for
NIV visas. The Fraud unit worked closely with the company's
management, who conducted a sting operation to catch their employee
in the act, and Chilean authorities are prosecuting that employee
for malfeasance.


3. Given its maritime industry, post receives a high number of C1/D
applicants for both merchant marine and cruise ship members. Post
has noticed a slight increase in fraudulent merchant marine
applications, usually involving altered employment documents. Post
has also increased its investigations of petition-based H1B, L1, and
R1 visas, as well as the Chilean H1B1 Free Trade visa. It appears
post is receiving more of these types of cases that are pushing the
classification definitions but has yet to uncover any outright
fraud. Post has seen a steady increase of H1B1 Free Trade visa
applicants as the general public becomes more aware of their
availability.


4. The DHS Arrival Departure Information System (ADIS) has been
fully integrated into all of the units, and all of the NIV officers
have expressed a desire to have their own personal accounts and/or
to have the DHS information more integrated with NIV+ and IVO
software. ADIS has been successfully used by the NIV unit to
uncover overstays, especially when renewal applicants arrive with
"lost" passports that would reflect overstays.


5. The FPU's excellent contacts with local banks and the Chilean
internal revenue service have been essential in verifying suspect
documentation. Perhaps most instrumental are our contacts in the
Administradora de Fondo de Pensiones (AFP),an employee retirement
administration in which registration is mandatory under Chilean law.
Through the AFP, the FPU is able to confirm the length of time that
an employee has been employed with a particular employer and their
salary. Although some companies do not follow the mandated law
requiring the registration of their employees, this system is still
a reliable source for employment and income verification.


6. Post is in the process of conducting validation studies on J-1
SWT applicants from the 2007-2008 season, and the 2008-2009 season
that is just ending. Results will be reported in the next Fraud
Summary.

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IV FRAUD
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7. The IV Unit referred 87 cases to the FPU, and uncovered one
caseof fraud where an applicant was concealing a 9B2 ineligibility.
The IV Unit has also successfully incorporated ADIS information to
confirm 9B1 and 9B2 ineligibilities, as well as to confirm
eligibility for transportation letters for Legal Permanent Residents
(LPRs) who have been outside the U.S. less than one year.

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DV FRAUD
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8. DV applications remain relatively low, and no DV fraud was
detected during the reporting period.

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ACS AND PASSPORT FRAUD
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9. No cases of fraud were detected during the reporting period in
the ACS Unit.

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ADOPTION FRAUD
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10. Post processed two adoption cases and encountered no fraud.
Foreign adoptions are relatively rare in Chile. The Chilean Central
Authority, SENAME, is working with post and the Bureau of Consular
Affairs (CA) to implement the Hague convention on adoption. Chile
has relatively high bureaucratic barriers on the adoption of
children by foreigners, and required U.S. adoptions agencies to be
accredited in Chile. In the reporting cycle, two U.S. adoption
agencies applied for accreditation and were denied by SENAME.

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DNA TESTING
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11. During the reporting period, two IV applicant but no ACS
applicants have opted for DNA tests to prove relationships. The two
DNA tests confirmed the relationship, and no fraud was found.

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ASYLUM AND DHS BENEFIT FRAUD
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12. No cases of fraud were identified during the reporting period.

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ALIEN SMUGGLING, TRAFFICKING, ORGANIZED CRIMES, AND TERRORIST TRAVEL

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13. FPU contacts with airline officials have been important in
detecting visa impostors. Airline officials have encountered at
least two cases of impostors and fraudulent visas bound for the U.S.
Imposter travel was not only detected for travel to the U.S., but
also to Canada and Mexico. During the reporting period post did not
encounter cases dealing with organized crime or terrorist travel.

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DS CRIMINAL FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS
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14. There were no cases of DS criminal fraud investigations during
the reporting period. FPU has a good working relationship with the
RSO office, which is always available to the consular section with
little advance notice when if a complex cases arises.

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HOST COUNTRY DOCUMENTATION
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15. There were no cases of host country documentation fraud during
the reporting period.

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COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES
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16. FPU continues to enjoy a high level of cooperation from host
government authorities on issues including immigration, tax, and
civil registration. However, as noted, it is often difficult to get
the host government to assist in prosecuting perpetrators of fraud.
It is not a crime, under Chilean law, to provide a fraudulent
document to the U.S. Embassy in pursuit of a visa.

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AREAS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN
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17. Post greatly appreciates information from CA/FPP regarding
fraudulent U.S. visas being used in transit through Chile. Post
believes that a regional fraud conference would be an effective way
to alert neighboring embassies and consulates to similar fraud
trends that surpass borders and provide a venue to discuss potential
mechanisms to improve fraud prevention processes in the region.


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STAFFING AND TRAINING
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18. The FPU consists of the Visa Unit Chief and Fraud Prevention
Manager, William Whitaker; one Locally Engaged Staff fraud
investigator, Ilse Schacker; and one Vice Consul on a six-month
rotation, Nathan Tidwell, who also serves as the immigrant visa and
non-immigrant visa officer and also back-up ACS officer. All
consular staff has been encouraged to take on-line courses that
focus on fraud detection relative to their particular units, and
seek to enroll in relevant fraud prevention training offered at
FSI.


19. On Consular Leadership Day, post hosted a Chilean tax attorney
and an immigration manager in the Department of Interior to train
all Consular staff to identify legitimate Chilean tax documents and
understand Chilean immigration procedures. Post plans to request
the use of FPU funding to travel to meet with Chilean University
representatives to combat fraudulent applications during J-visa
season, and post has requested training by the DHS Carrier Liaison
Program (CLP) to provide training to airline and immigration
officials.

.


SIMONS